How Can You Benefit from Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace?

Emotional intelligence—also called Emotional Quotient (EQ)—is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions. It is an essential interpersonal communication skill. Therefore, this article will cover emotional intelligence, emphasizing it in the workplace.

Emotional intelligence is an enthusiastic topic in psychology. Psychologists coined this term in the 1990s, and it quickly spread to other fields, such as business, education, and popular culture.

What Is Emotional Intelligence?

Psychologists Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer define emotional intelligence as an individual's ability to recognize and understand one's own and other's emotions and to apply this emotional understanding to problem-solving, decision-making, and interpersonal communication.

Emotional Intelligence Dimensions

Salovey and Mayer identify four different dimensions of emotional intelligence, which are as follows:

1. Recognize.
2. Analysis.
3. Understanding.
4. Management.

Emotions and intelligence were often seen as opposing forces, but researchers have become increasingly interested in recognizing and understanding their impact in recent decades.

This field studies how cognitive processes and emotions interact and affect people's ways of thinking and how emotions and mood states, such as happiness, anger, fear, and sadness, influence people's behavior and decision-making.

What Is the Importance of Emotional Intelligence at Work?

Scientist Daniel Goleman states that the following are the reasons emotional intelligence is important in the workplace:

• Daniel Goleman's 1995 book Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ sparked interest in emotional psychology and the concept of emotional intelligence.
• In his famous book, Goleman discussed that emotional intelligence could be as important as cognitive intelligence, if not more so, in predicting success in life. He also said that these emotional competencies play an important role, especially in the workplace.
• The emotional intelligence concept has attracted public attention, including from human resources managers and business leaders. Researchers have suggested that emotional intelligence affects how employees interact with their colleagues and is also believed to play a role in how employees manage stress and conflicts and overall job performance.
• Studies have shown that employees with higher emotional intelligence have better personal performance, leadership skills, and stress management abilities. Additionally, other studies have connected high emotional intelligence with better job satisfaction and overall performance.
• According to Goleman, cognitive intelligence alone is insufficient to predict leadership success. Successful people are not only intelligent but also emotionally intelligent.
• Emotional intelligence is seen as a crucial trait at all professional levels, from university students seeking internships to seasoned workers taking on leadership positions. It is not just a trait of executives and senior managers.
• If you want to succeed in the workplace and advance up the career ladder, you need emotional intelligence to accomplish your goals.

Emotional Intelligence Signs in the Workplace

In a survey of hiring managers, almost 75% of participants suggested that they value an employee's emotional intelligence more than their cognitive intelligence quotient.

Emotional intelligence is widely recognized as a valuable skill that helps improve communication, management, and problem-solving in the workplace. Researchers believe that practice and training can also improve this skill.

Emotional Intelligence Importance and Its Impact on Professional Performance

As science and knowledge have progressed, emotional intelligence has demonstrated its importance and noteworthy role in the workplace. Emotionally intelligent people are becoming increasingly sought after by modern companies because of their significant influence on their coworkers' professional performance, so these companies are making a concerted effort to recruit them to work on their teams and organizations. Consequently, this fosters a positive perception of the workplace and advances the work. Emotional intelligence skills make a person excel in various fields they work in. Research indicates that emotional intelligence accounts for 80% of an individual's professional success, whereas general intelligence only makes up 20%.

Emotional intelligence skills improve peer relationships, which benefits the caliber of work and ensures that peer competition is fair and not motivated by resentment or envy. Additionally, having emotional intelligence skills increases positive motivation, improving workers' overall work performance. Furthermore, employees with emotional intelligence skills are more empathetic and have a greater sense of responsibility. All of the above fall into one category: enhancing professional performance and elevating work to achieve the desired success and development.

Emotional Intelligence in Management

Emotional intelligence skills have many advantages at the managerial level. An emotionally intelligent manager exudes confidence and can establish trusting bonds with staff members, fostering a safe and secure work environment. Furthermore, a manager with emotional intelligence skills is frequently identified by their cognitive flexibility, enabling them to solve problems, identify appropriate alternatives, and make decisions in various scenarios.

Emotional Intelligence Impact on Employees

We can say that having emotional intelligence skills is correlated with professional success. A person with these qualities is endearing, tenacious, and self-assured. When someone possesses these qualities, they become eligible to advance in their career and take on new leadership roles at work. Emotional intelligence skills are the key to communication in the workplace, enabling employees to understand others and their actions, even if they conflict with their personal views. This is exactly what we need in light of the recent and profound changes in the global professional sector, which have strongly emphasised teamwork—a kind of work that calls for excellent interpersonal, collaboration, and harmonization skills.

How to Develop Emotional Intelligence?

Even though some people may naturally be emotionally intelligent, everyone can learn to better understand and manage emotions.

Cultivating emotional skills can be particularly beneficial in the workplace, where relationships and work decisions often depend on personal understanding, teamwork, and communication. Although personality and upbringing play a big part in developing emotional intelligence, it's a skill that can be developed with effort and practice.

According to a 2011 study, individuals who trained on key emotional competencies improved their emotional intelligence and physical and mental well-being, social interactions, and cortisol (or stress hormone) levels. Consequently, there are several things you can do to raise your emotional intelligence to perform better at work.

Emotional Intelligence Components

1. Self-awareness.
2. Self-regulation.
3. Social skills.
4. Empathy.
5. Motivation.

1. How to Become More Self-Aware?

Self-awareness, or the ability to recognize and be aware of your emotions, is one of the first steps toward using emotional intelligence skills in the workplace.

