An Introduction to Emotional Intelligence for Attorneys
Ever since Daniel Goleman published his blockbuster book Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More than IQ in 1995, the term emotional intelligence has worked its way into common parlance. Now, it has also made its way into conversations within the legal community. See e.g. Gina Alexandris (2018), Emotional Intelligence and Lawyers—an Old New Frontier, Christine C. Kelton, Clients Want Results, Lawyers Need Emotional Intelligence, 63 Clev. St. L. Rev. 459 (2015), Emotional Intelligence and Lawyers – an Old New Frontier, Polly Botsford, International Bar Association, Why lawyers need to be taught more about emotional intelligence.
Not surprisingly, it’s taken a while for this idea to be considered by the legal community. After all, our community is steeped in tradition, stare decisis, and risk avoidance. So, we tend to embrace new ideas and concepts very slowly and very cautiously.
What Is Emotional Intelligence?
Some assume the term Emotional Intelligence means something as simple as being nice to people. Others have a more intuitive sense of what it means to be emotionally intelligent, but for academics, Emotional Intelligence (EQ or EI) has been a notoriously tricky construct to agree on. Indeed, the concept of Emotional Intelligence encompasses a complex and comprehensive set of components. To add to the complexity, there are also three different primary Emotional Intelligence models.
The 3 Different Models of Emotional Intelligence
Peter Salovey and John Mayer’s Theory of Emotional Intelligence
In 1990, Peter Salovey and John Mayer first developed a psychological theory of emotional intelligence. They described Emotional Intelligence as a:
“set of skills hypothesized to contribute to the accurate appraisal and expression of emotion in oneself and others, the effective regulation of emotion in self and others, and the use of feelings to motivate, plan, and achieve in one’s life.”
Looking at emotional intelligence from this perspective, one could conclude that emotional intelligence is a concept that could be useful in almost all areas of life.
Others have described Emotional Intelligence as “a set of emotional and social skills that influence the way we perceive and express ourselves, develop and maintain social relationships, cope with challenges, and use emotional information in an effective and meaningful way.”
Daniel Goleman’s Theory of Emotional Intelligence (“EI”)
As mentioned above, in 1995 Daniel Goleman popularized the concept of emotional intelligence in his best-selling book Emotional Intelligence.
Goleman offers a conceptualization of Emotional Intelligence as a combination of 15 different, yet related, abilities or what he refers to as competencies. The four primary competencies are – “self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness and relationship management.” Goleman also argues that EI provides a sign of an individual’s “potential” for developing emotional competencies (i.e., practical skills) that can help them thrive at work and in leadership situations.
The Bar-On Theory of Emotional Intelligence (“EQ”)
Dr. Reuven Bar-On is a clinical psychologist who has been working in the Emotional Intelligence field for many years. Indeed, Dr. Bar-On is considered as one of the field’s thought leaders, and he has published many books and articles on the subject. The Bar-On Model of Emotional Intelligence is considered a “mixed model” of Emotional Intelligence.
According to Dr. Bar-On, his model describes EI as an array of interrelated emotional and social competencies, skills, and behaviors that impact intelligent behavior.
The Bar-On Model of emotional-social intelligence can be divided into two basic parts as it were. The first part is the conceptualization, or theory, of this construct; and the second part is the psychometric aspect of this model which is, essentially, the measure of emotional-social intelligence which was based on the theory and designed to assess it. These two parts of the model have also been referred to as (a) “the Bar-On conceptual model of emotional-social intelligence” and (b) “the Bar-On psychometric model of emotional-social intelligence” respectively, while (c) “the Bar-On model of emotional-social intelligence” refers to both the conceptual and the psychometric components of this model combined together into one inseparable entity.”
