How to Increase Your Emotional Intelligence
Now more than ever, your emotional intelligence is critical as we continue to navigate the challenges facing our companies and our Nation related to Covid19. Employee morale along with their mental health and well-being are at an all-time low.
First I’ll give you a little insight into Emotional Intelligence. Simply put, Emotional Intelligence is being in touch with your own feelings and the feelings of others enough to be effective in both your communication and your persuasive ability. It determines how effectively and competently you are able to manage your feelings and perform proficiently.
Here are some ways you can quickly and easily raise your Emotional Intelligence (EQ).
Develop Self Awareness
Understanding your emotions and feelings is essential to EQ. Many people with low EQ are victims of their emotions. They are unaware of how they feel and tend to blame others for their actions, reactions and outbursts.
My Advice: Establish practices that enhance your ability to understand your emotions. Create a daily ritual for quiet reflection. Become comfortable with peace and serenity. Learning to listen and trust your inner guidance will help you remain calm in the face of challenges.
Understand Your Thoughts
Understand how what you think, what you do and what you say affects your feelings. Seeing these relationships is vital to being in touch with your emotions.
My Advice: Create a Thought Record. This is a very simple and easy to manage visual tracking system. On a sheet of paper create 5 columns. Label them: Event. Emotion. Automatic Thoughts. Images. Result.
By keeping a record for an extended period of time, you will become more self-aware. You’ll understand the relationship between your patterns and triggers. You’ll be more in control of your life as you raise your EQ.
Here are some other techniques that I help my clients use.
Identify Your Assets and Liabilities
Know your strengths and weaknesses. Focus on your assets from the perspective of having more to offer your team and your organization and less of a place of ego. The weakness list is valuable so we know the people to surround ourselves with and from those whom which we might want to seek counsel. Being open to people with diverse ideas is a sign of high EQ.
My Advice: Keep a running list of new skills that you develop, awards that you have received and your achievements. These are your assets. Keep a running list of people who can help you offset your weaknesses. Nurture these relationships.
Foster EQ
Develop a working environment that fosters: Empathy, Effective Communication Systems,
Conflict Management and a Sense of Optimism. Doing this will allow you to leverage emotional intelligence to improve workplace effectiveness.
My Advice: Work with someone to help you implement systems that invite sharing, inclusion and support diversity.
If you are able to institute these elements in your organization, you will increase EQ company-wide. This will positively impact everything including the bottom line.
Are you interested in learning more about EQ? I invite you to tune in to Spot-On™ with Regina Barr to see my interview with international bestseller Deb Sandella, PhD, Emotional Intelligence: The Secret of Great Leaders, on the topic of Emotional Intelligence. Dr. Deb shares valuable information and insights on EQ. You won’t want to miss it!
Your thoughts are important to me and I would like to hear from you. Please share, comment and like.
Regina
Speaker. Coach. Consultant.
“Dream Big. Take Action. Make It Happen.”
Founder, Women at the Top® (WATT®) Network
- Posted by Regina
- On January 11, 2021
- 0 Comments