Emotional Intelligence (EI) is one of the most revolutionary ideas formulated in recent years and its positive impact on both personal satisfaction and career success has been demonstrated consistently. Numerous studies have confirmed the relationship between EI and improved job satisfaction, organizational commitment, communication, productivity and bottom-line results.
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to identify, use, and manage emotions of one’s self, of others and of groups. It is the capacity to understand other people, their emotions, what motivates them and how to engage them in constructive ways. EI is all about being smart using your heart!
Emotional Intelligence consists of 4 primary competencies:
Self-awareness – The ability to recognize your own emotions and how they affect your thoughts and behavior, know your strengths and weaknesses, and have self-confidence.
Self-management – The ability to control impulsive feelings and behaviors, manage your emotions in healthy ways, take initiative, follow through on commitments, and adapt to changing circumstances.
Social awareness – The ability to understand the emotions, needs, and concerns of other people, pick up on emotional cues, feel comfortable socially, and recognize the power dynamics in a group or organization.
Relationship management – The ability to develop and maintain good relationships, communicate clearly, inspire and influence others, work well in a team, and manage conflict.
The Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI), based on the Five-Factor personality model, is one of most prominent personality assessments used in business settings. Millions of people have taken the HPI and the inventory has been validated in over 400 jobs ranging from janitor to CEO. The HPI has effectively been used to predict job performance and success in careers, relationships, education and life.
The instrument consists of 7 primary scales:
Adjustment- The degree to which a person is calm, confident, self-accepting and stable under pressure
Ambition- The degree to which a person appears self-confident, leader-like, competitive and energetic.
Sociability- The degree to which a person is outgoing and needs and/or enjoys social interactions.
Interpersonal Sensitivity- The degree to which a person is warm, sensitive, perceptive, tactful and concerned about others’ opinions.
Prudence- The degree to which a person seems conscientious, rule abiding and dependable.
Inquisitive- The degree to which a person seems strategic, big-pictured, visionary and innovative at problem solving.
Learning Approach- The degree to which a person seems to take pleasure in learning for the sake of learning and staying up to date on business and technical matters.
The associations between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI)
1. The Self-awareness scale of EI is positively associated with the Interpersonal Sensitivity scale of the HPI. These individuals are aware of their emotions and their impact on themselves as well as the thoughts and behaviors of others. Self-awareness also shares a curvilinear U-shaped relationship with the HPI Adjustment scale. Specifically, individuals who are very self-aware are also very open and responsive to feedback (Low Adjustment) and also calm, consistent and self-confident (High Adjustment).
2. The Self-management scale of EI appears to be positively related with the Adjustment, Ambition and Prudence scales of the HPI. These individuals possess the ability to manage emotions in constructive ways, control impulsive behaviors and successfully handle stressful situations (High Adjustment), take initiative, set high expectations and are results-oriented (High Ambition) and are also organized, thorough, detail-oriented and rule compliant (High Prudence).
3. The Social-awareness scale of EI shares positive associations with both the Sociability and Interpersonal Sensitivity scales on the HPI. These individuals are tactful in their ability to recognize the feelings, needs and concerns of others (High Interpersonal Sensitivity) and are also socially proactive, easily approachable and enjoy working and being around others (High Sociability).
4. Finally, the Relationship-management scale of EI also appears to share positive associations with Sociability and Interpersonal Sensitivity. These individuals have the capacity to communicate clearly and develop and maintain positive personal and work relationships. Furthermore, EI’s relationship-management scales shares a curvilinear U-shaped relationship with the HPI Ambition scale. Particularly, individuals who are competent at relationship-management are not only able to inspire and influence others (High Ambition), but also are excellent team players.
To learn more about the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) and the HPI Career Report that provides you with career development/management tips and guidance, click here.
