Updated May 8, 2023
Emotional Intelligence Skills
Emotional Intelligence Skills (EQ) can be explained as the talent or capability to know the name and manage personal emotions while analyzing and understanding other people’s emotions. Thus EQ helps in linking up with others in a highly successful manner both professionally and personally, that too in a wider range of roles and contexts.
Mark Creamer
What percentages of the decisions you make at the workplace are emotional compared to rational ones? Usually, most people suggest that it is 20 percent or less. But the truth is that every decision we make is 100 emotional, and then we follow that decision underpinning with several logical justifications. All of us are human beings ruled by emotions, and this emotional baggage can’t be left at home. Accepting this fact, as well as handling these implications, would be highly favorable not just for you but would be valuable for your workplace also.
As mentioned in the book “Working with Emotional Intelligence Skills” by Daniel Goleman, a strong link exists between emotional intelligence skills and performance in the workplace. He found that out of all the competencies, about 67 percent of competencies were connected with emotional intelligence skills and were very important for high performance at the workplace. Furthermore, Goleman stated that a person’s emotional intelligence skills are twice as important as his/ her Intelligence Quotient or technical knowledge for delivering high performance.
About Emotional Intelligence Skills
“We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their impact on us.”
– John Wallen
Although the term “emotional intelligence skills” was coined during the early 1990s, business leaders rapidly adopted it, making it a management concept of great importance. As per the guidelines of EQ, success gets impacted and inspired by several personal qualities like self-control, skills of getting along with others, or perseverance. There have been lots of research and articles on EQ. How it can be improved amongst employees, but the hiring managers can easily make many better-hiring judgments if they recruit people with a higher level of EQ.
Importance of Emotional Intelligence Skills at Work
EQ is effective in managing stress and is important in promoting teamwork and cooperation as it assists in gaining knowledge in relationships. Our emotions affect our capabilities to work in a team; thus, we need the power to connect, integrate, and self-soothe in the relationships existing in the workplace. Excellent knowledge, emotional intelligence skills, and a great experience can get you a job. Still, EQ is the vital factor that will decide your success and the rise within the organization.
Mostly EQ shows up at the workplace as:
- Blaming others in the staff
- Not able to hear highly critical feedback
- Passive, Aggressive, or a combination of both Passive-Aggressive communication
- Leaders, not into the habit of listening and who get out of touch with their teams
- Unwelcoming or not valuing a diverse form of opinions
Categories of Emotional Intelligence Skills
Employees with higher EQ can work in teams better and are very flexible and capable of adjusting to change. EQ is imperative for success in the job; that is why his book on EQ titled “Emotional Intelligence skills: Why it can matter more than IQ and working with emotional intelligence skills ” has suggested five effective categories of EQ:
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Self-Awareness
A person with wisdom about this self-awareness pillar will easily understand and analyze his/ her strengths and weaknesses. This will help him/ her to analyze the impact of the actions taken by him/ her on other people. A self-aware person is good at handling and learning a lot from constructive emotional intelligence skills and criticism around him/ her.
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Self-Regulation
Higher EQ means that the person can show off his/ her emotions maturely while also practicing restraint as and when needed. Instead of putting a lid on his/ her feelings, the person knows well how to put them across with the proper amount of dominance and restriction.
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Motivation
It has been found that emotionally intelligent people are highly self-motivated. It is not just money or the job title that motivates them; usually, they are found to be highly optimistic and strong, mostly in disappointing situations. It is their inner goals that drive them.
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Empathy
A person who has the quality of showing empathy will generally be compassionate and will analyze human nature also very well. This also helps the person easily associate with the other staff or team members emotionally. Thus, the capability of showing empathy helps the person to deliver better service as well as to take the right actions toward the concerns of other people.
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People Skills
Having higher emotional intelligence skills makes one possess more affinity, and such people can easily build trust with their team members. Mostly they try to avoid the habit of backstabbing and power struggles. They are most fond of others around them while showing respect for the other team members or colleagues working with them.
