Emotional intelligence has a huge impact on everything a person does, and employers are increasingly seeking employees with a high degree of emotional intelligence. It is valued since it influences how an individual thinks and behaves towards their surroundings.
Emotional Intelligence in business seeks to understand how managing critical behaviors and emotions are related to leaders’ success. It can use intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence to focus on pre-existing behavioral traits and critical emotions that influence occupational performance. Here are a few ways you can deploy emotional intelligence in business.
Create Capacity
Emotional intelligence includes a set of attitudes, skills, and behaviors, as well as being a variable at the same time. This means that a person can exhibit high emotional intelligence at one point and show low emotional intelligence the next. Developing emotional intelligence involves demonstrating it more of the time.
A person is more likely to lose their capacity for EI when they are tired or irritable. Negative emotions allow a person to be triggered easily, leading to defensive habits like aggressive body language. Creating capacity is the main starting point for emotional intelligence. This can be achieved by developing a disciplined approach to managing our energy.
Employees can create time each day to calm the mind or get frequent breaks throughout the day. Managers can also encourage the team to use their vacation days.
Practice Empathy
Empathy is defined as the act of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. It is one of the most crucial leadership skills in a business. Empathy helps to build and strengthen social connections as well as create a more engaged, loyal, and productive team. It also teaches presence, increases happiness, and fosters innovation collaboration.
A manager can practice empathy through knowing people better, listening more, and developing self-awareness through feedback and journaling. Other ways include being concerned about wellbeing and being genuine.
Focusing on Mental Health and Well-Being
Mental health is crucial for employee relationships and productivity. Employees can improve their mental health by limiting social media and screen time, therapy sessions, minimizing isolation, taking a walk, and spending more time on meaningful activities.
Managers in a business can also enact programs to improve mental health. Such programs include enforcing working hours, granting flexible schedules, launching employee wellness programs, and cultivating a healthy, positive work environment.