The American Psychological Association estimates that more than $500 billion is siphoned off from the U.S. economy because of workplace stress, and 550 million workdays are lost each year due to the job pressure.
If organizations focus on Professional Intelligence (PI), work stress can be drastically reduced if not eliminated.
What is Professional Intelligence?
The Professional Intelligence of a person is a concoction of varied skills and qualities like work ethics, compassion, competence, etc. In today's world of ever-changing work dynamics, the PI score of each employee and cumulative score at the organization level is of immense importance for the growth, sustainability, and continuous development of an individual as well as the company one is working for. Higher PI scores in a team ensure a positive working culture, great team dynamics, faster decision making, and, most importantly a compassionate team that works relentlessly towards a common goal.
The impact of professional intelligence is phenomenal, especially in areas like recruitment, where due diligence is given not just in matching credentials and job descriptions but also a comprehensive deep dive into the potentiality of success for the role.
Here are the top 9 qualities that make the Professional Intelligence Quotient:
Compassion: A rare and finest quality at an individual level that ensures that the person hired is a powerhouse of positive energy, empathy, and a loving culture
Agility: The ability to change as per the given situation and adapt as required is a quality of paramount importance, especially in the ever-changing and fast-growing startups.
Honesty: Employers do not want to hire people who cannot be trusted. Honesty is the strongest pillar of a high PI score and simply cannot be compromised.
Creativity: Employees who are generally creative will ensure that they bring new ideas and concepts to all kinds of problems and opportunities.
Harmony: Employers like to recruit people who can get along seamlessly with colleagues and work in harmony no matter what the situation is. Flexibility and the art of taking a team together is a foundation for successful leadership.
Learning attitude: An attitude to keep learning at work is the quality of a great leader as well as a team member. This ensures stagnancy is kept at bay and there are efforts made both at individual and company levels to keep investing in new skills and competencies.
The art of Communication: The ability to communicate by email, on the phone, in person, and with body language. Communication also includes listening skills and putting your point across in the most constructive way. Providing feedback, most fruitfully and assertively is an art.
Personality: Personality plays a significant role at work. Personal grooming, carrying yourself, and being a charmer will automatically ensure an employee’s higher likability scores.
Persistence: The key is to work hard and keep moving forward with determination and putting efforts continuously in self and organization development.
In a large-scale study of over 3,000 employees conducted by Anna Nyberg at the Karolinska Institute, results showed a strong link between leadership behavior and heart disease in employees. Stress-producing bosses are literally bad for the heart.
Hence, creating a positive and healthy work culture depends on an overall higher individual PI score.
With organizations working remotely, Professional Intelligence is becoming even more critical for organizations as they struggle to keep up the team spirit. Both recruiters and candidates will do well to focus on this key aspect if they want to excel in the hiring game.
