“Why are my brightest employees failing to live up to their potential?” This was the question from the CHRO of a rapidly-growing tech company who reached out to me for help.
They had created a meticulous hiring process for fresh graduates, relying heavily on CV screenings and General Mental Ability (GMA) assessments to identify talent—high-IQ individuals they believed would excel in their roles. After a year, performance reviews revealed that many of these “promising hires” were not living up to expectations.
The frustration was obvious, but to me as an Organisational Psychologist, the situation was not surprising. They were falling under what is known in psychometrics as criterion deficiency, meaning, they were relying on a narrow set of measurements—focusing solely on IQ—while neglecting other critical dimensions affecting the validity of their processes.
What became clear was that they needed to rethink their definition of “promising hire.” Although IQ is a crucial measure, it is only half the story. In the fast-evolving, collaborative workplaces we find ourselves in today, peak performance demands more than just innate cognitive skill. Workers need a mix of human skills, flexibility and resilience to actually thrive.
This is where the multidimensional framework comes in. I helped the CHRO embrace a more holistic view; one that includes other critical factors like Emotional Quotient (EQ), Adversity Quotient (AQ), and Social Quotient (SQ) alongside IQ, which reflect the realities of modern work. The results? Statistically significant predictive power of performance (R² = .68).
In the following sections, I will explore these four key performance-related dimensions and how they have been scientifically proven to improve employees’ and organisational performance and what are the main indicators of these quotients at the workplace.
IQ: The Classic Measure of Cognitive Ability
Intelligence Quotient has remained one of the most widely regarded measures of cognitive skills, from problem-solving to reasoning and analytical thinking. It has been a foundational metric for a century in judging an individual’s potential for success in positions demanding high-level decision-making or technical skill.
A well-known meta-analysis by Schmidt and Hunter (1998) found that IQ was the single best predictor of job performance, especially in knowledge-based jobs. Having high-IQ employees means that they can often learn very quickly and apply their knowledge to new situations, which promotes both efficiency and innovation for their companies. Here are some signs of high IQ in the workplace:
- Strong skills in analysing complex data and delivering actionable insights.
- A short learning curve for new systems, technologies, or methodologies.
- Excellent logical reasoning and decision-making skills under pressure.
While IQ is without doubt an important aspect to consider, it fails to capture relevant soft skills. Also, it has received criticism around inclusivity, as it does not consider neurodivergent respondents which using this dimension alone may lead to biased results.
EQ: Emotions-Driven Performance
A person’s Emotional Quotient is the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. This skill promotes self-awareness, empathy and emotional regulation, and is important in collaborative, team-based environments.
In research, high EQ is clearly correlated with greater work fulfilment and organisational commitment (Coco, 2011). In terms of performance, high EQ employees have the ability to excel in leadership positions, as they generate trust and increase team morale (Higgs & Aitken, 2003). Here are a few indicators of high EQ employees in the workplace:
- Recognition for handling constructive criticism effectively, even in stressful situations.
- A calm demeanour and positive attitude maintained under pressure and stress.
- A focused approach to resolving conflicts with solution-oriented intentions rather than assigning blame.
AQ: Strength in the Face of Adversity
Adversity Quotient is defined as an individual’s ability to adapt to and thrive under challenging conditions, a key factor for employees in fast-evolving workplace ecosystems. People with high AQ are calm and collected in stressful times.
High AQ has been associated with greater commitment in organisational transformations (Langvardt, 2007), greater job embeddedness (De Gulan et al., 2013), and less stress (Somaratne et al., 2019). This helps people remain productive and cheerful amid organisational uncertainty. Some of the signs of a high AQ in the workplace include:
- Quick adaptation to unexpected challenges head on with grace and grit.
- Strong ability to keep teams aligned and maintain collaboration through challenges.
- Steadfast commitment to achieving long-term goals despite setbacks.
SQ: Navigating Social Complexities
Social Quotient quantifies an individual’s effectiveness and influence in social interactions, especially in the diverse settings of today’s workplace. Commonly conflated with EQ, which deals with handling emotions, SQ is all about developing relationships, navigating both social environments and social cues.
For example, SQ has been shown to improve inclusiveness and performance in teams (Dogra & Dixit, 2019), an area that could be particularly relevant when we consider the mix of different cultures in many teams. It also facilitates transformational leadership by building trust and collaboration. The signs of high SQ in the workplace are as mentioned below:
- Excellent verbal and nonverbal skills to develop strong relationships.
- Awareness of non-verbal cues and the ability to adjust behaviour accordingly.
- Commitment to fostering inclusivity by ensuring everybody participates in conversations.
Reconsidering Intelligence Quotients in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
In summary, the CHRO’s conundrum highlights the old reality that traditional metrics like IQ are no longer sufficient in our high-speed, AI-centric world. While AI automating tasks and optimising decisions across various industries has turned the focus on distinctly human intelligences—EQ, AQ, and SQ. These dimensions, which AI cannot fully reproduce, are vital to collaboration, creativity and resiliency in the era of ever-accelerating change.
For organisations to succeed in this new reality, they must re-evaluate how they think about talent. Gone are the days of simply seeking out the “smartest” people. Instead, we need multidimensional intelligence on our teams—people who are skilled in not just logic and analysis, but empathy, adaptability, and social influence. AI can number crunch and process data, but the skillsets of working through ambiguity, building relationships, and driving innovation will be uniquely human.
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