We live in a fast-moving world that is constantly evolving. With the passage of time, emotional intelligence has become one of the most important skills for success in life and you cannot deny its importance. It is one of the most necessary skills that someone who works in any sort of capacity needs.
There are plenty of statistics, case studies, and reports to prove why you need Emotional Intelligence to grow, be successful, and be productive. Studies have shown that 90% of top performers show above-average emotional intelligence, and it also constitutes 58% of job performance. Moreover, emotionally intelligent people also have higher earnings as they have been seen to earn $29,000 more on average.
So, what exactly is emotional intelligence, and how can one improve his or her EQ at work? We have the answer so let’s dive in to find out:
Emotional intelligence can be defined as someone’s ability to evaluate, understand, identify, and manage the emotions of his own and the people surrounding him. Two well-known psychologists who went by the names Peter Salovey and John Mayer, respectively, first introduced the concept of emotional intelligence in 1990. However, it was the famous psychologist and renowned author Daniel Goleman who generalized its concept in his book in 1995.
Emotional Intelligence is the top-ranked workplace skill in the list of the 33 most important skills that you need to survive, grow, and develop at any office. And surprisingly, it is not just vital for employees, it is also equally important for the bosses and coworkers. The use of EQ has increasingly become more common in the past years to choose who to hire and who to let go, who to retain and who to kick out, who to promote and who to pass over.
Therefore, we know for sure that we need this skill if we want to thrive in life and be a successful version of ourselves. But how does one know that? What are the traits that make someone emotionally intelligent?
We all come across emotionally intelligent without realizing it. Don’t get it? We will give you some hints: some of these people are those who solve their problems with positivity, without losing their cool or having a meltdown, respect their coworkers, are always motivated to do something, appear to be very approachable for everyone, and have an endearing aura around them. These people also take their time listening to others and their problems and then carefully evaluate their options before making any life-changing decision. Everyone in a workplace loves these people.
These people are called emotionally intelligent. And without even knowing we meet them every single day.
But the question is, what are the traits that make these people emotionally intelligent?
Let’s take a look at the 5 main components of emotional intelligence, as described by the psychologist and author Daniel Goleman:
Self-regulation can be defined as one’s ability to control his or her impulses and control their emotions before they act or speak on something. Self-regulated people express their emotions very appropriately to keep things around them positive.
Self-regulated people have the capability of showing accountability and taking responsibility for their actions. They can easily adapt to change, and respond according to the situation. If you are not self-regulated, you are more likely to have emotional outbursts that can affect your personal and work relationships.
Another element of emotional intelligence; people who are self-aware can identify and understand their abilities, motivations, and emotions. Moreover, being self-aware allows you to understand the impact your emotions can have on others around you.
A self-aware person has the ability to understand how he or she is viewed by people including managers, clients, partners, and co-workers. This enables them to positively accept feedback from their coworkers.
People who have empathy show the capability of recognizing and understanding the reactions and emotions of others present around them. You can only achieve empathy if you are self-aware because it is important for you to understand yourself before you understand others.
For instance, when you work in an office, you are able to perceive and handle others’ emotions and situations effectively only if you have empathy. Empathy also enables people to connect with coworkers who are also empaths.
Motivation can be defined as the desire or urge to do something and it gives us the strength to keep going even if we face challenges and problems. Motivation is responsible for giving someone an interest in self-improvement.
Motivated employees or people show a desire to accomplish something. This then promotes a series of other feelings in the person, which develop emotional intelligence in that person.
You need social skills to be able to interact, socialize, and communicate with others. Social skills enable you to hold meaningful conversations, understand jokes, pick up on behaviors, find a common ground with people, maintain friendships and relationships, and understand sarcasm.
People who have strong social skills also have a good office life because they are able to listen, speak, understand, and resolve conflicts among others more effectively. It also aids them in building rapport, gaining the trust of their managers, helping their coworkers, making friends, and earning everyone’s respect.
Let’s talk about the role and importance of EQ in the workplace:
We live in an era of pandemics, robotics, and digitalization, and these three factors are changing the service industry overnight. Jobs have become quite automated, with everyone working from their couches. Things have become more virtual, dispersed, remote, and even more global. Working from home calls for more productivity, better performance, greater flexibility, and a lot more isolation. These factors make it difficult to not lose touch with the human side of society. And with the circumstances around us, it is vital for everyone to engage with people as people – and keep in mind that we cannot part ways with emotions.
Because of everyone and everything going remote because of Covid-19, the importance of soft skills like integrity, empathy, and emotional intelligence has grown exponentially, especially for leaders and employees. Emotional intelligence, especially, has become essential for the future of work. It has become more important than ever for businesses, startups, companies, and organizations to correlate with customer satisfaction, growth, and productivity.
