Seven Strategies of Improving Emotional Intelligence at Work
Emotional intelligence (“EI”) is a cognitive trait that allows you to recognize, understand, and manage your emotions. Although EI may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of success in a conventional way, it is a crucial part of your job. It plays an essential and integral role in decision-making, problem-solving, reacting to criticism or failure, interpersonal communication, and modifying your behavior to complete projects.
According to a survey by CareerBuilder, 75% of hiring managers prefer candidates with higher emotional intelligence than any other type of intelligence. If you are seeking ways to improve emotional intelligence in the workplace, this article may help you identify seven proven and actionable strategies to improve your emotional quotient.
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is not just a new buzzword in management. More often than not, self-aware leaders tend to have high-energy, high-performing team members. Recognizing your emotions is one of the first stages in using emotional intelligence abilities in the job. You must first be self-aware to notice your feelings and comprehend what drives them. If you lack self-awareness, it is time to work on your emotional intelligence to boost your self-awareness.
According to Tasha Eurich’s study, 95% of individuals believe they are self-aware. However, only 10 to 15 percent are, which might cause difficulties for your staff. According to Eurich’s study, working with colleagues who are not self-aware may reduce a team’s performance and lead to higher stress and lower motivation.
Checking in with your senses and changing your behavior help improve emotional intelligence. In addition, you need to understand the following strategies to increase your emotional intelligence at work.
– You need to understand what motivates you.
– You want to know what your goals are.
– You must consider your values, needs, and wants.
– Consider your strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities when planning your future goals.
Curiosity
When you are curious about knowing yourself or others, you are more likely to understand yourself and others better. How you ask questions and how you utilize information show the level of your emotional intelligence. In return, it allows you to learn new things and be more creative, facilitating your job and projects at work. A healthy dose of curiosity will enable you to open to new ideas and out-of-the-box solutions. In addition, your emotional intelligence will increase. Subsequently, it will strengthen your team and not just an individual.
Empathy
Successful and meaningful working relationships are built on empathy and emotional intelligence. Refining emotional intelligence depends on empathy, which requires understanding and sharing another person’s feelings. Without compassion, there is no emotional intelligence. An effective strategy to improve emotional intelligence in the workplace is to work on combining empathy and emotional intelligence to enhance honest and transparent communication among colleagues. It will decrease passive-aggressive and other unwanted behaviors.
Approximately 83% of Gen Z workers (one-third of the worldwide population) said they would prefer to work for a company that prioritizes empathy above pay, according to a Businessolver poll. How to improve emotional intelligence, especially when Gen Z will replace the baby boomer and Gen Xers’ mindsets?
Passionate workers are emotionally intelligent
If you are not passionate about something in your life, you are less likely to be emotionally intelligent. Passion and intelligence go together like a horse and a carriage. If you love what you do, it will show in your job and how you treat others who come in touch with you. This explains why passionate employees who love their jobs tend to do better than those who do not care.
If you want to improve your emotional intelligence in the workplace, pick a cause, and become passionate about it. Passionate individuals can control their emotions much better than those who are not because they accept criticism and negative attitude with a smile. One of the strategies to improve emotional intelligence is to pledge to your passion as if your life depends on it. When you do, you will develop a positive attitude toward your work and, perhaps most importantly, show grit and resilience in times of crisis.
Analytical mindset
Although the analytical mindset is critical in improving emotional intelligence for decision-making purposes, it is often ignored. An analytical perspective helps individuals plan their future while analyzing possible distractions and setbacks. A leader always uses emotional and analytical skills to ensure a healthy balance.
Individuals with a higher analytical mindset are likely to understand and execute information; they are objective and not subjective. If you lack analytical thinking, your emotional intelligence will also suffer. There are many ways of improving emotional intelligence by reading more books on philosophy and logical decision-making.
Emotionally intelligent people adapt quickly to new situations
Emotionally intelligent people understand that situations change, and this is how they continue to improve their emotional intelligence in the workplace. They are aware that nothing remains the same; therefore, they accept and adjust to the workplace changes. In addition, emotionally intelligent individuals embrace the transformation instead of resisting it, which can be emotionally and physically draining. They avoid the trap of believing that what worked for them in one situation will always work in another problem.
When improving emotional intelligence, learn to accept new ideas and approaches. You cannot use old procedures to solve new problems. Weak-minded people are stuck with ancient strategies. However, they do not use excuses for their failures or for not trying something new. If something does work out, then it is time for more experimentation.
Self-discipline is a sign of emotional intelligence
Emotionally intelligent individuals can control their disruptive sentiments and impulses to preserve their effectiveness in the face of demanding or antagonistic circumstances. Controlling emotions is different from repressing your feelings.
It is just as vital to reflect on the negative traits that make you feel bad for refining your emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is much more than feelings. It is about regulating your reactions in a way that does not hurt you or others around you. In other words, you use the strategies to improve your emotional intelligence in the workplace is to display your maturity by exercising self-discipline and learning to manage your emotions.
Conclusion
Many prefer to have a higher intelligence quotient than emotional intelligence. However, a healthy emotional quotient is a far superior skill set to develop if you want to be effective in your career. Improving emotional intelligence will help you get along better with others, make better decisions, and advance your career.
Also Read: Eight Ways To Boost Your Resilience In The Workplace