Over the past few years, emotional intelligence (or EQ as it is often referred to) has become one of the most popular leadership theories. It looks at how well you control your emotions, what types of emotions you recognize and why these different emotions occur.

Based on this theory, some believe that being able to manage your own emotions is an important quality for leaders to have. Because leadership involves motivating people to do things, having enough empathy to understand the needs and feelings of others can be crucial to success.

Furthermore, there are several tools and strategies that focus on improving your ability to regulate your emotions. These include using practices such as meditation or yoga, learning about emotion regulation techniques like mindfulness, and asking yourself questions to determine whether you’re able to read and control your emotions.

Emotional intelligence isn’t just something you learn through formal education either. You may be more emotionally intelligent than you think depending on if you use your skills during daily life. For example, if you know how to laugh at yourself, then you might consider yourself to have high self-awareness.

However, if you are very aware of other people’s negative perceptions and attitudes towards you, then you could be considered highly socialized.

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Assess your emotional intelligence

One way to assess how well you’re doing with your empathy is by looking at the stories you tell yourself about who you are as a person.

Are you someone who doesn’t show much emotion? Then it may be time to work on that.

By analyzing your own narratives, you can also determine if there are any biases or prejudices hiding beneath the surface.

For example, if you describe yourself as being “hardworking,” then chances are you don’t give yourself credit for having fun outside of work. If you describe yourself as “smart,” then probably don’t think too highly of yourself because you believe you're only smart within certain parameters.

Your narrative tells your story about you and what defines you as a person. When you're able to recognize these internalized messages, you can more effectively challenge them while reinforcing new ones.

Look to your peers

The first way to assess emotional intelligence is by looking at how people relate to others around them. Are they supportive and encouraging or are they more self-focused?

People who focus on helping other people grow will have higher EQ than individuals whose attention is mostly on themselves. This can be seen when someone with high EQ takes time to help you out, but it also means being willing to share knowledge and experiences with others.

The opposite is true as well; if you notice that people are constantly focusing on themselves, then chances are there isn’t much empathy present.

When we lose touch of our own inner resources, we sometimes forget about the importance of sharing those things with others. This can lead to limited trust and friendship networks, which make it harder to feel connected to the world.

Your colleagues and superiors may not always tell you what you want to know, but their behavior towards you can give you some clues about whether they have enough empathy.

Look to your manager

As mentioned before, one of the most important things for employees to assess is their own emotional intelligence (EI) as it relates to their superiors. Are they able to regulate their emotions when talking to you? If so, great! But if not, that’s something to look out for.

If someone is constantly showing their nerves or is visibly upset, this can be concerning. Not only does this show lack of self-control, but it may also indicate a lack of confidence in the workplace. This could be due to anything from financial issues to poor performance reviews – no matter what, it will always be inferred that you are not performing well, which can have lasting effects.

A lot of times, people who don’t manage their emotions very well get promoted beyond their level of competency. This can sometimes create a situation where they feel like they have to keep up with those who are more professional about how they handle themselves.

Look to your coworkers

Are your colleagues showing respect towards you? Are they talking about you with admiration and praise? Does it seem like they admire you, believe in you, and trust you? All of these are signs that others think you’re intelligent.

A lot of employers now require their employees to have emotional intelligence (EI) skills. While this may sound very professional and soft-spoken, it is actually designed to increase workplace efficiency.

Employees who have high levels of EI understand how important other people feel when working for or being given responsibility by a boss or team member. They also know how to motivate themselves and others through motivation, encouragement, and understanding.

It can be difficult to tell whether someone has low EQ or not until you work with them, but if there were no rainbows, then we would probably stop looking up at the clouds after an impressive show.

There are several tests you can do to determine whether someone is more socially competent than you. Here are some tips on how to measure emotional intelligence in the workplace.

Look to your leadership team

As discussed earlier, being able to identify and understand one’s emotions is an important part of emotional intelligence. However, it is not enough to know what you feel like when you lose a job or someone treats you unfairly.

This is only half of the picture. The other half is knowing how to manage those feelings so that they do not negatively affect others around you.

As a leader, you will inevitably make people feel some type of emotion at times. These emotions can be positive (like when you realize you have made a great decision) or negative (like when you need to tell someone something they did not want to hear).

When these things happen, how well you are able to control your own emotions becomes even more important. You may have to deal with this person later, and if you cannot maintain your calm then chances are they will not trust you nor will they agree to be governed by you.

Consider your own experience

It is difficult to assess someone’s emotional intelligence (EI) if you don’t have a clear picture of what it looks like, how it functions, and why it matters.

So, before you try to check a person’s EI, you must first determine whether you yourself possess high levels of this quality.

You should be aware of your emotions and how to control them. You also need to recognize who does not seem to regulate their feelings as well and why that is.

When you are able to do these things, then you can compare his or her level of emotion regulation with yours and make an assessment based on that.

Consider the environment

A lot of companies these days require more than just intelligence from their employees. They also demand empathy, respect, teamwork, and other qualities that go beyond knowing how to use Office apps properly.

These are sometimes referred to as soft skills or emotional literacy. And while hard skill proficiency is always important, they can be even more significant at times.

By boosting employee quality we’ve already mentioned here, employers boost their own productivity by giving them what they need to do their jobs well.

But this doesn’t just benefit the individual – it benefits the team, it benefits the organization, and it boosts morale.

That last one is especially valuable since studies show that high workplace morale contributes to higher performance and efficiency.

Assess the situation

A lot of people talk about emotional intelligence (EI) as if it is some sort of skill that you are either born with or not, like being tall or short. That isn’t quite accurate however.

Instead, EI looks more like how well you manage your emotions.

People who have high levels of EI understand what motivates others and are able to motivate themselves when things need done. They also know how to relate to other people and can get along with them even when there is no one else around.

That last part is important because most of us work in teams where there are other people involved in achieving our goals.

If you want someone to do something, they will be less motivated to do it if they don’t believe they will be supported. And their support may come from another person or maybe just from within yourself, but having those supports makes a big difference.