Here are some ways with which you can use your EQ to boost productivity and add value to your workplace:
Use your authenticity, sensitivity, and tactics to adapt your way of communication style according to the person (coworker or boss) you are interacting with. An emotionally intelligent person has heightened self-awareness that enables him or her to listen better and with the intention of understanding the speaker instead of just nodding their head. This kind of empathic communication will enable you to have honest, constructive, and open conversations. With your empathy, you can leverage differences, celebrate, avoid misunderstandings, promote a positive work culture, and create trust within your team.
Later or sooner everyone has to recognize the change, it is inevitable. People with high EQ show a great deal of adaptability to the circumstances and individuals around them. This makes them open to change, innovative solutions, and new ideas. Try to be apt at using your emotions to solve problems and constructive feedback from people. Moreover, Try to channel that feedback into a positive direction so you can improve yourself and your team.
As discussed above, people with high EQ have high motivation and drive to get things done. This also means that emotionally intelligent individuals are proactive at taking initiative and ensuring that they get things done. Leverage your ability to be a natural leader and motivate those around you as well, thus inspiring them to perform their best.
Emotionally intelligent people are extremely skilled at managing not just their emotions but also others around them, especially under pressure. Use your high emotional quotient to resolve conflicts that you are facing or that others are having. People with a high EQ are less prone to losing their cool and responding to frustrating issues with counter-productive reactions, instead, they remain calm, cool, and collected. Therefore, direct your focus to find solutions.
If you are emotionally intelligent, you have an innate capacity for looking at things from others’ points of view. You can also sense unspoken feelings, have a genuine care for others, and you can foster a sense of belonging by forming meaningful bonds. So, promote mutual respect, collaboration, a positive work environment, compassion, and care to retain new talents.
Prove yourself to be a high EQ employee, at your workplace, by using your exceptional communication and interpersonal skills to connect emotionally with others, understand their needs, meet potential clients, build and maintain a strong relationship with them, enhance the engagement of those working with you, and strike strategic partnerships to raise your investment opportunities.
It is all about contributing to the environment at your workplace, adding to the morale, and raising the team spirit. However, keep in mind that sometimes it is not easy to cultivate good relationships with your coworkers and they can act a bit difficult. Not everyone is going to think of you as a nice person and they won’t open up to you easily. In such cases, you need to be intuitive about the people around you. Here are some ways you can use your intuition and emotional intelligence to be an excellent coworker:
It is extremely easy to make judgements about others and project your prejudices onto your workplace and your colleagues. You may not have had any interactions with your coworkers and your bosses yet, but remember that you will never know anything about them if you assume things about them and create stereotypes about them before even giving them a chance to introduce themselves. Don’t let yourself get manipulated by others. Show your emotions to others.
Use your emotional intelligence to sense that some of your coworkers are simply incapable of plain speaking, they look a bit afraid, act too polite, remain super cautious, and rarely say what they truly want to say. You can use your EQ to figure them out and pay extra attention to their body language. In this case, you need to trust your intuition about such people, especially those who treat you as a competitor.
Yes, it is good to use your EQ to be close to your coworkers, but that does not mean you let people walk over you. We do not mean to say that you should not make friends at your workplace, but you also need to stay in tune with your own ambitions and goals. This way you will also be able to decide if you want to be an acquaintance to someone or a close friend. Don’t allow your colleagues to trick you into office politics or relationships you don’t feel comfortable with. Draw a line where it is needed. Use your empathic feelings to decide if you want to be a part of something or not.
Utilize the components of emotional intelligence and try to motivate others. Also, be an empath. Do not wait for someone to come up to you and ask for help, if you can sense that someone needs help, go up to them and help them. This way you will contribute to the camaraderie and morale in your workplace with your generosity and your sensitivity to the needs of your coworkers will gain you their loyalty and support.
Keep in mind that not everyone has the same level of emotional intelligence. People have an agenda, a unique style of interaction, a personal life, and a different way of dealing with problems that arise in the workplace. Do not take their behavior personally and let their behavior bring empathy out in you. This way you will be able to use your EQ to understand their issues without taking responsibility for their angst.
In recent years, we have seen some workplaces, businesses, and startups utilize an emotional intelligence test in their interview process to evaluate how emotionally intelligent a candidate is. An emotional intelligence test is based on the theory that someone with high emotional intelligence would be a better coworker. However, we are not sure if it is the best measure to choose a potential employee.
Here are some common examples of EQ at work:
To be an effective leader at work and an inspirational human being in life, it is vital to be emotionally intelligent. And in order to achieve that status, you need to have a clear understanding of how your emotions and actions work and how they impact others around you, be it friends or bosses, or coworkers. The better you are able to relate to others around you, understand your own emotions, perceive what your coworkers are going through, and motivate others and yourself, the more successful you will be.
So, work on motivation, empathy, self-awareness, social skills, and self-regulation to excel in the future. Or you can take help from a psychology tutor to help you with emotional intelligence!
