WHY SHOULD YOU BE CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR EQ?
"The value of emotional intelligence is already obvious in jobs like nursing, ministry, and teaching.... Good lawyers will become like legal therapists – creating trust with clients and helping solve their problems, rather than simply writing briefs and doing research.... People who are skilled at creating social and emotional experiences will be better positioned for the future than people whose primary skill is making or doing things."
- Kevin Roose in "Futureproof: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation"
Improving one's emotional intelligence can have a host of benefits, both in academic achievement as well as in the legal profession.
There are three core areas of emotional intelligence.
- Appraisal and Expression of Emotions
- Regulation of Emotions
- Utilization of Emotions
After reading the below explanation and examples, we invite you to take the EQ TEST, in order to determine how your EQ measures up in each of these categories.
1. Appraisal and Expression of Emotion
- The ability to appraise and express ones emotions will allow a student to better communicate with their peers and colleagues, and build better relationships with them.
- The ability to appraise and express ones emotions allows lawyers and legal professionals to tell compelling stories in advocacy roles.
"Using emotional intelligence can give a negotiator an edge in navigating the half of negotiation challenges that are emotional”
- Ronda Muir - Beyond Smart: Lawyering with Emotional Intelligence
| SELF |
Description: Appraising ones own emotions can allow for better responses, as well as the ability to process and further understand ones emotional wellbeing. |
Verbal: Learning about ones emotions depends in part by being able to speak clearly of them. Ask yourself: Do you like to share your emotions with others? |
Non-Verbal: The ability to appraise emotions which are not verbally communicated, such as through body language has been shown to increase ones ability to communicate about emotions and improve ones empathy Ask yourself: Am I aware of my emotions as I experience them? |
Practical Outcome Effective communication to form stronger relationships with classmates, colleagues and clients. |
| OTHERS |
Description: Skillful recognizance of others' emotional reactions and empathic responses allow individuals to gauge accurately the responses in others and choose socially adaptive behaviours in response. |
Non-Verbal Perception: Interpreting others non-verbal communications regarding emotions allows better interpersonal communication. Ask yourself: Am I aware of my emotions as I experience them? |
Empathy: The ability to understand other feelings, their point of view, and experience a similar emotional response tot them and communicate this internal experience. Ask yourself: When someone tells you about an event where the experienced powerful emotions, do you almost feel as if you have experienced this event yourself? |
Practical Outcome A better understanding of clients and adversaries positions can lead to more efficient dispute resolution. |
2. Regulation of emotions
System of monitoring, evaluating, and acting to change mood. Meta-experience of mood allowing for more adaptive mood states
- The ability to manage and be aware of ones emotions ensures someone is proactive in their stress management which reduces the risk of burnout and allows for better academic performance.
- Being aware and managing ones own emotions, as well as understandings others emotions, can help a lawyer understand and be professional when dealing with sensitive subject matters, or clients who are experiencing traumatic events.
- The ability to regulate ones emotions allows someone to remain calm in situations such as court, interviews and client meetings, ensuring one performs to the best of their abilities in these situations.
“Raising emotional intelligence is a key strategy to significantly improve stress management"
- Ronda Muir - Beyond Smart: Lawyering with Emotional Intelligence
| Self |
Description: Ask yourself: When your mood changes, do you see new possibilities? |
Practical Outcomes: Engaging in pleasant experiences allows one to control stress during busy times. |
| Others |
Description: How one presents themselves to others to control impressions formed of them. Ask yourself: do you compliment others when they have done something well? |
Practical Outcomes: Allows an individual to support peers and other legal professionals in order to create a positive work environment. |
3. Utilization of emotions
Harnessing one's own emotions to solve problems.
- The ability to utilize ones emotions allows students to adapt and be flexible to respond to sudden assignments, additional readings, and other responsibilities which arise in law school and as a legal professional. This also promotes creative thinking, which is useful in coming up with novel legal arguments on exams, papers, and in moot court.
- The ability to utilize ones emotions helps a legal professional handle disappointment that comes from losing a case, and can assist in problem solving by allowing one to think creatively.
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Flexible Planning Description Changes in moods have an impact on how we perceive things. A change in mood can help break ones set idea of how to go about certain situations and helps one consider a variety of possibilities. Ask Yourself: When your mood changes, do you see new possibilities? |
Practical Outcome: Allows an individual to be adaptable as new challenges arise in school or work. |
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Creative Thinking Description: A good mood allows individuals to think more creatively or come up with unusual answers. Ask yourself: When you feel a change in emotions, do you come up with new ideas? |
Practical Outcome: Creative thinking initiated by utilization of ones emotions can lead to better problem solving, especially when faced with a unique or novel situation on an exam or in a case. |
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Redirected Attention Description: When powerful emotions occur, attention is directed to new problems. Learning to capitalize on the capacity of emotional process to refocus attention on what is important is crucial. Ask yourself: Have major life events led you to re-evaluate what is important and not important? |
Practical Outcomes This allows a person to use setbacks in the workplace as learning opportunities. |
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Motivation Description: The ability to use ones positive mood can help a person maintain motivation. Ask yourself: when faced with a challenge, I give up because I believe I will fail. |
Practical Outcomes Using emotions to stay motivated can allow someone to be intrinsically motivated to work hard and persevere. |
Overall Wellbeing
Numerous studies have explored how scores on the Assessing Emotions Scale are associated with outcomes one might expect to be related to emotional intelligence. Such outcomes are found in various life realms including mental health, employment, and academic pursuits.