Emotional Intelligence is being aware of your emotions, and being able to manage your own emotions as well as the emotions of others. Emotional intelligence is important because it affects your relationships, your work performance, and your physical and mental health.
This is something that can be learned, and so in this week’s feature article we have provided tools to help you develop your emotional intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence can be broken down into four areas:
1) Self-awareness
2) Self-management
3) Social-awareness
4) Relationship management.
When practicing and developing your emotional intelligence, think about these four areas.
Improving Emotional Intelligence:
1. Observation and Awareness
– How do you react to people? How does it affect others?
– How are others reacting to you? How does it affect you?
– Pay attention to body language (your own as well as others)
2. Identifying the emotion
– What feelings are associated with the emotion?
– How intense is the emotion?
– How is this emotion affecting you and/or others?
3. Seeking to understand
– What is causing the emotion?
– Have you contributed to the emotion? Hold up the mirror and take responsibility.
– When is this emotion strongest?
4. Managing the emotion
– What can be done differently to manage this emotion?
– How can the emotion be quickly identified in the future?
– What is the best way to respond to this emotion?