Boost Your Emotional Intelligence for a Stronger Workforce

Emotional intelligence is your ability to recognize your own, and others', emotions. People with a strong EQ are able to easily work through difficult situations in the workplace such as negotiations, hiring or conflict resolution. Successful leaders understand that strengthening this skill is key to managing employees and maintaining a productive workplace.This expert advice can help you learn how to increase your emotional intelligence and use it in key situations.Increase Your Emotional Intelligence By Watching Television. Forbes: “Emotional intelligence is just as important as traditional intelligence. In fact, lack of emotional intelligence causes hiring failures way more than lack of technical skill. And emotional intelligence requires developing two kinds of awareness. There’s self-awareness, which involves getting a handle on personal triggers so you know what sets you off, what makes you pay attention, etc. And then there’s awareness of others, what we like to call ‘other-awareness.’ This is where we learn to observe and interpret the emotions of others. It’s a key part of emotional intelligence and it’s where we get to watch television or movies. There are two parts to developing other-awareness. The first is developing our observational skills, which is all about focusing and paying attention, and the second part is interpreting those signals.”Does Emotional Intelligence Make a Person Smart? Psychology Today: “It goes without saying that negative emotions like anger are much more difficult to manage than positive ones like happiness, but learning to manage the difficult feelings strengthens emotional intelligence. Sometimes this means taking the time to think internally and reflect on that particular feeling. Delaying reaction for this reflection might give the person the chance to calm down before taking action. Imagine a successful businesswoman who is a Harvard graduate. If she lashes out in a work environment rather than taking the time to reflect, her image becomes marred. On the other hand, if she delays reaction and reflects internally to think of an appropriate response, she appears calm and professional. That display of emotional intelligence can matter more in today’s workplace than where the person went to school.”Part I of 2: Boost Your Emotional Intelligence: Take The Five Day EQ Challenge. The Huffington Post: “Almost a decade ago, Dr. Daniel Goleman published his best-selling book, Emotional Intelligence. He defined Emotional Intelligence as ‘the ability to recognize one's own and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking behavior.’ [1] Goleman was the brainchild behind the idea that non-cognitive skills, or emotional intelligence, are as important as a good I.Q. to succeed in the workplace….By making an intentional shift in behavior -- what I call a pause -- you can tune into increasing your own EI capacity. Creating a shift means you're getting out of routine, and doing something different. It also activates the frontal lobe of our brain, which is the part of our brain that engages in critical thinking and creativity.”Why Emotional Intelligence Matters in Negotiations. Supply Chain 24/7: “In an ideal world, negotiators would approach even their starkest differences collaboratively and respectfully. Unfortunately, dealing with tension, conflict, and disrespectful counterparts is a common negotiation reality for many. This is especially the case when responding to negotiators who engage in difficult tactics like making threats, hurling insults, manipulating information, or stalling in a deliberate attempt to throw their counterpart off balance and cause them to make concessions. For novice and experienced negotiators alike, dealing with hard bargainers and difficult negotiation tactics is challenging, especially when the stakes are high and success is critical. Take for example the sales rep whose largest client keeps them waiting for a meeting, then disparages their product’s quality and threatens to move the business to a competitor unless they cut pricing by 15% next year.”6 Ways to Increase Your Emotional Intelligence. SuperheroYou: “Much research has been done in the field of emotional intelligence (EI). Gary Vaynerchuk swears by it. But what is emotional intelligence, and how can we increase it? Basically, emotional intelligence is your ability to understand and navigate your own feelings and understand the feelings of those around you. All this can seem abstract – but there are concrete ways for you to increase you EI….Talking about your feelings is a chore. But keeping everything inside is even more harmful to not only your mental health but also to your emotional intelligence. Whether it’s to a therapist, your best friend or your bartender, you have to express your feelings to someone. Just make sure it’s someone you trust.”Do your organization’s leaders need help developing their emotional intelligence? Contact us for information on training and coaching.Success Labs is a leadership development and management consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to explore their business potential and improve their company and cultural performance. Contact us to get proactive about your people strategy.