The 5 Qualities You Need to Develop to Increase Your Emotional Intelligence and The Best Examples of Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

There are several kinds of intelligence, and it’s our job to figure out what they are and how to integrate them into our lives. Along with your IQ, which has long been used to predict success, the new up and comer is emotional intelligence or EQ. Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our own emotions and the emotions of others. Since we often make decisions and respond to stimuli based on our feelings, it is essential that you know how to grow your EQ. Here are five qualities that you need to focus on developing if you want to increase your emotional intelligence.

Empathy

Empathy is your ability to understand what someone else is experiencing from within their frame of reference. We tend to empathize with others based on the reaction to others. Start by learning how to see situations from someone else’s shoes and then work on your ability to respond accordingly. This will help you to start to treat others in the manner that you wish yourself to be treated by others.

Self-Awareness

If you want to increase your emotional intelligence, then you have to become self-aware and recognize what stimuli you are facing and then preparing yourself for how to manage your reaction and emotions in both a proactive and reactive manner. Self-awareness is how you see yourself and how we think others see us.

Curiosity

When you are curious about the world around you, you tend to be more passionate. When you are more passionate, you are more driven to want to be your best. Having this kind of learning mindset ends up positively affecting other areas in your life, like your relationships.

Analytical Mind

The most emotionally intelligent and resolute individuals are deep thinkers that tend to analyze and process all of the new information that comes their way. They also tend to continue analyzing old information, ways of doing things, and habits to determine if they can find new ways to improve. Having an analytical mind means that you have a healthy appetite for continually improving your mindset and working to better yourself while remaining open to new ideas.

Optimism

If you want to be able to increase the opportunities that are presented to you, improve your relationships, and think clearly, then you need to maintain a positive attitude. Your attitude is one of the only things that is always within your control. If you want to improve your emotional intelligence, then you need to choose to live each day with positivity.

Improving your emotional intelligence isn't a complicated process. Take some time to work on these five qualities and watch as your emotional intelligence dramatically improves.

Examples of Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

Emotional intelligence has taken the front seat over the last several years when it comes to determining success in the workplace. Recent studies have shown that people who are high in emotional intelligence tend to be more productive, have higher social skills, and are more successful than their less emotionally intelligent colleagues. It can help tremendously to understand how emotional intelligence manifests itself in the workplace. Here are some of the best examples of emotional intelligence that you should look for at work.

An Upset Colleague Finds A Compassionate Ear

Every employee will have a bad day from time to time, and no one is immune from getting upset. How you deal with an angry employee speaks volumes about your emotional intelligence. Compassion and understanding are sure signs of emotional intelligence in practice. When you are aware of and respond to other's emotions, it shows that you have a belief that everyone experiences strong emotions from time to time and that you acknowledge that other’s feelings matter.

People Can Express Themselves Openly

When you have a workplace where people are confident about speaking their minds, expressing their emotions, and exchanging views without retribution, you have a workplace that is demonstrating high emotional intelligence. As long as the exchanges are respectful, emotionally intelligent people don’t get upset when other’s opinions don’t match their own.

Providing Flexibility

Providing some flexibility with the way people work can mean the difference between retaining the best talent and having high turnover. Emotionally intelligent leaders understand the changing demand and are prepared to work with their employees rather than trying to restrict how people do their work. They don’t expect everybody to work the hours that they do, live by the same values, or hold the same priorities.

People are Given the Freedom to Be Creative

Depending on the nature of the organization, there may be a high value placed on creativity. Ideally, you will have a good match between creative people and an innovative organization. Emotionally intelligent workplaces allow people the time, space, and freedom to be creative and march to the beat of their own drum in order to achieve it.

If you are looking to build more emotional intelligence into your team, the best place to start is with these four tools. Creating an emotional intelligence workplace will ensure that your employees are productive and that both them and the company succeed.