Emotional intelligence at workplace is an important skill that everyone should possess. It helps people to understand their emotions and deal with them appropriately. Do you know your EQ (Emotional Quotient) level? There are tons of online tests to measure your Emotional Intelligence. What was your score?
If you get a high score, it’s good. And if you got a low score, don’t worry. Because, unlike your IQ level, you can improve your emotional intelligence. But it would help if you remembered that it’s the practical skills that matter more than your score.
In the previous article, you learned about emotional intelligence, how you can measure it and why it is crucial. As promised, in this article, we proceed with its importance in your workplace and how you can improve it.
Table of Contents
What are some inspiring short stories on emotional intelligence?
Let’s start with some inspiring short stories on emotional intelligence.
Stress
Once a stress management trainer held a glass of water to her audience. While everyone expected the old question “half empty or half full,” she asked, “how heavy is this glass of water?”
Many replied with various numbers. But her explanation was different. “The weight doesn’t matter. What matters is how long I hold it. It is light when I hold it for a minute, aches my arm after an hour and paralyses my arm after a day. The longer you think about your stress, the longer it will hurt you”.
Obstacle
A king once placed a boulder on a busy road at night when nobody was seeing. The next day, many people, including his courtiers, just walked around it. As days passed, many started to blame the king for not removing the boulder.
One day a simple farmer carrying his vegetables came across the boulder. He laid down his bag and, after a lot of pushing and straining himself, succeeded in moving the rock to the side of the road. He found a purse full of gold coins with a note saying that the gold was for the one who removed the boulder from the road. The king wanted to see who would be brave enough to find opportunities in every obstacle.
Does emotional intelligence at workplace even matter?
Absolutely! It is a common belief that you should always bury your emotions and focus solely on your work in the office. Unfortunately, over time this will take a significant toll on your mental health, causing your performance to go downhill. However, emotional literacy helps you manage stress and anxiety and enables you to advance in your career. Let’s see how.
- You get better at making new relationships and maintaining existing ones. Professional networking plays a vital role in your career advancement. An emotionally intelligent person is good at relationship management, thus building a better network.
- You will not only empathize with your coworkers but be able to understand non-verbal communication. Such improved communication helps you to fix a situation before it turns into a problem.
- You will not be just a good manager or boss. You will be an effective leader too. Only then can you get better performance from your team.
- If you are a team member, you will better establish team spirit, understanding, and support. In addition, these improvements build much trust with your peers.
- Feedbacks are crucial for employees’ development. But often, people end up being rude, and not everyone is good at receiving constructive criticism. On the other hand, if you are emotionally intelligent, you get good at giving and receiving effective feedback. As a result, you have better social awareness and build a better work environment for the teams.
Why is emotional intelligence at workplace is important for building good teams?
No matter the project you work on, you are always part of a team. However, for any team to be successful, having skilled members is not enough. It would be best if you had better collaboration and understanding among the members for good team performance. You can achieve this as long as the members are emotionally intelligent. How? Let’s see.
- Each member is aware of, understands, and manages their emotions. They have emotional skills to tackle their problems, take breaks during stress, and empathize with a team member.
- Conflicts are pervasive when a group of people works together. When people are emotionally intelligent, they are good at seeing from others’ perspectives. This ability plays an essential role in solving conflicts.
- Emotionally intelligent members are good at understanding each other, their emotions, roles, and responsibilities. This understanding brings out better communication and collaboration among them.
- A self-motivated team can accomplish greatness. Because it has members who recognize each other’s accomplishments, give due credits, motivate, encourage and uplift each other.
- If there are bad relationships and collaboration in a team, it is bound to affect the decisions. But when they control emotions, empathize with coworkers, be practical, and understand nonverbal communication, the decision-making process becomes smoother.
How important is emotional intelligence in handling a difficult situation?
Difficult situations both in our professional and personal lives are not uncommon. Therefore, you need to be emotionally stable and think practically during those times. You can regulate your emotions, be motivated, and handle any difficult situation if you know your feelings.
Of course, you can not handle all situations with controlling emotions. Depending on the problem, you need to have the practical knowledge, skills, and resources to solve it. But if you do not possess the mental stability to solve the problem, you might make many mistakes and cause emotional and wrong decisions.
When handling a challenging situation, being self-aware of your emotions and self-regulating them is not enough. It would be best if you empathized with others involved in the problem too. If they are not emotionally intelligent, good social skills allow you to help and teach them to overcome their emotions.
All the five essential components of emotional intelligence – self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills, are critical to handling a difficult situation.
Why is emotional intelligence as a critical factor in modern organizational leadership?
You have already learned the importance of emotional intelligence in building a good team. But if the team does not have good leadership, it might not perform up to its capacity. So let’s see the perks of being an emotionally intelligent leader.
- A good leader knows how to control their emotions and not let them reflect on their subordinates. They won’t let their emotions interfere with their judgment and decisions.
- They are not only aware of their emotions but their strengths, weaknesses, and limitations too. This awareness will make them good at delegating tasks to the right people.
- A leader who has a significant level of empathy can understand their teammate’s emotional state, feelings, and problems. As a result, they put themselves in others’ shoes to make thoughtful and practical decisions.
- Emotional intelligence makes you better at communication – which is the most critical skill a leader should have. You speak with honesty, sincerity and solve any tensions within your team.
- Leaders always need to give feedback to their subordinates. Positive or negative, they play a crucial role in the performance of the employee. An emotionally intelligent leader knows how to give negative feedback without demotivating the employee, encouraging them to improve themselves.
What are the most effective ways to improve emotional intelligence?
Now that you know the importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace, you improve yours. Here are some of the most effective ways:
- First, observe how you react to various situations and other people. Then, try to recognize your feelings at that moment or later. Acknowledge them.
- Keep a journal to record your emotions, mood throughout the day, actions, and reactions. Then, take some EQ tests and quizzes that will help you to self-evaluate your weaknesses.
- Before judging others, put yourselves in their shoes. Try to think from their point of view. Understand their situation and how they might be feeling.
- Always take responsibility for your actions and your words. If you inadvertently hurt someone, don’t ignore or avoid them. Instead, apologize to them directly. As a result, you will have better relationships.
- Be a good listener. The listening skills will stop you from jumping to wrong conclusions about others. As a result, you will learn more about the other person and develop a more meaningful connection.
- Think before your act. Think about the consequences of your actions before you perform them. How will others feel? How would you feel if someone did the same thing to you?
- If you cannot recognize your emotions, ask your friends, family, and colleagues. Emotionally intelligent people are good at observing others, and you can ask for their feedback on yours.
- Improve your mental health. Journaling, meditation, yoga, taking breaks, having a hobby, exercising, walking, and deep breathing, all these practices help you to understand and manage your emotions.
- Don’t shy away from asking for professional help if you need it. For example, you can join emotional management training and undergo therapy if you deal with stress or anxiety.
- And last but not least, always maintain a positive attitude. It not only improves your emotional state but that of the people around you too. Develop an optimistic outlook towards life in general.
Conclusion
Emotional intelligence is as important as your IQ. Improving it will improve both your personal and professional lives. So, do you have any other tips for improving emotional intelligence?
