“Evidence is presented that the mass suppression of emotion throughout the civilized world has stifled our growth emotionally, leading us down a path of emotional ignorance.” – Wayne Payne, 1985, Introduction
“Emotional intelligence is the “something” in each of us that is a bit intangible. It affects how we manage behavior, navigate social complexities, and make personal decisions that achieve positive results.” – Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves, 2009.
“There is an old-fashioned word for the body of skills that emotional intelligence represents: character.” – Daniel Goleman, 1995.
As you may have noted, we talk a lot about the importance of emotional intelligence in our blog. Our Shiminly experts have discussed what emotional intelligence is, why it is important, and how it can people have better and more fulfilling lives. In this article, we are going to talk about one aspect of emotional intelligence in particular: its effect on your ability to achieve success in your professional life.
Let me remind you what emotional intelligence is. Emotional intelligence is our ability to understand, perceive and manage our own emotions. Emotional intelligence also entails understanding and managing the emotions of other people too. Possessing emotional intelligence will help you to establish deep connections with people around you and communicate with them more effectively. Likewise, emotionally intelligent people are more capable of creating and nurturing productive relations in the workplace as they are capable of interpreting other people’s emotions and understanding what is on their minds. So, emotional intelligence is overly critical to achieving success, both professionally and personally. Why?
Emotional intelligence helps people be flexible and stay positive no matter what happens.
“Extraordinary things are always hiding in places people never think to look.” – Jodi Picoul
Life is replete with stress-inducing and challenging situations. If you possess emotional intelligence, you can manage your emotions in response to these situations. As problems arise you will be able to stay positive and will be even able to adapt to unfamiliar situations. On the contrary, if you do not have emotional intelligence skills then you are highly likely to door poorly at work. You are also likely to struggle to find motivation and adapt to new challenging situations.
Empathy and self-awareness which are at the core of emotional intelligence help people build strong relationships.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around it.” – Harper Lee
Relationships are important when it comes to business. And to build, strengthen and maintain them it is necessary for business owners and their employees to have sufficient self-awareness and empathy. What is self-awareness? Self-awareness is the ability to be able to identify your emotional reactions and realized that they have a direction on how you think and how you behave. For example, if one day you are feeling unhappy or dissatisfied, with the help of self-awareness you can easily identify the reasons behind your feelings. You can also think about what actions you may want to take to improve the situation and start feeling happy again.
In this paragraph, we have also mentioned the word “empathy.” Empathy is your ability to establish connections with others emotionally by way of considering their feelings, thoughts, and their overall life situation. Being empathetic towards people around you (for example, your colleagues) will make them feel validated and understood. It is important that workers feel like this in any workplace. Their contentment and feelings of being satisfied will have a highly positive effect on their productivity and contributions to the development of your business.
Emotional intelligence allows people to find motivation and motivations leading them to even more success.
“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing — that’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar
We are living in a highly competitive world and to succeed we need to be extremely motivated. Unfortunately, motivation can disappear in the face of difficulties and challenges. Some people give up on their dreams and aspirations because they lose faith in themselves and no longer feel the need to continue with their work. But this is not the case with emotionally intelligent people.
Emotional intelligence allows people to check in with themselves. What does “checking in with oneself” mean? Well, that means that you are finding time every day to ask yourself how you are doing. Emotionally intelligent people are extremely good at that. They can connect with their motives and remind themselves why they are doing what they are doing. And all that helps them move forward. If you have a good understanding of your motives and aspirations, you will be able to channel your energy and your internal sources in the desired direction. In the direction that will lead you to success.
People who lack emotional intelligence very often have poor self-awareness. They do not understand very well why they are doing their jobs. They do not understand very well what their exact motives are. So, all that inevitably makes them more likely to backtrack on their plans and even give up on their dreams.
People with emotional intelligence can fully concentrate on their work.
“Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.” – Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym
Apart from challenges and stress, our life is full of distractions that can further hamper our progress and undermine our motivation. That is why the ability to always stay focused is paramount when it comes to managing a business. People who have the low emotional intelligence or have none are very more vulnerable and susceptible to distractions than those who possess emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence allows people to block the external noise, connect with their motivation and by means of discipline continue with their work and move towards their dreams.
Emotional intelligence helps you establish positive and productive relationships with customers by means of making personal connections with them.
“Connecting with others gives us a sense of inclusion, connection, interaction, safety, and community.” – Susan C. Young.
By means of understanding their customers’ internal motives and making them feel welcome, emotionally intelligent businesspeople are surely more likely to connect with them. Emotionally intelligent people pay great attention not only to the product that they are trying to sell but also to their business attitudes towards their customers. They simply understand that human relations are part of any business and they do not dismiss their importance.
You have read other articles on our blog that talk about emotional intelligence and the ways of increasing it. If not, then we are going to remind you in this article how you can foster this important and often underestimated skill.
So, can you become a more emotionally intelligent person? Observe how you feel. Listen to your feelings and do not try to dismiss them. Pay attention to your behaviour. When you feel something or when an unpleasant emotion is taking over you, take some time to think – why is this emotion dominating you? Is there any specific trigger? Is there any specific reason?
Also, if you see that someone is upset, or angry – let us say your colleague is upset. Instead of allowing their negative emotions to trigger negative reactions in you, pause for a second and ask yourself. Why are they feeling this way? Is there any reason they are feeling this way? How would I feel if I were in a comparable situation? Carefully considering the circumstances that your colleagues find themselves in can help you be empathetic towards them. It can also help you connect with them.
Although emotional intelligence is hot topic, many people are still disseminating ideas according to which this skill is not important. Do not let these misconceptions deceive you as nothing could be further from the truth! Emotional intelligence is important, and it is crucial to your future success. In this article, we have touched only on the beginning. The truth is that there are numerous benefits of having emotional intelligence that cannot be discussed just in one article.
Russ Gadzhiev obtained his PhD in history and politics from University of Melbourne. He also holds a master’s degree in International Relations from Moscow State University of International Relations, a top-ranking diplomatic school. Russ is a strong education professional with a history of working in the higher education sector of Australia and effectively communicates with learners from diverse cultural backgrounds. He is enthusiastic about teaching and mentoring, writing, curriculum development, research, information management and public speaking. He is fluent in Russian, English, Spanish and Portuguese.
