What do you do if your decision-making in research settings is hindered by a lack of emotional intelligence?

1 Assess your EI level

The first step is to evaluate your current level of EI and identify your strengths and weaknesses. You can use self-assessment tools, such as the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) or the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), to measure your EI skills across different domains, such as self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and social skills. Alternatively, you can ask for feedback from your peers, mentors, or supervisors, who can provide you with a different perspective on your EI performance.

2 Learn from your emotions

The second step is to learn from your emotions and use them as valuable information for your decision-making. Emotions can help you recognize your preferences, values, goals, and motivations, as well as alert you to potential risks, threats, or opportunities. However, emotions can also interfere with your rationality, logic, and objectivity, especially if they are too intense, negative, or uncontrolled. Therefore, you need to practice recognizing, labeling, and expressing your emotions appropriately, and avoid suppressing, ignoring, or denying them.

3 Manage your emotions

The third step is to manage your emotions and regulate their impact on your decision-making. Emotions can influence your attention, memory, judgment, and reasoning, and lead you to make hasty, impulsive, or biased choices. To prevent this, you need to develop strategies to cope with your emotions, such as breathing exercises, meditation, relaxation, positive self-talk, or humor. You also need to monitor and adjust your emotions according to the situation, the task, and the people involved, and avoid letting them escalate or overwhelm you.

4 Understand others' emotions

The fourth step is to understand others' emotions and empathize with their perspectives, needs, and concerns. Emotions can help you build rapport, trust, and collaboration with your research partners, stakeholders, and beneficiaries, as well as anticipate their reactions, expectations, and feedback. However, emotions can also cause misunderstandings, conflicts, or resistance, especially if they are different, hidden, or misinterpreted. Therefore, you need to practice listening actively, observing nonverbal cues, asking open-ended questions, and acknowledging others' emotions respectfully.

5 Manage others' emotions

The fifth step is to manage others' emotions and influence their decision-making positively. Emotions can help you communicate effectively, persuade convincingly, and negotiate successfully with your research counterparts, sponsors, and audiences, as well as motivate, inspire, and support your research team. However, emotions can also create tension, friction, or hostility, especially if they are incompatible, conflicting, or manipulative. Therefore, you need to practice expressing your emotions clearly, assertively, and diplomatically, and avoid imposing, criticizing, or dismissing others' emotions.

6 Seek professional help

The sixth step is to seek professional help if your lack of EI is affecting your mental health, well-being, or performance. EI is not a fixed trait that you are born with, but a learnable skill that you can improve with training, coaching, or therapy. If you feel that your EI challenges are too difficult to overcome on your own, or if they are causing you anxiety, depression, or burnout, you may benefit from seeking the guidance of a qualified counselor, psychologist, or coach, who can help you develop your EI and enhance your decision-making in research settings.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?