Self-awareness includes recognizing different aspects of yourself, including your feelings and emotions, which is a fundamental component of emotional intelligence. To identify and comprehend your emotions, you must first develop self-awareness through the following practices:

1.1. Be Mindful of Your Emotions

How do emotions influence your reactions? Do they affect your choices or how you interact with others?

You might discover that as you consider these questions more, you become more aware of your emotions and their role in your daily life.

1.2.  Assess Your Emotional Strengths and Weaknesses

How well do you communicate with others? Do you frequently feel irritated, angry, or impatient? How can you effectively deal with these emotions?

Recognizing your weaknesses allows you to look for ways to deal with these shortcomings.

1.3. Remember That Emotions Are Transient

You might be annoyed by a coworker or given a difficult task by your supervisor. However, before you react, remember that these things are only temporary, and acting hastily based on intense emotions can harm your long-term goals and success.

2. Practicing Self-Regulation

People who possess good self-regulation can adapt well to changing situations.

This means that they consider how their emotional expressions affect other people, and instead of reacting quickly, they find appropriate ways to express their emotions.

Ways to start improving self-regulation skills in the workplace:

2.1. Seek Techniques to Eliminate Stress and Pressure at Work

Engaging in extracurricular activities is an excellent place to start, and working out is another beneficial method of reducing stress.

2.2. Keep Your Composure

Accepting that you can't control everything will help you find constructive ways to react without getting irate.

2.3. Consider Your Options Before Deciding

Emotions may overwhelm you in the heat of the moment. However,  you can make a calmer, more thoughtful decision if you give yourself some time to consider all the possibilities.

3. Improving Your Social Skills

Emotional psychology research shows that high-competence individuals also have good social skills. They can react to situations appropriately because they identify other people's emotions well.

Social skills are highly valued in the workplace because they facilitate better communication and enhance the organization's culture.

Socially adept workers and leaders can establish rapport with coworkers and convey their ideas clearly. They are capable of taking on leadership roles when necessary and are excellent team players.

Listen to What Others Say

We do not mean just passively listening to others, but active listening involves showing interest, asking questions, and providing feedback.

Active listening can demonstrate your excitement for work projects and your desire to collaborate with others to help the group achieve its goals, whether you are a team member or manager.

How to Practice Effective Listening?

• Be Aware of Non-Verbal Cues: Body language can reveal a lot about a person's true thoughts.
• Use Your Persuasion Skills: Having the capacity to influence others and persuade managers and colleagues to consider your ideas can help you grow professionally.
• Avoid Office Drama: Try your best to avoid the small-minded office politics that occasionally exist in the workplace, but acknowledge that confrontations cannot always be avoided. Instead, concentrate solely on considering other people's opinions while searching for solutions to issues and ways to decompress.

4. Be More Empathetic

Emotionally intelligent people are adept at understanding others' emotions by imagining themselves in their shoes. However, empathy encompasses more than just understanding how others feel; it also involves how one handles these feelings.

Empathy allows you to understand the different connections between colleagues and supervisors in the workplace, recognize who has authority, and how it affects behaviors, emotions, and interactions that arise from these relationships.

4.1. Consider the Other Person's Perspective

Although this can occasionally be challenging, particularly if you believe the other person is incorrect, you can take some time to consider the other person's viewpoint rather than allowing disagreements to escalate into serious conflicts in the hopes that this will be a great starting point towards achieving a compromise between divergent opinions.

4.2. Observe How You React to Others

Do you allow them to express their opinions? Even in cases where you disagree with them?

Telling people their efforts are unique and valued makes them feel more equipped to resolve conflicts.

5. Work on Your Own Motivation

An additional crucial component of emotional intelligence is called intrinsic motivation.

People with strong emotional intelligence tend to be enthusiastic about achieving goals and lack of desire for outside validation. Instead, they want to do things because they find them fulfilling and are passionate about what they do.

Although wealth, prestige, and recognition are wonderful things, successful people typically have a deeper motivation. Their enthusiasm may be infectious, and they love dedicating themselves to their work, taking on new challenges, and being excited about what they do. Also, they can motivate others to work hard and persevere to achieve goals because they never give up in the face of difficulties.

How to Renew Your Enthusiasm?

5.1. Focus on What You Love About Your Job

Regardless of how you feel about your job, it's common to have both love and hate. However, you can increase your self-motivation by concentrating on the parts you genuinely enjoy.

Identify the elements of your work that motivate and inspire you, whatever it may be. Maybe it's the satisfaction you get from finishing a large project or helping your clients get closer to their own objectives.

5.2. Try to Adopt a Positive Attitude

Notice how optimistic people in the workplace also inspire and motivate others.

Adopting this mindset can help you feel more positive about your work.

5.3. Realize Your Intrinsic Motivation

Your success at work and in life are both influenced by your emotional intelligence.

Emotional Intelligence Course at Work

Many courses are held to improve and develop leadership and supervisory skills in the workplace. Below, we present a course plan model for one of these emotional intelligence courses at work:

• Day One: Will be dedicated to explaining how to develop emotional intelligence in the work environment.
• Day Two: Explaining how to use emotional intelligence to transition from regular job positions to leadership roles.
• Day Three: Introducing emotional intelligence tools, their importance, and their role in building effective relationships.
• Day Four: Explaining the emotional intelligence leadership tools.
• Day Five: Introducing ways to apply social intelligence tools to achieve communication and creativity.

Fortunately, there are several lessons that you can draw from the psychology of emotions, which will allow you to improve your skills and strengthen your emotional intelligence to strengthen your emotional intelligence and professional success.