Let’s Unpack the Bar-On Model
Now, let’s unpack this into something a little bit easier to wrap our heads around. According to the Bar-On model, emotional-social intelligence is an array of interrelated emotional and social competencies, skills, and behaviors that determine how well we understand and express ourselves, understand others and relate with them, and cope with daily demands, challenges and pressures. The emotional and social competencies, skills, and behaviors referred to in this broad definition of the construct comprise the 15 factors that make up the Bar-On model of emotional intelligence. These 15 factors or composites and sub-scales were confirmed by a series of factor analyses in the development of the Bar-On psychometric measure of this construct.
Emotional intelligence as defined here and as used in the work that we do with our clients here at Straight Talk For Attorneys is based on the Ruven Bar-on model of Emotional Intelligence (“EQ”) as applied in the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i 2.0). This model, like the others, reflects one’s overall well-being and ability to succeed in life.
Why Is Emotional Intelligence Important?
While Emotional Intelligence isn’t the sole predictor of human performance and development potential, it is proven to be a key indicator in these areas. Indeed, many including Daniel Goleman have argued that when it comes to people who rely on knowledge to do their work, which lawyers most certainly do, IQ serves simply as a threshold requirement to enter the profession.
This makes total sense when you think about your journey to entering the legal profession. First, you had to make good grades in undergrad to get admitted to law school. To make good grades in undergrad, you had to know things and be able to demonstrate your knowledge by repeating what you knew during examinations. The same thing applied in law school, except there you not only need to learn the law, but you also have to learn how to analyze things by applying the law to various fact patterns. Then you had to demonstrate that you knew who do do that by doing it during final exams.
Once you graduated from law school, you had to study for the bar examination. Thus, again your knowledge was tested as a threshold measure to become licensed as an attorney. Finally, if you landed a job at a law firm or clerkship with a federal or appellate court judge, again grades served as a threshold requirement for getting the job. The truth is, even if you didn’t need to be in the top 10% of your class to get your first job, there’s still a strong probability that you needed to demonstrate some degree of legal knowledge to get hired. My point in all of this is that legal knowledge serves as the threshold for entry. Knowledge alone, however, is not enough to get you into the elite group of lawyers who thrive in this industry. It takes much more than IQ to distinguish yourself from everyone else.
One key thing that distinguishes EQ from IQ is that a person’s level of IQ becomes fully developed by about age 18 and remains constant from that point throughout the remainder of their life. Indeed, when asked whether a person’s IQ can improve as you age, Richard Nisbett, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan responded: “Yes, your IQ can change over time. But [IQ] tests give you the same answer to a very substantial extent, even over a period of a year. The older you are, the more stable your test score will be.”
Your Level of Emotional Intelligence Is Not Static
On the other hand, a person’s level of Emotional Intelligence is not static. Instead, one’s level of Emotional Intelligence can change over time and can be developed in specific and targeted areas.
From Darwin to the present, most descriptions, definitions, and conceptualizations of emotional-social intelligence have included one or more of the following key components, all of which are included in the Bar-On conceptual model:
(i) the ability to understand emotions as well as to express our feelings and ourselves;
(ii) the ability to understand others’ feelings and relate with people;
(iii) the ability to manage and control our emotions so they work for us and not against us;
(iv) the ability to manage change and solve problems of an intrapersonal and interpersonal nature; and
(v) the ability to generate positive mood and be self-motivated.
In the Bar-On Model, each of these 5 meta-factorial components, or factorial clusters, of EQ comprise a number of closely related competencies, skills, and behaviors, 15 factors in all, which are illustrated below.
Why Becoming Emotionally Intelligent Matters for Lawyers
As a lawyer, you are responsible for influencing people regardless of what practice area you are in. As a litigator, you want to influence judges, jurors, opposing counsel, and others. As a business attorney, you want to influence investors, parties involved in transactions, banks and other financial institutions, and of course other lawyers. As an in-house attorney, you are responsible for influencing people when it comes to making decisions regarding moving forward on a deal and in what fashion. Likewise, you’re responsible for influencing people to walk away from certain deals. You’re also responsible for influencing people during negotiations regarding the terms and conditions of deals and influencing outside counsel to ensure they are committed to achieving the results you want for your organization. Oh, and let’s not forget that you may also be responsible for influencing people like your CEO, your Board of Directors, or government regulators.
