Is Emotional Intelligence Holding Back Your Business Growth
Do you often find yourself feeling overwhelmed, tense or hot-tempered in a business setting? Have you been told that you can come off ‘blunt’, or that you mis-read an important business conversation? I used to, until I focused on developing and nurturing my Emotional Intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence, or EQ, is the ability to understand, use and manage your emotions in a positive way. If you are looking to master EQ, here are 5 key elements that can push your business and leadership to the next level:
Self-Awareness
The art of becoming self-aware is to monitor your own emotions, reactions and thoughts, and recognize the way in which these may be impacting your interactions. Leaders with high self-awareness can recognize how their emotions can influence the direction of a conversation, for better or for worse!
Self-Regulation
Self-regulation is the ability to catch yourself when you’re feeling heightened emotions, and manage the way in which you display them. This isn’t to hide your feelings, or be dishonest about them, but to express them in a way that is appropriate for the situation, and guides you towards the outcome that you desire.
Motivation
What motivates you? What about the people in your business network? Knowing what truly drives yourself and the people around you is the key to bringing out passion, drive and excitement in your business.
Empathy
Can you understand where others are coming from? The ability to see situations from someone else's perspective and empathize with them is one of the key drivers of conflict resolution - how can we expect to understand the core of an issue if we can’t understand the perspective of the other people involved?
Social Skills
True Emotional Intelligence isn’t just understanding your own emotions and the emotions of the people around you, it’s how you put that information to use on a day-to-day basis. Every interaction you have can be informed by your Emotional Intelligence.
When you think about how much of your day could be impacted by the 5 key skills above, it’s easy to see why developing high Emotional Intelligence could be the key to unlocking your next level of business growth.
