Do you work with people who display Emotional Intelligence? Do you agree that Emotional Intelligence can be the key to success in your career or personal life?
Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to understand and manage your own emotions, as well as recognise and influence the emotions of those around you. In a competitive workplace, developing your emotional intelligence skills is vital to your professional success.
Below are 10 ways to increase your emotional intelligence :
- Maintain positive mindset
A positive mind-set can free a person from self-focused negative thoughts, allowing him to pay more attention to the needs and perspectives of others. One must have control over his own emotional impulses before he is able to effectively recognise and respond to others. The ability to identify negative self-talk and turn it to a positive direction is a hallmark trait of people with a positive mind-set and a healthy optimism.
- Active Listening
Listen better. That means don’t talk when someone else is sharing. Observe their nonverbal behaviour carefully. In a social situation, listening to what people are communicating to understand their experiences will help the listener develop compassion and empathy, both of which are critical factors in developing high levels of emotional intelligence. Additionally, by developing active listening skills, the listener will also develop the communication skills needed to convey the nuances of their own mood states. By actively listening and responding to the mood they are presenting, emotional intelligence will be heightened.
- Practice self-awareness
Self-awareness, or the ability to recognise and understand your own emotions and their impact on your performance. You know what you are feeling and why and how it helps or hurts what you are trying to do. You sense how others see you and your self-image reflects that larger reality. People who possess self-awareness have a good sense of humour, are confident in themselves and their abilities, and are aware of how other people perceive them. Emotional Self-Awareness isn’t something that you achieve once. Every moment is an opportunity to be self-aware or not. It is a continual endeavour, The more you practice it, the easier it becomes.
- Respond instead of React
During instances of conflict, emotional outbursts and feelings of anger are common. Not only anger, we are being impulsive, short-sighted, and usually not making decisions in our “right minds.” In reacting in the heat of the moment, you may end up clouding your thinking and judgment. Emotionally intelligent person knows how to stay calm during stressful situations. They step back, create space to consider the situation from all angles, and decide the best approach to handle things. They make a conscious choice to focus on ensuring that their actions and words are in alignment with that.
- Self-regulation
Self-regulation is a skill that enables leaders to intelligently react to, embrace, and adapt to change. More specifically, Self-regulation is the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods and the propensity to suspend judgment and think before acting. Individuals with this attribute are able to control their impulses, which includes maintaining calm and not overreacting to mistakes. When experiencing negative emotions, continue to summarise the situation to determine triggers and critically observe your behavioural reactions. Put your feelings in perspective with the big picture and ask yourself, “How will I feel about this one week from now?”
- Keep patience
People with emotional intelligence have the learning capacity to process a situation about to go south, get perspective, listen to someone they disagree with without judgment, and hold back from reacting head on. In practicing the virtue of patience, it may mean making the decision to sit on your decision. By thinking it over things with a rational and level-headed mind, you’ll eventually arrive at another, more sane conclusion.
- Develop Empathy
We’re all just human. One of the ways to become aware of the other person is to show empathy, the ability to understand another person’s feelings by remembering a similar experience from our own life. We try to learn how and why they feel this way, and try to see things from their point of view. There can be no empathy without self-awareness of our own emotions, however, because we must relate to what they are going through on a personal level.
- Self-Motivation
Emotionally intelligent people are self-motivated and their attitude motivates others. Self-motivation includes our personal drive to improve and achieve, commitment to our goals, initiative, or readiness to act on opportunities, and optimism and resilience. Do not make unreasonable demands on yourself, learn to be assertive rather than just saying, ‘Yes’ to the demands of others. People who are emotionally intelligent are motivated by things beyond external rewards like fame, money, recognition, and acclaim. They set goals, have a high need for achievement, and are always looking for ways to do better.
- Social Skill
Being able to interact well with others is another important aspect of emotional intelligence. This can include finding common ground with others, managing others in a work environment and being persuasive. Having strong social skills allows people to build meaningful relationships with other people and develop a stronger understanding of themselves and others. True emotional understanding involves more than just understanding your own emotions and those of others. You also need to be able to put this information to work in your daily interactions and communications.
- Be approachable and more open to feedback
Emotionally intelligent people come off as approachable. They smile and give off a positive presence. They utilise appropriate social skills based on their relationship. Emotionally intelligent people are often more able to set aside their emotions in order to see the big picture, they are less defensive and more open to feedback, especially when it involves areas of improvement. If you are more likely to grow, improve, evolve. Ask for feedback and shrink power distance with others.
