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Module 4 EQ
What is personality and emotional capability (EQ)?
Personality can be described as:

Deeply ingrained attitudes and patterns of behaviour that tend to repeat themselves and are stable over time.

That regulate the way in which we interact with our working environment – people, pressures, self-management….

And that influence the way in which we use our acquired/ technical competencies (skills and knowledge)

Personality causes us to behave in emotionally more or less intelligent ways. As you will see later, this has a huge impact on organisational effectiveness and financial bottom line. For now, we will illustrate how EQ impacts on an individual’s job performance with the following short case study.

The Case of Robert

Robert is a charted accountant with 5 years working experience in a manufacturing organisation. A pre – employment psychometric assessment showed that Robert’s general mental ability is very superior and places him in the top 5% when compared to other graduates. An EQ assessment shows that he lacks attention to detail, is unassertive, shy and prefers to work alone. Robert has recently been promoted into the position of financial manager.

Being a CA with solid working experience Robert has all the technical/acquired competency to do the work of a financial manager. His very superior general mental abilities indicate that he has ample cognitive ability to deal with the problem-solving challenges of the job.

However, his performance in the role is characterised by errors and careless mistakes. His team works in silos and are un co – ordinated resulting in workflow bottlenecks. Robert isolates himself in his office all day and pays no attention to leading and motivating his staff. He avoids having meetings wherever possible and when he does have them, he is indecisive, disengaged, and unable to persuade and influence his team. As a result, he begins to manage by decree and instruction. Staff morale and performance are low.

Let’s Analyse Robert…


Despite having excellent acquired competencies and general mental ability, Robert still failed in the financial manager position because his personality and emotional capabilities were poorly matched to the role.


Remember we have said that EQ is deeply ingrained.

Let’s illustrate further…


Imagine that you must appoint someone into a key management/leadership role. Would you appoint someone with one or a combination of the following EQ issues:
Cold, aloof, unable to connect emotionally with people, has no empathy and is unable to see things from another person’s point of view

Domineering, overbearing and a poor listener

Is unreliable, cuts corners, disregards norms and rules, does not plan, is only interested in quick wins

Has his head in the clouds; lives in his imagination; is not grounded; does not know how to turn ideas into practical actions steps

Dislikes working in a team; follows his own head; prefers to work alone; gets impatient when having to do things through others
Buckles under stress, becomes dejected and pessimistic when faced with obstacles, is easily discouraged, struggles to focus, and think clearly when under pressure

Cannot assert himself, is easily led and influenced by others, is a pleaser who cannot speak his mind

Is suspicious; has little trust or faith in others; believes the worst about people; is irritable and hard on people

Is tactless; commits interpersonal blunders; can’t “ read” people or group dynamics; is easily fooled and manipulated by others; is insensitive and steps on people’s toes

Is dependent and passive; lacks initiative; prefers to follow rather than to lead

Pause for a moment and reflect on what the impact of any or worse a combination of these behaviours would be on leader’s job performance.

Hopefully, you will agree that the above are all examples of poor emotional capability that will impact negatively on a leader or manager to successfully function in such a role IRRESPECTIVE of what his IQ, qualifications, past experience and competencies are.

So just how big a deal is poor EQ when it comes to individual and organisational performance?

According to research done by Daniel Goldman, the founder of the concept of emotional intelligence or capability:

Emotional Capability (EQ) accounted for 67% of the abilities deemed necessary for superior performance in leaders and mattered twice as much as technical expertise.

Studies have also shown that high EQ resulted:

  • in 50% less turnover in teams

  • 56% higher than average customer loyalty

  • 38% more productivity

  • 27% more profitability

  • Improved Sales

  • Reduced Lost Time Accidents

  • Reduced Grievances

(Daniel Goldman, Six Seconds)

Pepsi found that executives with high EQ’s:

  • generated 10% more productivity,

  • they had 87% less turnover and that they brought $3.75M more value to the company,

  • they increased ROI by 1000%.

L’Oreal found that salespeople with a high EQ sold $2.5M more than others.

When Sheraton decided to incorporate an EQ initiative, their market share grew by 24%.

(https://www.anneloehr.com/2015/04/30/emotional-intelligence-effects-bottom-line/)

While EQ may seem like an intangible, warm and fuzzy, nice to have concept these statistics clearly indicate that it is in fact one of the most fundamental drivers of individual and organizational performance. This makes it critical to assess EQ when making hiring, talent and development decisions when recruiting.
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