These five pillars of EQ are necessary for successful candidates who can easily thrive and create a positive environment in the workplace. Therefore it is very important for organizations to look for new hires with higher EQ. On a similar front, they should also have business leaders or managers who can quickly act emotionally intelligently to cater to their requirements for workers and their needs. The emotional needs of the employees at the workplace are worth paying attention to. The organizations that invest in the concept of EQ own much more engaged employees who are more committed.
10 Effective Ways of Fostering Emotional Intelligence Skills in Organizations
Going over and above the roles and responsibilities of traditional leadership, the leaders in today’s organizations need to be much more caring and sensitive about what matters the most to their employees. That is why we share a few effective ways to make the employees more emotionally intelligent.
Detect the Stress and Response to it
The first step towards increasing emotional intelligence exercises is finding out what stress feels like. Do you know how your body feels and reacts under stress? By being attentive to the physical responses that occur towards any response, you can easily regulate anxiety or nervousness whenever it takes place. When you become stressed or angry, you can easily handle them with the help of stress-relieving activities that will help you soothing down.
Take Care of People Around
Leaders must balance the heart and head to communicate effectively. Being a leader, one needs to display a mature attitude combined with passion and be more compassionate to create a balance between what is required from the human spirit and what is needed at the job. Employees never ask for hand-holding for doing any job; they just want appreciation for their efforts and hard work. Just show the extra efforts you took by saying thanks, and being a leader with high EQ, you should be consistent with it.
Develop Emotional Awareness
Negative childhood experiences may cause people to withdraw from emotions like joy, anger, fear, or sadness.
Although we can deny, distort, or numb our feelings, we cannot eliminate them. Therefore, to be healthy and emotionally intelligent on the emotional front, one needs to re-establish the connection with unpleasant or strong emotions. We need to bring a change in the way we respond to our feelings or the manner we experience them. Try to develop emotional awareness by using some help guide to bring balance in one’s life.
Be Accountable
Being the leader does not mean cannot be equal to other staff members. Hold yourself accountable while enforcing engagement rules. Good leaders adopt this perspective. Employees always appreciate leaders who share their privileges and perks. People always appreciate leaders who are transparent about their leadership and who admit when they are wrong. Employees always value leaders who are relatable as well as approachable.
Non-verbal Communication
From the tone of voice to the body language, all covered under non-verbal communication, intends to send messages you do not want to. So you need to learn to exercise control over non-verbal communication, which simply involves focusing on others, listening carefully before making judgments, and making proper eye contact while giving your opinion. Successful non-verbal communication relies on the capabilities you have for managing stress. It was important to find out your personal emotions at the same time and analyze the signals sent out by you as well as received by you.
Embrace Emotions
Make it a point to check yourself a few times every day while self-evaluating your thought process. It will help you discover your strengths, weaknesses, emotions, or shortcomings. This will help you out in accepting the fact that everyone on this earth is not perfect. Check whether you can accept this fact. Are you ready to work on your lacunas to improve your emotional intelligence?
Be Thoughtful of Needs
Stay mindful and sensitive to team members to unlock their full potential. Every person has the capacity to show improvements as well as to increase their productivity. The organization should provide continuous and regular feedback, suggestions, and recommendations to achieve this.
Think Before Acting
Thinking is imperative, so just analyze and find the results of your actions. The best way is to put yourself in their shoes before taking any major action. This will help determine the real-time impact or consequences of your actions. Take necessary action while helping the team handle negative impacts.
Show Humor and Humility
The best way to seek attention is to let your work speak for it, not you. The best way of getting appreciated is when others speak well about you and your actions. Focus on others to demonstrate humility and improve emotional intelligence. Whenever facing any challenges, bigger or smaller, just take a deep breath and always demonstrate your best sense of humor.
Be Responsible
Being emotionally intelligent means being humble and ready to shoulder any responsibility. You should be ready to take responsibility for your actions whenever things go wrong. If you have hurt someone, sincerely apologize for your wrong actions. Try walking away from unnecessary arguments. Learn to forgive and forget instead of nurturing the feeling of resentment in your heart. Taking revenge or a revengeful attitude is bad for any person and lowers the emotional intelligence quotient. Learn to stay happy and spread laughter all around.
Recommended Articles
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