At the end of the day, when you stop and think about it, all lawyers are responsible for influencing other people, including other lawyers, support staff, vendors and so many others every day of their career.
Your Ability to Be Influential is Impacted by Your Level of Self-Awareness
Your ability to effectively influence others is heavily dependent on your level of emotional self-awareness, which is the foundation for all Emotional Intelligence.
Emotional self-awareness refers to your ability to understand your own emotions and the impact your emotions have on your performance. When you are emotionally self-aware, you know what you are feeling and why – and how your feelings either help or hurt what you’re trying to do. You also see how others see you, and so align your self-image with a larger reality. By becoming emotionally self-aware, you also develop an accurate sense of your strengths and limitations. This gives you realistic self-confidence. Not the arrogance that some lawyers carry like a badge of honor when in reality such arrogance simply gets in the way of effectively and efficiently getting things done. Instead, I’m referring to realistic self-confidence that allows you to perform at your highest levels while at the same time developing positive relationships with others.
Emotional self-awareness also provides you with clarity on your values and sense of purpose so you can be more decisive when you set a course of action. As a lawyer and leader, when you become emotionally self-aware, you can be candid, authentic, and speak with conviction about your vision and the positions you take on behalf of your clients.
Emotional Self-Awareness is the ability to understand your own emotions and their effect on your performance.
Being emotionally self-aware helps you know what you are feeling and why. It also positions you to determine whether your emotions are helping or hurting what you were trying to do. Becoming emotionally self-aware helps you sense how others see you and that gives you the opportunity to align your self-image with a larger reality. When you become emotionally self-aware, you develop an accurate sense of your strengths and limitations, which gives you a realistic level of self-confidence. Becoming emotionally self-aware also gives you clarity on your values and sense of purpose, so you can be more decisive when you set a course of action. As a leader, you can be candid, authentic, and speak with conviction about your vision.
Here’s what some of the data about Emotional Self-Awareness shows regarding why this competency is so important. First, when lawyers or leaders are seen as bullies, arrogant, or stubborn, oftentimes these traits are taken by others as signs of incompetence. They also correlate with poor financial results, being bad at managing talent, inspiring people to do their best, and being a poor team leader. Research conducted by the Korn Ferry Hay Group found that among leaders with multiple strengths and emotional self-awareness, 92% had teams with high energy and high performance.
On the other hand, leaders who are low in emotional self-awareness created negative cultures 78% of the time. Full Spectrum Human Leaders with high levels of emotional self-awareness create a positive emotional culture that encourages motivation and extra effort.
Research reveals that Emotional Self-Awareness, which by the way is the least visible of the Emotional Intelligence Competencies, has a surprising role in the foundation for the other competencies. People who are strong in emotional self-awareness, typically demonstrate 10 or more of the other competencies. This, in turn, lets them make frequent use of the four positive leadership styles, which results in the best working climates for their teams. Those who are low in emotional self-awareness, tend to show strength in only one or two of the EI Competencies, and their leadership and team culture suffer accordingly.
Here’s the thing, though, emotional self-awareness isn’t something that you achieve once and then call it done. Instead, every single moment creates a new opportunity to either be self-aware or not. It is a continual endeavor. Indeed, research shows that although 95% of all people think that are highly self-aware, the reality is only 10-15% of all people have a high level of self-awareness.
You Can Improve Your Level of Self-Awareness and Thus, Your Level of Emotional Intelligence
The good news is that the more you practice being self-aware, the easier it becomes. Research conducted by Richard Davidson – William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry and Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he has been a faculty member since 1984 – suggests that one way to become more self-aware is to check in with your sensory experience.
Two more even better ways to increase your level of self-awareness and your overall level of Emotional Intelligence are by completing the EQi-2.0 360 assessment and working with an Emotional Intelligence Coach – like our very own Jamelle Lindo.
