Beyond EQ

Emotional Intelligence is certainly a concept that has resonated strongly in the business and corporate world. Daniel Golman's excellent book on the subject adorns many a home or office bookshelf.

The practical application of Emotional Intelligence remains more challenging.

This article explores EQ in the context of four applications of intelligence. As a consultant, manager or anyone seeking to influence understanding, knowing how to communicate and engage all four intelligences is a core foundation skill.

Analytical Intelligence - the intelligence of the head:
Analytical Intelligence is the intelligence of logic, assessment, measurement and problem solving. Much admired in Western culture and the core intelligence of business, AI is analogous to systemic process - the old input, throughput, output sequence. AI is linear in nature, rational and operates comfortably in the domains where things are easily empirically assessed. AI wants to measure or quantify everything - this makes things manageable, understandable, controllable.
In the context of influence, there must be rigorous logic in communication. People with heavyweight AI are immensely skilled in spotting the pimple on the face of beauty, the hairline fracture in your argument, or tracking constantly for the leak in your communication boat.

Somatic Intelligence - the intelligence of the gut:
Sometimes labelled intuition, SI is a legitimate intelligence in its capacity to sense beyond the overt, its ability to calibrate subtlety, to read a person's 'energy'. This gut feel aspect of our judgement and perception is not easy to measure, yet is real in every person. SI is the place of passion, courage, power and drive. In Eastern disciplines, the concept of Chi, or energy source, is centred in the stomach. It is also a core intelligence in relating, parenting and making profound connections. When SI is evoked, it releases extraordinary energy and can be deeply motivating and/or attractive. It is the home of core values and also the home of passions, including 'shadow' energy such as lust, anger or greed. Indigenous cultures embrace SI over Analytical Intelligence, as evidenced in the full body engagement in those cultures' ritual and celebration. In Western culture, there is often the need to get chemically inspired before the body is enjoyed or expressed. In the context of influence, SI is engaged when true passion is shown and core values are elicited - values such as security, personal power and meaning.

Emotional Intelligence - the intelligence of the heart:
EQ is the capacity to 'know thyself', to take responsibility for your own life in all its aspects. This is the intelligence of maturity, allowing someone with high EQ to not only be self-sustaining, but also have the capacity for deep empathy. Someone with high EQ has a realistic self-perception, a functional self-esteem and the capacity to genuinely create healthy viable relationships. EQ understands the need for community and creates environments of respect and high regard, aligned to clearly-understood values and articulated beliefs. Of course this is rare in its idealised form, however the aspiration for developing EQ is critical for someone to thrive in life. Storytelling appeals to the heart centre and in his seminal work on Servant Leadership, Howard Gardiner describes the storyteller role and how it connects the hearts of a community.

Field Intelligence - the intelligence of relationship:
Whenever two or more people gather, a field of energy exists between them. Get into a lift with a bunch of strangers and you feel this field - generally one of contained introversion and poised caution. The field that exists between family members is palpable, as is the field between people in conflict. You can walk into a room where people have been arguing and feel the field of tension in the air, in colloquial speech the 'vibe'. Why is this a form of intelligence? Because the common appreciation of the power of collective energy and synergy allows for creativity and achievement, way beyond 'the power of one'. A manager, consultant, facilitator or parent, creates the energy field with their attitude, mindset and application of AI, SI and EQ.

So these four levels of intelligence come into play in any interaction. The challenge is to develop conscious awareness of these aspects of human functioning. And to understand how to use them appropriately - and how to interact with and influence the complexity that makes up each human being.

One of Australia's best known Trainers and Facilitators, Colin James works throughout the Asian region and Australia consulting, designing, implementing and delivering training programs in diverse areas across industries including finance, petroleum, retail, information technology, aviation, banking and pharmaceuticals. Colin is the Managing Director and Principal Trainer of training company Altmore International.

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