The Emotional Intelligence Advantage
How do you rate your intelligence? Do you feel that your academic qualifications justify your assessment of how smart you are? Intelligence in the form of IQ is certainly an important indicator of academic success and a fairly reliable guide to future professional progress. But recent research highlights the importance of emotional intelligence as an essential signature for business success. We know that our IQ score doesn’t increase with age or experience. Some researchers suggest that it’s a fixed commodity. But we can all learn to improve our emotional intelligence because these are skills that can make a valuable contribution to our success. Where do we begin?
Understanding your emotional strengths and weaknesses is a good starting place. Recognising any tendency, for example, to be overwhelmed by your feelings can motivate you to learn how to exercise control over your responses. This includes fluctuations in your mood as well as your reactions towards others. Do you like it when someone shouts at you? Of course not. A calm and balanced emotional platform will identify you as someone with the maturity to marshal their thoughts and feelings and rise above the temptation to give in to outbursts of anger. A willingness to listen to others and understand their views is widely considered to be an essential quality for an effective leader. Feeling at ease with others and offering support, empathy and encouragement will improve your emotional intelligence scores and help you to become someone who can bring out the best in colleagues. The same principle applies to family members.
Even though we share many common characteristics, we’re all different. This is where a healthy measure of self-awareness can work wonders. When you take a moment to consider how you react around other people, you might detect valuable clues about where you can make important progress. Do you have a habit of interrupting when someone’s talking to you? Do you really listen? Do you let worry or anxiety throw you off course and sabotage your plans? We all have areas where we can make substantial progress in our quest for greater emotional intelligence.
It might initially feel uncomfortable to introduce subtle changes into your behavioural habits but, with a little practice and perseverance, you’ll soon enjoy the benefits of a more empathetic connection with your fellow humans. On a purely practical level, these are the essential keys that open the door to career progression. These are the steps that will lead you to a happier, healthier and more successful way of living.
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