As a business owner and or employer (a leader), Emotional intelligence is important in leadership because it improves self-awareness, increases accountability, fosters communication, and builds trusting relationships by helping you process your emotions in a more positive way that allows you to address challenges more effectively.
We share Lessons of Emotional Intelligence that not only you should learn and practice but also your employees, suppliers, and us, as EOHCB representatives. These also apply to the personal relationships we foster at home or in social environments.
Rational and Emotional
Two distinct forms of intelligence exist, shaping the way we navigate through life and make decisions. These two intelligence types significantly influence our identity, actions, and reactions. They serve as the driving forces behind our clever and rational decisions as well as our occasional irrational yet emotionally satisfying behaviours.
IQ is not as important as we might think
IQ alone may enable you to excel as a competent employee or business owner, ensuring success in your academic pursuits and graduation from school or business. However, when it comes to securing a job or task, IQ cannot guarantee success. During a job interview, your diploma cannot speak for you or address the interviewer's questions. The key lies in possessing strong communication skills and emotional intelligence, as they play a pivotal role in establishing a connection with the prospective employer or client and ultimately securing the position or job.
Areas of Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence encompasses our motivation, self-awareness, empathy, and ability to foster meaningful relationships. These aspects are interconnected, forming a cohesive framework, and deficiencies in one area can often lead to shortcomings in the others.
The emotional brain is stronger
Our brain's outer upper region is responsible for rational decision-making, while the lower part governs emotional decisions. Despite our seemingly rational nature, the emotional brain can easily lead us astray. It has the ability to deceive the rational brain, making us find excuses to align our actions with the desires of the emotional brain.
Other’s feelings
Empathy allows us to genuinely grasp and comprehend the emotions of others. Without the capacity to differentiate between happiness and anger in people, the world would descend into unimaginable chaos. Beyond these fundamental emotions, it is essential to cultivate empathy. Without empathy, our ability to communicate effectively suffers significantly.
Motivation
Emotional intelligence plays a vital role in fostering our motivation, empowering us to persist through challenges for extended periods. It allows us to self-convince that we have the capability to tackle problems successfully. With emotional intelligence, we can maintain optimism and harbour hope for a better future.
Awareness
Developing awareness is among the most challenging aspects for us to master. It requires continuous practice in understanding our true emotions and feelings. This entails asking ourselves to probe questions and genuinely listening to our inner thoughts and emotions.
Relationships
Relationships cannot simply be abandoned; they require active management. This entails cultivating mutual tolerance and understanding between the parties involved. By developing conflict resolution skills, a relationship can transform into a source of happiness and fulfilment for both individuals.
Negative and Positive Emotions
Our emotions are constantly in flux, but when negative emotions linger, they can significantly impede our well-being. Prolonged negative emotions can hinder success in both work and relationships. The good news is that transforming these feelings is within our reach. By learning how to convert negative emotions into positive ones, we can enhance our lives and overall happiness.
Productivity
As your emotional intelligence grows, so does your creativity. This enhancement is not confined to any specific field of work; rather, you'll notice significant improvements in your overall productivity. Strengthening emotional intelligence leads to heightened performance, enabling you to maintain the same level of efficiency even during longer work hours.
Emotional Intelligence is the key to success
Higher emotional intelligence leads to an improved quality of life as emotions are an inseparable part of living. Successful managers excel in managing their emotional intelligence, setting a great example for others to follow.
Leadership
Mere words like "we are going to war" won't suffice for a commander to lead an entire army effectively. Similarly, managing a team requires more than just giving orders. Understanding your team's current emotions and motivation levels is crucial. Encouragement and the application of emotional intelligence are essential for successful leadership in these scenarios.
Teams
Productivity is higher in average talent teams that have good interpersonal relationships compared to gifted teams lacking cohesion. Despite their prowess in handling numbers, teams with low emotional intelligence struggle to make decisions and agree on a unified course of action.
Stress
Challenges at work and in relationships create stress, hindering problem-solving abilities. This stress, in turn, exacerbates the difficulty of finding solutions. To break free from this cycle, effective stress management techniques are essential to handle such situations.
Marriage
The key to long and blissful marriages lies in the sincerity of your emotions. If intimacy wasn't the foundation of your marriage from the start, it may start to deteriorate over time, causing even minor issues to become insurmountable. Emotional openness at the beginning of the journey is crucial for a successful and lasting relationship.
Leadership
Leadership transcends dominance; it involves guiding colleagues towards a shared goal and instilling a genuine belief in its attainability. Successful leaders excel in sustaining their team's motivation over the long term, igniting a desire within them to fulfil the work at hand.
Emotions are all normal
Emotions such as anger, hatred, love, and happiness can be understood by observing ourselves and the circumstances in which they arise. These feelings often depend on our interpretations of encountered events. The crucial aspect is being able to respond independently of our emotions. For instance, in moments of happiness, we might make promises we can't keep, and in times of anger, we may resort to violence.
Being able to express your emotions
Empathy levels vary among individuals, and some may not possess a strong sense of it. You might find yourself in challenging situations where you feel upset, but others may not comprehend your emotions. In such cases, it might be necessary to express your feelings more directly to make others understand your predicament.
You are not your emotions
Persist in your actions, regardless of your emotions. Success belongs to those who refuse to give up despite their feelings and thoughts. Let not your emotions dictate your actions; instead, stay determined and focused on your goals.
Timing
Upon experiencing a new emotion, take a moment to pause and reflect before reacting. Emotional intelligence often operates quicker than rational intelligence, which may lead to irrational actions and unnecessary words if not managed thoughtfully.
