EQ Is The New Influencer In Business

What is emotional intelligence ?

Emotional intelligence can also be defined as the capacity to recognize our own feelings and those of others for motivating ourselves and managing emotions well in our social interactions. According to Dr Goleman, ’emotional intelligence is defined as a set of skills or competencies, which provide human resource professionals, managers, and anyone in the world of work, with a comprehen­sive tool to define, measure and develop emotional skills’.

Goleman’s book highlights five key components of emotional intelligence, which outline useful emotional intelligence skills that can improve leadership effectiveness at work.

• Self-Aware: encompassing our own knowledge of ourselves, and being able to both recognise and understand ourselves, our behaviours, and our emotions.
• Self-Manage and Self-Regulate: encompassing our ability to be in control of our emotions, and therefore our responses.
• Self-Motivated: encompassing our internal resources to be driven, perform, act, and reach towards goals.
• Empathic: encompassing our ability to understand and ‘feel for’ others, understand their emotion, and therefore relate to them more effectively.
• Relational: encompassing our ability to build and maintain relationships, network, lead, manage conflict and work with others.

Why is emotional intelligence important in the workplace?

Emotional intelligence in the workplace is critical to managing cohesive, high-performing teams. Researchers and behavioral scientists have suggested that emotionally intelligence leaders and managers know how to manage their emotions and behavior at work, creating safe environments for exchanging ideas and feedback, productive teamwork and performance, high morale, employee engagement, and job satisfaction.

How to encourage emotional intelligence in the workplace

In today’s evolving world of work, there are many ways to encourage emotional intelligence in the workplace. Managers must imbibe the characteristics they wish to see in their employees by:

• Leading by example
• Practicing empathy
• Communicating clearly and positively
• Praising in public and criticizing privately
• Creating a work environment that rewards emotional intelligence
• Listening actively
• Embracing feedback
• Providing emotional intelligence workshops or courses for team member

Emotional intelligence is clearly an important aspect of thriving in the workplace — it’ll open up new opportunities and let you connect with others. Not to mention the increased levels of positivity and satisfaction you’ll be unlocking with the ability to manage your emotions.