Emotional Intelligence, a crucial skill to develop!
We have encountered several challenges the past years: Covid, scarcity of materials, scarcity of people,…
How to build an organization that is able to cope with all these unexpected issues?
And how to keep your staff happy, motivated and engaged in these challenging times?
Emotional Intelligence is the key!
3 facts about Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence:
- Is one of the most important skills for success in both personal and professional life.
- Is an important skill for leaders, as it helps them inspire and motivate their teams, manage conflicts, and create a positive work environment.
- Enables us to better cope with the challenges and uncertainties that lie ahead.
Why is Emotional Intelligence important?
Due to scarcity of resources most organizations struggle nowadays with onboarding new talent. The hiring market also results in a staff retention challenge. If employees are not happy with their work, they are more than welcome to join another organization.
Research shows that reason number 1 why people leave organizations is ‘satisfaction about leadership’. Leaders that score high on Emotional Intelligence are more able to inspire and motivate their staff and thus remain talent.
Several studies have found a strong association between EI, driving change, and visionary leadership. Emotional intelligent leaders can articulate a vision that resonates emotionally with those they lead, which is a key ingredient for going in a new direction. This is obviously a quality that will benefit organizations in our quickly changing world.
Next to the importance for leadership, Emotional Intelligence is crucial for success for everyones personal and professional life and enables all to easily and quickly adapt to changing circumstances.
Need we say more?
Continuous improvement of your Emotional Intelligence is not a nice to have.
It is a must do!
What is Emotional Intelligence?
People are convinced they need to develop their Emotional Intelligence but they don’t know how.
The reasoning: They…
- Don’t know what Emotional Intelligence exactly is
- Don’t know where to focus their efforts or
- Haven’t understood how to improve these skills on a practical level.
So, what is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand and manage our own emotions, as well as the emotions of others, and the ability to adjust our style properly to circumstances.
Emotional Intelligence consists of several domains: Self-awareness, Self-management, Social awareness and Relationship management. More details are shown in the picture below.
Mastering these 4 domains, also called ‘agilities’ in Lumina Emotion language, should lead to taking meaningful action in specific context.
How to develop Emotional Intelligence?
According to Daniel Goleman you can start developing your Emotional Intelligence by asking yourself 3 questions: What…
- Are the differences between how you see yourself and how others see you?
- Matters to you?
- Changes will you make to achieve your goals?
We can be blind to or biased about how we express and read emotions of others. For example, most of us think that we’re good listeners, but very often that’s not the case.
A 360-degree assessment can be used to get insight in the differences between your self-perception and perception of others. Working with a coach can give you an outside perspective.
Then, consider what your goals are:
- Do you want to grow your capacity to take on a leadership position?
- Be a better team member?
- Exert greater positive influence?
- Get better at managing yourself, or keeping the goals that matter in focus?
- Or — your goals need not be only professional — do you want to have a better connection to your spouse or teenager?
Once you’ve determined which EI skills you want to focus on, identify specific actions to take. If you’re working on becoming a better listener, you might decide to take the time to pause, listen to what others have to say, and check that you understand before you reply. Keep it specific. That helps you change the target habit.
Want support?
Do you want to develop your Emotional Intelligence but you don’t know where to start or simply want support? We are happy to help you!
We use Lumina Emotion to enable the development of Emotional Intelligence. Read more about Lumina Emotion here.
And, even better: we organize a whole day around Emotional Intelligence April 14th in cooperation with Zeeuwse Facilitators! During this day we are going to dig into your Emotional Intelligence and help you to further develop it!
This workshop April 14th is in Dutch and will be organized in Goes. Read more about this special day here.
This might be a great opportunity to combine the development of your Emotional Intelligence with a relaxing weekend at the beach!
Workshop-Emotionele-Intelligentie-gecomprimeerd