Our July Mastermind was nothing short of a great time! Business professionals all over Springfield gathered together for a delicious breakfast and participated in a seminar hosted by Matt Griswold about emotional intelligence.
So, what is emotional intelligence? Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others.
Being insensitive, arrogant, unpredictable, ridged and selfish can be extremely detrimental to your career and office morale. It is important to be self aware, socially aware and invest time in meaningful relationships at work. This will help you develop higher emotional intelligence, or as we like to refer to it as “EQ.”
Self awareness is crucial when improving your emotional intelligence. Have an honest self assessment with yourself and remember that you can’t change people but you can change the way they react by taking responsibility for their reactions. Be courteous of others’ feelings, even if you do not necessarily agree or understand. Remember that practicing common courtesies can go a long way (please, thank you, not interrupting, holding the door open for others, etc.)
Being socially aware of what is going on around you is also important when improving your emotional intelligence. Have you ever been in a meeting close to lunch time? Your boss wraps up the meeting with “are there any questions?” At this point, you are practically counting down the seconds until you can run free and go find lunch. That is, until Joe from accounting, raises his hand, with a question. Being socially aware is understanding the mood of the room.
Lastly, be sure and take time to invest in meaningful relationships at work. This will allow your team to achieve more goals, despite any differences. Building meaningful relationships will also improve trust, respect, mindfulness and communication within the office.
So, where do you go from here? How do you improve your emotional intelligence? Try finding a mentor that will be honest and ask for feedback from your employees. Develop a plan for improving work relationships, and always remember that having a high EQ is just as important as having a high IQ.
