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Emotional, Social and Cognitive Competencies as Assessed in the ESCI

(Boyatzis and Goleman, 1996, 1999; Boyatzis, Goleman and Hay Acquisition, 2001, 2007)

Emotional Intelligence Competencies

Self-Awareness cluster concerns knowing one's internal states, preferences, resources,

and intuitions. The Self-Awareness cluster contains one competency:
Emotional Self-Awareness (ESA): Recognizing one's emotions and their effects

Self-Management cluster refers to managing ones' internal states, impulses, and

resources. The Self-Management cluster contains four competencies:
Emotional Self-Control (ESC): Keeping disruptive emotions and impulses in check
Adaptability (A): Flexibility in handling change
Achievement Orientation (AO): Striving to improve or meeting a standard of excellence
Positive Outlook (PO): Seeing the positive aspects of things and the future

Social Intelligence Competencies

Social Awareness cluster refers to how people handle relationships and awareness of
others’ feelings, needs, and concerns. The Social Awareness cluster contains two
competencies:
Empathy (E): Sensing others' feelings and perspectives, and taking an active interest in their
concerns
Organizational Awareness (OA): Reading a group's emotional currents and power
relationships

Relationship Management cluster concerns the skill or adeptness at inducing desirable

responses in others. The cluster contains five competencies:
Coach and Mentor (CM): Sensing others' development needs and bolstering their abilities
Inspirational Leadership (IL): Inspiring and guiding individuals and groups
Influence (INF): Wielding effective tactics for persuasion
Conflict Management (CFM): Negotiating and resolving disagreements
Teamwork (TW): Working with others toward shared goals. Creating group synergy in
pursuing collective goals.

Cognitive Intelligence Competencies

Systems Thinking (ST): perceiving multiple causal relationships in understanding phenomena

or events
Pattern Recognition (PR): perceiving themes or patterns in seemingly random items, events,
or phenomena
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Competencies Used in the Critical Incident Coding Assignment

Achievement Orientation (AO): striving to improve or meeting a standard of excellence. The

intent is to perceive input/output relationships and includes the concern for increasing the
efficiency of action (i.e., maximizing output per unit of input). This will often appear as a
concern for doing something better, whether this comparison is with previous personal
performance, others' performance, or a standard of excellence. It is indicated when a person:

a) Assesses inputs and outputs, or costs and benefits, with the expressed intent of
maximizing efficiency (i.e., output/input); OR

b) Expresses a concern with doing something better or accomplishing something

unique; OR

c) Seeks to exceed or outperform a standard of excellence, or goal; OR

d) Uses resources (e.g., time, people, money, etc.) to maximize efficient progress
toward goals.

Emotional Self-Control (ESC): Keeping disruptive emotions and impulses in check. The intent
is to inhibit personal needs, or desires for the benefit of organizational, family, or group needs.
Although it is often not visible (i.e., if a person has self-control you cannot easily see them
controlling himself/herself). It is indicated when a person:

a) Remains calm in stressful settings (e.g., when being attacked);

b) Explicitly inhibits aggressive outbursts or impulsive behavior that may hurt others
or hurt progress toward goals; or

c) Explicitly denies a personal impulse, need, or desire (i.e., makes a personal

sacrifice) for the good of an organizational or group need.

Adaptability (A): Flexibility in handling change. The intent is to adapt to changing

circumstances, or alter one's behavior to better fit the situation. It is often associated with a
tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty. It is indicated when a person:

a) Changes a plan, behavior, or approach to one that is more appropriate in response

to a major change in a situation or changing circumstances; or

b) Changes a plan, behavior, or approach to a situation to one perceived to be more

appropriate when the desired impact is not occurring.
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Empathy (E): The intent is to understand others. It is indicated when a person:

a) Describes the strengths and limitations of others;

b) Explains the reasons for another person’s behavior (i.e., describes what motivates or
de-motivates specific others);

c) Interprets the moods, feelings, or nonverbal behavior of others; or

d) Shows that he/she has heard the person by asking questions or commenting on what
was said.

Influence (INF): The intent is to convince another person, or persons, about something. It may
be to adopt, an attitude, opinion, or position (i.e., getting others to do or think what you want
them to do or think). It is indicated when a person:

a) Explicitly expresses a need or desire to persuade others;

b) Attempts to convince others by appealing to their interests (i.e., pointing out what
each will gain personally);

c) Attempts to convince others by anticipating how people will react to an argument,

appeal, or situation and develops the communication to their level of understanding
or emotional condition at that time;

d) Uses questions or other techniques explicitly intended to result in the audience

feeling and accepting ownership of the ideas, projects, or activities; or

Teamwork (TW): The intent is to stimulate members of a group to work together effectively. It
is indicated when a person:

a) Creates symbols of group identity, pride, trust, or team effort;

b) Acts to promote commitment to a team, task, or shared goal through friendly,

personal contact;

c) Explicitly communicates to others the need for cooperation or teamwork within the
group.
Coach & Mentor (CM): The intent is to develop specific other people. It is indicated when a
person:

a) Gives someone performance feedback to be used in improving or maintaining

effective performance;

b) Provides others with information, tools, other resources, or opportunities to help

them get their job done or to improve their abilities (e.g., giving a promotion as part
of their development);

c) Explicitly tells another that he/she can accomplish an objective and provides
encouragement and support.
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Systems thinking (ST): The intent is to order multiple causal events. It is indicated when a
person:

a) Describes multiple causal events (i.e., multiple cause and effect relationships) in
terms of a series, or plan of action and events or flow diagram; or

b) Establishes priorities among a list of at least three alternate actions reflecting a

concept of multiple causality (i.e., A should be done first because it leads to B,
which leads to C and we want C to occur).

Pattern recognition (PR): The intent is to identify a pattern in an assortment of information,

unorganized, or seemingly random data. It is indicated when a person:

a) Identifies a pattern in events or information not used by others and uses the pattern
to explain or interpret the events or information;

b) Reduces large amounts of information through the use of a concept not previously
applied to this situation or information;

c) Sees similarities of a new situation to aspects of past situations of a different type;

d) Uses metaphors or analogies to explain events or information (this should be more

than a figure of speech or single phrase).