Five Ways to Boost Your Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

Developing your emotional intelligence can improve your performance and behaviour in the workplace, and help you make more informed decisions, enabling you to be your best at work.?

So, what is emotional intelligence??

Dr. Ben Palmer completed a PhD at Swinburne University, developing the first Australian model and assessment of emotional intelligence, designed specifically for workplace applications, now available through Genos International.?

Ben, in his recent Swinburne Edge webinar, describes emotional intelligence as “a set of skills that help us perceive and understand emotions, effectively express them, reason and think about them, manage them within ourselves and indeed positively influence them in others.”?

Here are some of Ben’s top tips for getting started enhancing your emotional intelligence.?

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1. Actively acknowledge your emotions?

Most of the time, we are not conscious of our emotions.??

By focusing on actively registering the way we feel, we can begin to develop our emotional intelligence.??

Evaluating these emotions as either pleasant or unpleasant can help us navigate our emotions in the workplace; pleasant emotions broaden and build on our ideas, whereas unpleasant emotions can narrow and limit our thinking.?

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2. Try the 24-hours feeling activity?

By taking a minute out of each day to engage in a reflection activity, you can enhance your emotional intelligence. Here’s what’s involved:?

• Consider the emotions you have felt over the past 24 hours.?

• Write down as many as you can.?

• Identify how many were pleasant and how many were unpleasant.?

• Assess why you had these emotions and how they may have affected your behaviour.?

This can help build your emotional intelligence skills and shed light on how your emotions impact your everyday life.?

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3. Connect to your emotions through stories?

Increasing awareness of what evokes your emotions, and how those emotions cause you to behave, is important in developing emotional intelligence.??

Try intentionally engaging with stories – be it throughs films, TV shows, music or books – that will create emotions within you. Actively reflect on these emotions and practice identifying them.??

Incorporating this into your everyday life will exercise your mind and grow your emotional intelligence.?

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4. Take care of your physical health?

Emotions are not solely impacted by mental factors. Your body can dramatically affect your mind, emotions, and behaviour.??

Ensuring good sleep and diet, and incorporating exercise into your routine, can promote pleasant emotions and improve your performance in the workplace.?

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5. Elevate your environment?

Your environment also has a significant impact on your emotions. Creating a space that boosts your mood can help you focus and can increase pleasant emotions.??

For example, scented oils or candles, playing music, and indoor plants can all play a part in improving your mood.??

In fact, learning to create a workspace that encourages pleasant emotions is a skill that can benefit you for your entire career and daily life.?

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Ready to improve your emotional intelligence to achieve more in the workplace??

Upskill fast with Swinburne Edge’s expert-led short course Emotional Intelligence Training. The one-day, expert-led short course includes personalised feedback from the Genos Emotional Intelligence Assessment.??

You’ll learn strategies that you can apply at work or at home, and leave with a practical toolkit to help regulate, control and understand your emotions and those of others.?

Register for an upcoming session.?