Sayba Kamal Athoi

In today’s highly competitive business environment, it’s not enough for finance professionals to have a good CGPA (cumulative grade point average) or to have highly technical and analytical skills. An important skill which is often ignored by them is emotional intelligence (EI or EQ) _ ability to recognise, understand and manage one’s own emotions and emotion of others.
As we know, in the financial services sector much of the work and career success of individuals depend on effective relationships, whether it is with customers, colleagues or other businesses.  Emotional intelligence is different from IQ (intelligence quotient). Higher IQ indicates that you have the ability to learn, analyze and understand. That means you are going to excel in academics. Therefore, a logical assumption is that people with higher IQs are going to be more successful at work.
However, several research has proven this assumption to be incorrect. That means only being clever may not help you to achieve your desired goals.
Now, let’s discuss why emotional intelligence is a must for career success. If you compare a financial firm with a tree, then a healthy relationship with your coworkers and a robust customer relationship would be its root. All financial institutions, whether it is a bank, an insurance firm or a leasing company, still heavily rely on relationship to do business. And this personal quality cannot be replaced with technology.
Take commercial banks as an example. The main goal of the branch is to provide financial services to customers. Being able to quickly understand your customers’ needs and act accordingly will not only help to win business, but retain and grow it as well.
Besides, healthy relationship with colleagues will help you to work better and create a long-lasting network.
The same applies to roles in other financial institution as well. Sometimes you need to explain highly complicated compliance issues in a simple way to people who are not experts in your area. So, having emotional intelligence will add to your ability.
Now, how can I develop my emotional intelligence? Unlike IQ, which is more of a genetic make up, EQ can be changed and enhanced. That means practice is the key to improving your emotional intelligence. The best types of practice in your workplace will be handling different types of customers, especially ‘difficult’ customers. It will help to discover and practice new emotional intelligence skills.
According to Daniel Goleman, who helped to promote EI, there are five main elements of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. The more that you manage in each of the areas, the higher your emotional intelligence. Remember, emotional intelligence isn’t just for your career success, it will help you to become a better person.

Source: Convergence Services