Women should use EQ to boost career progression

Women should make the most of emotional intelligence (EQ) to drive their career progression, a study by Bizas Coaching & Consulting has suggested.

The research measured more than 1,000 women’s perceptions of their career performance. It found abilities associated with high EQ were considered key strengths: 84% of respondents highlighted ‘motivating others’ as a strength, 95% cited ‘making a difference to my team’ and 79% cited ‘standing with pride’.

However, the paper also found that although women are confident in their ability to perform in their current roles, they are failing to empower themselves to step up into more senior positions. Many of the women who took part in one-to-one interviews said they were reluctant to talk about their successes among their peers.

Over half (52%) of women also said they needed to work on managing their profile and 46% said they needed to spend more time on personal career development.

Bizas Coaching & Consulting founder Ishreen Bradley, said: “When you consider the type of politicking and networking needed to progress up the ranks of a company, it becomes clear that a natural modesty is a major contributor to what's holding women back from progressing in their jobs.”

She added: "[Women’s] capability to do their jobs is not the issue. Enabling them to understand that this is not enough – that they have to take a long view of their careers – then plan and deliver on those aspirations in the same way as they do in delivering great work and looking after their teams is critical if organisations want to realise the ROI from their female workforce. Giving them the confidence to communicate their success and build profile in a way that feels natural is essential.”

Julia Litchfield, talent leader EMEA at Aon Risk Solutions said: “Emotional intelligence is a highly important aspect of success. The more you connect with people the more you can achieve. This is such a complex area and no-one has perfect EQ. We can all benefit from developing our EQ further.”