Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to understand and manage your own emotions and those of others, and it has five main aspects: Self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.
The term "emotional intelligence" has recently become popular in HR departments around the world. Thus, researchers say it's time to take it seriously.
Adopting the subtle differences of human emotions in the workplace can bring about practical advantages, such as better cooperation among staff members and a happier workplace. Rex Huppke says in this regard: “We are human beings all day, not just when we leave the office.”
There is an ongoing debate in many areas of psychology about how the brain functions. However, Daniel Goleman, a world-famous behavioral scientist said that “the part of the brain that supports emotional and social intelligence is the last circuitry of the brain to become anatomically mature, and because of neuroplasticity, the brain shapes itself according to repeated experience.” It also emphasizes the importance of teaching this in a systematic way to children.
This has been tested in more than 100 schools, and the result was lower aggressive behavior, higher pro-social behavior, and higher academic scores.
It is clear, then, that emotional intelligence is useful both inside and outside the workplace.
Unfortunately, the inability to fully understand and process human emotions has gripped society, and this has taken over other areas of life, like the workplace. While emotions are often ignored when starting work, this has a horrific impact on companies and employees, from workers to CEOs. After all, we are emotional people.
Fortunately, companies have changed and started offering comprehensive and individual work schedules and new services. For example, some health care plans include mental health coverage to make sure people are cared for at work, including hiring psychologists to human resources teams in order to get to know the workforce better and providing useful training, which directly affects the relationship between the employer and the employee.
Let's break down each component with a contextual definition.
Self-awareness is about understanding yourself: knowing your weaknesses, strengths, and values, and their impact on others.
In practice, this may sound like self-confidence and eagerness to receive constructive criticism. For example, if you are a manager, you may realize that strict deadlines bring out the worst in you, but if you are self-aware and emotionally intelligent, you will plan your time carefully and get the job done before any deadlines.
Self-management: the ability to control and redirect mood changes.
Take trust, integrity, and comfort with change. Don't let your emotions hold you back, and organize your positive feelings instead, and align your emotions with your desires. For example, if the team gives a poor presentation, the leader must not lash out at them. Instead, consider potential causes of failure, and explain the consequences to team members to explore solutions together.
Motivation: Enjoying achievement for the sake of achievement.
It is the passion for the job you do, and the optimism and desire to improve that constitute the main features of an emotionally intelligent and enthusiastic person.
Empathy: Understanding other people's emotional makeup, i.e., thinking about other people's emotions, especially when making decisions.
Some signs of empathy are demonstrated in hiring top talent, ability to develop others, and sensitivity to differences between cultures. For example, imagine a consultant whose team is trying to offer something to a potential foreign client, but this client remains silent, and the team mistook his silence for refusal. However, the consultant feels the client's interest because he understands body language, so he continues the meeting, and the team gets the job. This is empathy.
Finally, social skills allow you to build relationships with others and move them in desired directions, so think about how powerful emotional intelligence is here.
Obviously, we are all emotionally intelligent, but we need more time to assess and work on our emotions, just as with anything else that needs practice. However, even small steps can make a big difference, and just like how you exercise your arm or any other muscle regularly, you also need to practice working on your efficiency to improve.
It may be taken for granted that when we look at leaders in the most successful companies, we clearly see that they have high levels of all the major components of emotional intelligence, so it's important to keep in mind that this is a set of abilities.
Women generally tend to feel more emotional empathy, sense how someone is feeling at the moment, and manage interpersonal and group relationships.
Goleman's view of the relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership is that there are differences between men and women in this respect, but as people grow, they acquire skills in the areas they need.
We make decisions that are emotionally draining. We feel that plan A is better than plan B, and sometimes our emotions drive our choices. However, when we understand what triggers these emotions, especially when we are working in a team, we become more aligned with one another, and emotional intelligence with the rise of globalization becomes more important than ever. That's because when teams are multicultural, emotional interactions can become more complex and harder to express.
Emotional intelligence in the workplace lies in understanding good relationships, solving problems under pressure, and articulating and managing them.
Gary Yukl, a famous researcher in leadership, agrees that emotional intelligence is of great importance in the workplace, and says: “Self-awareness makes it easier to understand one’s own needs and likely reactions if certain events occurred, thereby facilitating evaluation of alternative solutions.”
For emotional intelligence to be effective for your team, you must start with yourself first. You cannot refine and improve the happiness of others and help them have confidence in themselves without being emotionally intelligent. What usually sets leaders apart is their level of emotional intelligence, which helps develop a more effective workplace.
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