EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE COMPANY

Emotional intelligence is on everyone’s lips today. Previously, staff selection was based on their experience and studies, but today companies are demanding people who are able to identify and manage emotions, both their own and others, people with social and adaptive skills to different situations.

But not only is emotional intelligence important in employees, it is one of the key features of a good leader. Sensitivity and humanity are qualities that any leader should have, if they do not understand that their employees work on emotions, they will not be able to empathize with them, communication with the team will not be effective and it will be more difficult to achieve success.

Within emotional intelligence we find five components to improve and to give the best of ourselves: 

• Self-awareness. 

To be able to take others, we first have to know our own selves, putting the focus on us to understand ourselves a little better, this allows us to know what are our strengths and weaknesses in order to be the best version of ourselves.

To improve self-awareness, the practice of Mindfulness is very beneficial,  it allows us, by introspection,to learn how our body works and how to manage feelings and emotions so that they don’t take hold of us. 

• Self-control. 

The next step is self-control, mostly manifested in times of crisis, that is based on maintaining control in critical situations, learning to think before reacting, to make better decisions. Thanks to emotional self-control, we can better regulate our emotions by adapting them to the environment around us. 

A self-controlling leader keeps control in a crisis situation with his team, resolves the conflict by thinking about the repercussions and his employees’ personal situations, does not verbally assault them, and knows how to manage and calm the team. 

In this case meditation through the practice of Mindfulness is very useful as well. Meditation allows you to observe your feelings, see them in perspective and classify them, thanks to this, in a crisis situation we will recognize the “anger” feeling and we will see it in perspective “I am not just angry, I am a more complete and complex being”, which will allow us to classify it as a negative feeling to the situation and we will be able to respond correctly. 

• Motivation. 

Being able to motivate oneself and others is a quality that the best leaders have. Motivation is necessary to achieve success because motivated workers work constantly towards their goals. Self-esteem, optimism and the knowledge to look for the good side of things are attitudes that help motivation, we must never forget what is our goal and to not lose motivation until it is achieved.

Review and update your objectives to give you energy, remember why you do what you do, know your stance and why you are so motivated. Be optimistic and look for the positive side even in the worst situations. 

• Empathy. 

Empathy is one of the leader’s most important qualities, having the ability to put oneself in the other person’s situation and understand and internalize their emotions as their own is not as widespread practice as it should be. In addition to helping the concerned individual, the team is strengthened and the leader gains respect and loyalty from the crew. 

An empathetic leader gets people to develop their full potential, knowing how they will react and what they need.

Active listening exercises are very beneficial to grow empathy, putting yourself in the other’s place and trying to understand their point of view. It is also very important to resonate with the person in a crisis situation, to be put on the same “wavelength” to connect with them and be able to help; if a person is sad, you can’t be charged with energy to try to cheer him up, you have to adopt an attitude similar to yours to be able to access it.

“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.“
– Stephen Covey

• Social Skills. 

Social Skills are a set of capabilities that enable us to respond adequately to the environment and better relate to the people around us. These are essential to develop ourselves personally and professionally, thanks to them those around us understand how we feel.

Very important skills in leaders are conflict resolution and change management. 

In order to develop communication skills, a group exercise can be carried out in which each individual must assess how to respond to a given situation, for example; you go with a friend to the cinema and she won’t stop talking: How do you tell her about how you feel? According to the three communication styles (assertive, passive and aggressive), previously explained by an instructor. Subsequently, the various responses will be analysed, looking at how they have affected, with the aim of seeing what form of communication is most effective.

Do you want to know your team’s Emotional Intelligence levels? Contact us!

Thanks to our audits that adapt the training to your company you will know what are the strengths and weaknesses of your team, and adapt our online training to it.

As you’ve seen, Emotional Intelligence is a key element in both team leadership and team relationships, take advantage of our online training in Soft Skills to help the growth of your team.