Emotional ability
Is about the ability to be emotionally responsive and how well one can read from other people's feelings
Emotionally gifted people (high EQ) are usually considered as being social and empathetic. They have a well-developed ability to identify, understand and deal with feelings, have a higher quality of living in general and are more accepted in society. Moreover, emotionally gifted people generally have a better balance between work and leisure.
We measure this factor with a performance task ”to recognize emotions”. The usual method is to use a self-evaluation test called EQ. But this is often more a form of personality test directed towards self-esteem and empathy. People with a high EQ score have a well-developed sense of empathy. They are socially aware and can quickly pick up on others´ emotional states. They often have a unique ability to create well-being and comfort in a workplace or in an occupation involving frequent meetings with clients. Naturally it is therefore an important factor for success in fields or occupations that are heavily service-oriented. The results on this factor are readily comparable with those from the factor ”Balance at work”.
These scores should correlate, so that people with high EQ should also have a good balance between family and work. An overly high EQ can, on the other hand, affect performance negatively, especially at the management level. Managers at this EQ level are generally very appreciated by their staff, because they are easy-going and let everyone have a say. They are often very flexible and allow the personnel be included on making decisions, but tend to avoid negative decisions.
Creative ability
Defined as inventiveness, the ability to find new proposals or come up with new ideas
Creativity is about the individual’s ability to think creatively and flexibly. People with a high score have a distinct ability to solve problems as well as intellectual flexibility. It’s easy for them to think in new patterns so they often get new ideas. Many of today’s professions require independent staff who make their own decisions. One is often expected to think creatively, independently, solution orientated and ”fresh”. This is especially true in certain fields like, media, advertising, or PR. But even in strongly knowledge orientated professions the staff should have a creative spark. In that setting, creativity is often considered to be something desirable.
On the other hand, creative people can be counterproductive in fields with many repetitive tasks. This also applies to professions that are guided by strict rules, where the work is done by interpreting and following them. Even at the management level there is research that implies that creative managers can be perceived negatively by their co-workers. Strongly creative people are characterized by individualism, thinking for themselves and good self-confidence. They are often impulsive in their decision-making.
Verbal ability
Is about the ability to interpret, transmit and receive verbal messages, how to understand words and can indicate their meaning. It describes how effectively and rigorously the individual uses his verbal ability during time pressure
People with a high verbal ability handle language effectively and stringently – also under time constraints. One can measure a person’s verbal abilities in different ways. We have chosen to measure synonyms and antonyms. In that respect, the test measures the individual’s vocabulary. But because there is a high correlation between the individual’s vocabulary and speaking ability, we use synonyms and antonyms for the sake of effectiveness. The result is still a sufficiently good indication of the individual’s verbal ability in a more general sense. At the same time, one should be aware during the interpretation of the results that the evaluation can be biased against people who have grown up in other geographic language areas or environments, or against those who are sensitive to stress.
People with a high score in verbal ability have a well-developed sense for language. They use their language effectively, which is important for all professions involving frequent contact with clients or where one is dependent on the individual’s ability to read and write.
Even at the management level, it’s naturally important to be able to effectively understand and read texts, as well as being able to draw relevant conclusions from a written text.
Logical ability
Is about the ability of logical thinking during time pressure. It indicates the ability to think and reason in a consistent and coherent manner under stress
People with a highly developed ability for logical thinking, they reason in a consequential and congruent fashion – even with a time constraint. Logical thinking can be especially important within certain occupations. This applies to, for example, technical occupations like IT and programming, higher management with strategic responsibilities or strategic projects. Logical ability generally has a very prognostic value for many different professions.
It’s also often important where academic education is required. Logical ability can be measured in a variety of ways. We measure it partially through a spatial test, which is about a ”helicopter perspective” and to draw reasonable and rational conclusions with insufficient data. We partially measure the individual’s logical ability to make deductions and logical conclusions. People with a high logical ability have a well-developed capacity to make rational conclusions, which is important for all qualified occupations.
Even at the management level it’s obviously vital to be able to draw logical conclusions effectively and rationally, from incomplete information.