Bolster Your Emotional Intelligence for Personal Success and a Positive Workplace

Navigating the workplace can be challenging. While it is important to demonstrate the technical proficiency required to perform our day-to-day responsibilities, we cannot deny that employee relationships are also critically important to professional success.

In fact, the best leaders tend to focus on both results and people, and they manage to respond appropriately when emotionally tense situations arise. These successful managers have, and incorporate, a high level of emotional intelligence. While it is important for leaders to demonstrate emotional intelligence, these skills and abilities are important at all career levels.

The Importance of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is defined as the “ability to recognize, understand, and deal skillfully with one’s own emotions and the emotions of others.”¹ It often requires an individual to regulate their own emotions or to act empathetically or judiciously during social interactions. In her Pennsylvania CPA Journal article, “Emotional Intelligence: The In-Demand Skill for Great Leaders,” Elizabeth Wilson, CPA, discusses the components of emotional intelligence and stresses the importance that leaders exhibit and demonstrate the ability to regulate their emotions.² She shares that in order for leaders to bring out the best in their teams, they have to become relationship builders, which encompasses being conscious of others’ emotions. A balance of self-awareness and cognitive control can masterfully keep goals on track without succumbing to emotional distractions.

The Emotional Intelligence Model

Emotional intelligence is not a singular trait. There are many skills and abilities that comprise its construct. First introduced in the 1990s by researchers John Mayer and Peter Salovey, the Emotional Intelligence Model is composed of four categories of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.³ (See Emotional Intelligence Model⁴)

The first pillar, self-awareness, is knowledge of one’s own character. It includes the skills of emotional awareness and self-confidence. Self-awareness, itself, can be split into two different types: internal and external. In a study conducted by Dr. Tasha Eurich, organizational psychologist and New York Times best-selling author, and her team, internal self-awareness includes our own personal thoughts and feelings about our own values, thoughts, and aspirations. It is associated with increased job and personal satisfaction.⁵ She explains that external self-awareness is understanding how others perceive us. It can lead to more effective and satisfactory relationships with coworkers and employees.⁶

The second pillar, self-management, includes addressing both positive and negative emotions, and consists of the skills of self-control, trustworthiness, conscientiousness, adaptability, and innovation.

The third pillar, social awareness, is the ability to understand the perspectives of others, recognize social cues, and respond accordingly. Those who are socially aware demonstrate the skills of empathy and organizational awareness. Justin Bariso, an expert on emotional intelligence and author of EQ Applied: The Real World Guide to Emotional Intelligence, notes that there are three different types of empathy: cognitive empathy, emotional empathy, and compassionate empathy. Cognitive empathy is the ability to recognize and interpret a person’s emotions. Emotional empathy relates to the ability to understand the “how” and “why” of a person’s feelings. Compassionate empathy inspires us to take action and help in a particular situation.⁷

Lastly, relationship management pertains to an individual’s ability to manage their personal and professional associations. It involves the ability to influence, lead, communicate, collaborate, and work through conflict.

As accounting professionals, we must understand the value of each of these categories and how each one relates to the workplace. The emotional intelligence model is a helpful tool, not only for identifying the individual components that comprise emotional intelligence but also for aiding us in identifying strengths and any areas needing improvement. Additionally, it can be used to inspire firm trainings and workshops on any of the model’s four pillars and it can be incorporated into employee evaluation tools.

The Top Emotional Intelligence Skills

All the building blocks of emotional intelligence play a valuable role in relation to the whole, but are there some skills that are perceived to be more essential than others? And do the skills of emphasis change or shift focus throughout a professional’s career?

In a survey of 139 accounting and finance professionals, Patrick O’Brien, Kathleen Bakarich, and Douglas Boyle found that all elements of emotional intelligence are viewed as important, thus stressing the critical importance of demonstrating emotional intelligence in the accounting industry. Their findings did, however, highlight that there are four specific skills pertaining to the concepts of self-management and relationship management that are the most significant across several career stages.

Across three different career ranks – supervisory staff, manager, and executive/partner – the emotional intelligence skill sets that were consistently perceived to be most important for career success included trustworthiness, communication, self-control, and leadership. (See the shaded entries in Emotional Intelligence Skills by Career Level.)

As supervisory staff progress throughout their career, they might find that the ability to handle conflict management and to have organizational awareness might be more important than being able to adapt to new clients or new tasks. Additionally, when managers get promoted to partner, demonstrating organizational awareness and self-confidence are seen as more essential for the role versus demonstrating empathy. This can help guide accounting professionals in their personal prioritization of developing certain emotionally intelligent skills and overall career development.⁸

The authors of this study further analyzed the perceptions of importance in emotional intelligence skills among financial professionals by gender. They found a very interesting result. Female respondents had a statistically significant difference, and higher mean responses, in their perceptions of the importance of emotional awareness, self-control, conscientiousness, adaptability, innovation, empathy, organizational awareness, influence, conflict management, teamwork, leadership, and communication than male respondents. This indicates that they perceive emotional intelligence skill sets to be more important than do their male counterparts.⁹

Similarly, O’Brien, Bakarich, and Boyle analyzed the perceived importance of emotional intelligence groupings (as opposed to the individual skill sets, such as leadership, innovation, etc.) for each career rank by gender. As with the individual emotional intelligence skills, there were statistically significant means between the skill groupings of male and female respondents. These results further indicate that female financial professionals perceive self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management skills, overall, to be more important at all career ranks.¹⁰

Improving the Top Skills

Due to the important nature of trustworthiness, leadership, communication, and self-control throughout one’s accounting career as identified in the emotional intelligence studies, it is important for accounting professionals to build and improve upon these top skills at the least. Here are several pointers for you to improve your abilities in these four critical areas, and in emotional intelligence overall.

