Here's how you can strengthen emotional intelligence in the workplace through peer support.

Empathy is a cornerstone of emotional intelligence (EI), the ability to understand and manage our emotions and those of others. Empathy allows us to connect deeply with people, recognising and respecting their feelings, perspectives, and experiences. This connection fosters trust and strengthens relationships, both personally and professionally. In the workplace, empathy enhances teamwork and collaboration by promoting open communication and reducing conflicts. On a personal level, empathy helps in resolving conflicts by encouraging a more compassionate and understanding approach. It allows us to respond thoughtfully rather than react impulsively, fostering healthier interactions and stronger bonds.

It is extremely crucial that when dealing with something as strategic as Peer work, or working with others in general, you have to learn to sit and have some patience. People may come from anywhere in their lives and stumble upon you with any problem, and there you have a choice, the choice which stands on whether you should bud in and give advice or allow them to continue sharing. You can give advice too soon and they walk away thinking this is one way to do life, to fulfill this portion of work because you said so without understanding the complexity of the situation at hand because you just were not patient enough, and if you would have maybe waited another minute, they would have been granted with the proper help they needed. Patience!!

Active listening is going beyond on what the other person is saying. Being empathetic, understanding and focused would be a great way of practicing active listening. This is a special skill that someone can have. Listening to motivational speakers can enhance your listening skills as well

My experience during peer interactions has reminded me that active listening involves more than having the answers to questions. In my role, I often have to share answers and solutions for challenging events. However, I have grown to understand that active listening, also involves allowing the individual time... Giving the individual the space to express themselves, is key. However, not answering back at that moment, may just be what is needed. Appropriate silence may speak louder than words. It may remove any feelings of disingenuousness, because "we have the answer." It may encourage the person to trust that when the time is right feedback is coming from the heart; building true peer support and (EI). Trustfully, it will be well received!

Everyone comes from different backgrounds and points in their lives. Active listening and empathy are crucial to fostering positive peer interactions. Being able to build that genuine trust among peers helps them to be able to take corrective criticism as well as want to speak up and share ideas that could improve the team/company. If a peer doesn't feel supported or heard they typically will not share ideas and this could reflect poorly on their work ethic as well.

Self-awareness is the first step towards sharing. Once you know more about your own thoughts and feelings, you are enabled to self-disclosure. A great tool to learn more about yourself is the Johari-Window. This exercise shows you what you know about yourself but others might not. It also tells you what others know about you but you do not - this blind spot is a great area for self-discovery! Feedback from others helps you to get to know yourself better. You should aim to increase the open area - the things you and others know about yourself. Sharing experiences supports team work and emotional intelligence at work. It creates a mutual connection between peers and encourages a happier relationship, as people feel better understood.

Feedback can be a crucial way to help someone grow in their role and feel confident in the services they provide. Feedback should always be given constructively so that the individual can take away valuable key points to help them better assess where to improve and what steps to work on to achieve it. Being able to grow this emotional intelligence peers will feel comfortable receiving feedback and looking forward to it because it helps them grow.

Conflict resolution is crucial in ensuring that a team runs smoothly and efficiently. In my experience, when a leader is empathetic, understanding, and will hear out the employee's concerns it encourages peers to have more discussions and avoids festering conflicts. There will be times when an employee's request or suggestion cannot be granted with the right conflict resolution in place, the employee will still understand why it was not best for the company's needs and continue contributing in the future.

It is not enough to show empathy. I believe it is much easier to connect with someone else's emotions or lived experience than to move beyond that and come up with ways to try to alleviate a person of his, her, they, etc. emotional distress. The latter is called compassion! Compassion goes beyond empathy because compassion is action. Compassion is doing something and/or saying something that is aimed to minimize or eliminate emotional and mental health distresses and improving quality of life.

Here’s what I would add: compassion is often confused with feeling sorry for someone. As another commented, compassion IS action! And when a peer in the workplace (or anywhere) feels that compassion, they can begin to recognize their own strengths and make their own decisions about what’s next, supported by their peers.

On realistic note- To do all, you have to join in coffee break to create bond, build reputation of culture . A bit of gossip, cause that called listening in stressful corp ambience. Join evening party or group trips. If you are absolute consumed at work and concerned about their human well being. None of the above suggestions will work. People at work place speak either to vent or to share the load or to get relieved emotionally. So understand peers personality and intentions and then do help for work balancing best of values and organisational goal.

The insight I would offer this conversation is related to understanding that empathy is not connecting with the person according to how you would feel in their situation. More than that is connecting with how they feel based on the beliefs they have related to that situation. And those beliefs are often inaccurate. I don't have to share their beliefs, but understanding those beliefs helps me to empathize and to use motivational interviewing strategies to non-judgementally challenge unhealthy beliefs and perhaps even offer alternative beliefs that may align more closely with reality. Even among colleagues and supervisors I have encountered situations where providing a more balanced perspective led to reduced stress and positive outcomes.