Emotional Intelligence
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- Category: Mind Over Matter
- Created on Friday, 20 November 2020 15:56
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Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and understand human emotions. You might use emotional intelligence both to work and communicate with others as well as yourself. Having high emotional intelligence can help you build relationships in the workplace, accomplish tasks and achieve goals.
While emotional intelligence can seem like a vague or complex concept, there are specific ways you can develop this skill. In this article, we will discuss the importance of emotional intelligence, how to improve it and how it might be used in the workplace.
What is emotional intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to analyze and manage your own emotions as well as having empathy or identifying the emotions of others. It also involves classifying or naming specific emotions and being able to address them appropriately. We use emotional intelligence on a daily basis when interacting with others whether we know it or not. Taking time to hone and build on these skills can help you become better at building relationships and accomplishing shared tasks.
Emotional intelligence in the workplace
While we do use emotional intelligence in all areas of our lives, there are specific ways we can use this skill at work with our colleagues, clients and managers. Here are a few examples of scenarios when emotional intelligence can be helpful:
- During a phone call with a client regarding the performance of a campaign, your contact expresses anger about their unhappiness with your partnership. You also know that their organization is going through layoffs and your client is responsible for selecting members of her team to let go. Because of this knowledge, you understand that simply listening to her complaints with a calm, empathetic demeanor is the best response. You schedule another call for a better time.
- During a meeting, you notice your employee is being quieter than usual and is not contributing to the discussion. While it may seem that they are not paying attention, you decide to have a casual conversation with them to ensure everything is okay. During the talk, you learn that he did not get good rest the night before because his mother-in-law who is staying with them was very sick.
- During a review of a recent project you put together, you receive professional criticism about certain ways it can be improved. After the meeting, you are feeling deflated and anxious. After processing your emotions, you identify that you are focusing on the negative instead of viewing it as a way to improve your work because of all the time and effort you put into it. Instead of feeling disappointed, you decide to feel motivated about the ways you can make your work better.
How to improve emotional intelligence
While it can take time and practice, soft skills like emotional intelligence can be improved. Here are several ways you can work to improve these skills:
- Practice awareness. Take time during the span of a business week to pay special attention to the interactions around you, both yours and others. Observing the way people use and react to emotion can help you fine-tune your own ability in empathy.
- Look inward. While observing others and their interactions can be helpful, monitoring your own emotions and your response to them can also increase your emotional awareness. For example, you might notice that when you feel stress you tend to be short with others. Or when you are feeling sad or disappointed, you might notice your shoulders slouch or head points downward.
- React and respond to others. Practice addressing and working with others based on the way you observe they are feeling. A helpful method when deciding how you should react is to consider how you would like to be treated under the same circumstances. Sometimes, however, others may not want the same treatment that may come naturally to you.
For example, while you might enjoy talking about your emotions with others when you feel anxious or stressed, others might prefer to process their emotions alone. If you are unsure, you may be able to ask them about their preference in that moment.
Emotional intelligence is certainly built by trial-and-error as well. If you find that you misinterpreted a certain emotion or the way you handled someone’s feelings did not work well, learn from your mistakes and treat the situation differently the next time.
Building relationships through empathy, communication and active listening can help you be a highly valued team member at an organization. Displaying examples of ways that you have connected with others using emotional intelligence in your cover letter and during interviews can also help you be a competitive candidate.