Trustworthiness – In a profession that is built upon trust, it makes sense that this skill is of critical importance. While we normally equate trust with our interactions with clients, regulators, and external stakeholders, CPAs must also be considered trustworthy by our own internal teams. This can be done by instilling a sense of security and confidence when dealing with others, being seen as dependable, and building up credibility over time. Trust, itself, can be split into two different categories: practical trust and emotional trust.¹¹ One can improve practical trust by being timely, honoring commitments, meeting deadlines, and being dependable. Emotional trust can be improved by demonstrating respect, listening and communicating genuinely, and creating team bonds.

Self-Control – It is natural to experience strong emotions at work, especially considering the amount of time and effort we expend. Often, we can find ourselves in an emotionally charged situation, and it is very easy to react with our initial feelings. Those with self-control can distance themselves from a situation with a pause, then reflect and respond as appropriate rather than react. They are also curious about other peoples’ motives and behaviors. Those looking to improve their self-control must make an intentional effort at recognizing their susceptibility to reaction and instead practice reflection. Asking yourself, “What advice or recommendation would I give another in this situation?” and “Why did my coworker take this particular action?” are good first steps. If more consultation is needed, it is okay to solicit advice from a trusted mentor or partner.¹²

Leadership – Leadership qualities and abilities will look different at each career level. Overall, though, leaders place an emphasis on their relationships with others. They are able to use skills from all four emotional intelligence pillars to connect and bond with their co-workers and teams. They act as mentors, build trust, manage difficult decisions, and focus on team performance. Leadership skills can be improved throughout your professional career by attending firm trainings and classes. You can also develop a plan with your career coach or mentor to take on leadership roles within your team.

Communication – Communicating in an emotionally intelligent manner not only involves listening and speaking, but it also involves acknowledging and affirming the emotions and concerns of others. To improve your communication and active-listening skills, start by maintaining eye contact while engaging in conversations and by attempting to identify nonverbal cues. It is important to focus on the intent and purpose of the conversation and encourage the discussion by using phrases such as “I agree” or “I understand.” You can also improve your communication abilities by clarifying and paraphrasing the conversation, and by asking open-ended questions. Furthermore, the most emotionally intelligent communicators are open to new ideas and opportunities. They refrain from passing judgement and approach conversations with an open mind. Lastly, they seek feedback on their listening skills and reflect on their conversations to identify any areas of improvement.¹³

If you feel that demonstrating the other important components of emotional intelligence needs work, there are ways to improve your emotional intelligence as a whole. First, you can take a free, emotional intelligence self-assessment to identify your emotional intelligence strengths and potential areas of improvement.¹⁴ Once identified, you can try taking courses in a particular area. Other ways to improve emotional intelligence include journaling, seeking feedback, reading literature and articles, and practicing the individual skill sets listed above.

While all the characteristics of the emotional intelligence model are important, rarely does an individual excel at all the components at all times. Identifying and improving your emotional intelligence skills will not only make you a more successful professional, but it will also aid in building a more positive work environment. 

¹ Merriam-Webster.com (2023).

² Pennsylvania CPA Journal, Winter 2022.

³ John D. Mayer, Peter Salovey, and David R. Caruso, “Emotional Intelligence: New Ability or Eclectic Traits?” American Psychologist (September 2008), pages 503-517.

⁴ Adapted from Daniel Goleman and Richard E. Boyatzis, “Emotional Intelligence Has 12 Elements. Which Do You Need to Work On?” Harvard Business Review (Feb. 6, 2017), and Michael Akers and Grover Porter, “What is Emotional Intelligence (EQ)?” Psych Central, updated Oct. 8, 2018.

⁵ Tasha Eurich, “What Self-Awareness Really Is (and How to Cultivate It),” Harvard Business Review (Jan. 4, 2018). 

⁶ Ibid.

⁷ Justin Bariso, “There Are Actually 3 Types of Empathy. Here’s How They Differ—and How You Can Develop Them All,” Inc. (Sept. 19, 2018). 

⁸ Patrick O’Brien and Douglas Boyle, “Do You Have Emotional Intelligence?” Strategic Finance (June 1, 2019). 

⁹ Patrick O’Brien, Kathleen Bakarich, and Douglas Boyle, “A Critical Look at Gender and Emotional Intelligence of Finance Professionals,” Management Accounting Quarterly (Winter 2023, Vol. 24, No.1: 14-21).

¹⁰ Ibid.

¹¹ Maggie Wooll, “How to Build Trust in the Workplace: 10 Effective Solutions,” BetterUp (Oct. 21, 2022). 

¹² Michael Wiederman, “4 Ways to Develop Emotional Self-Management at Work,” Psychology Today (Sept. 8, 2023). 

¹³ www.coursera.org/articles/active-listening

¹⁴ www.workplacestrategiesformentalhealth.com/start-assessment

Patrick O’Brien, CPA, PhD, CFE is an assistant professor of accounting at the State University of New York at Old Westbury, Long Island, N.Y. He can be reached at obrienp@oldwestbury.edu.