WHAT IS EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE?
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to recognise your emotions and use this understanding while responding to other people, managing your relationships and behaviour.
According to a study, only 36% of people can accurately identify their emotions. It is important to understand this, as 58% of performance in all types of jobs relies on managing your emotions in the workplace.
Understanding how your emotions work can help you prevent having an ‘Emotional Hijack’.
An Emotional Hijack can be described as a situation where an individual’s reaction is disproportionate to the external stimulus.
For example, having a temper tantrum after being cut off while driving. Or, losing your temper at a client who, at the last moment, does not sign a contract.
This phenomenon is also called an ‘Amygdala Hijack’ because your amygdala takes over the rational part of your thought process.
This usually happens when a person is in a fight or flight situation (when exposed to a perceived threat).
IQ (intelligence) + EQ (can be changed) + personality makes up the whole person
Personal Competence Versus Social Competence
Emotional Intelligence can be further divided into two parts, based on how you manage your own emotions (personal competence), versus that of people around you (social competence).
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Both ‘Personal Competence’ and ‘Social Competence’ are divided into two, based on how the person understands emotions and manages them. They are as follows:
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PERSONAL COMPETENCE
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SOCIAL COMPETENCE
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PERSONAL COMPETENCE
Self Awareness
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SOCIAL COMPETENCE
Social Awareness
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PERSONAL COMPETENCE
Self Management
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SOCIAL COMPETENCE
Relationship Management
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PERSONAL COMPETENCE
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SOCIAL COMPETENCE
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A person’s attitude is influenced by three factors:
- Genetic interference
- Life experiences
- Environmental conditions
The emotional centre in the human body is the amygdala, which is situated in the limbic system. The limbic centre is where we can feel the fight or flight response.
Self-awareness: Self Awareness is the ability to perceive your emotions and understand your tendencies. This includes focusing on feelings that may be negative or positive.
Self Management: Self-management refers to your ability to stay flexible and direct your behaviour appropriately. This can be either choosing to react to an incident, or not.
Social awareness: The ability to understand how other people are feeling. Social awareness includes showing respect for others, maintaining relationships using strategies best suited to their personalities, and empathising with others perspectives.
Relationship Management: Relationship Management is your capability to get the best out of others; your ability to inspire, influence, communicate and build bonds.
In the workplace, having the ability to understand and manage other people’s emotions can help you work better in teams, make better decisions and ultimately perform better.
Personal Competence Strategies You Can Use At The Workplace
- Be self-aware, by avoiding thinking about your feelings as good or bad, instead understand them before you react.
- Be aware of the ripple effect, where your feelings affect other people’s emotions as well
- Understand what triggers you have, and learn to tame your emotions towards them
- Before reacting, take a pause and evaluate what you are about to say or do.
- Define the values that you live by
- Seek feedback from the people around you about your reactions
- Breathe right – take a breather as the brain demands 20% of your oxygen supply.
For a more in-depth look at emotional intelligence at the workplace, join us for a workshop at Bayut Academy.