The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Training

Emotional intelligence (EI) is defined as the “ability to monitor one's own and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different emotions and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour.” EI is a quality that is being increasingly valued in organisations around the world. The reasons are not difficult to understand. An awareness and understanding of our own emotions lets us recognise the same in the others. It forms the basis of empathy, which is a crucial attribute in a leader, a manager, or more pertinent to our point, a trainer. It’s not enough to be knowledgeable, well-read, smart, or intelligent. If you cannot meet people where they are, you will not be able to raise them to the level you want them to rise to. Fortunately, all of us can improve our EI. While some are naturally highly intelligent in this regard, others can work on building a better emotional intelligence. Let’s look at how EI can help trainers and coaches do their job better, and why you should work on honing your emotional intelligence too.

Emotional Intelligence Helps You Communicate Better

It's not necessary that merely possessing good emotional intelligence also makes you articulate and adept at expressing yourself in all manners and ways, absolutely not. How well you speak depends on: a) Your natural talent for it. b) Your experience. c) Above all, your willingness to practise the skill. But assuming you have been practising your communication skills all these years, emotional intelligence can take you further because now you will have the added ability to actually listen to your audience and understand their reaction to your training. When you are able to gauge your audience's sentiments accurately, you are able to bring the desired changes in your own approach to engender a better dialogue, instead of just going on and on, hoping to impress one and all with your great eloquence and knowledge. Good verbal skills mean little if they are not complemented by good listening skills, along with the ability to understand different reactions and points of view. Good communication skills involve verbal as well as non-verbal signals, a combined understanding of which helps trainers put their point across more effectively.

Emotional Intelligence Helps You Get Along with All Kinds of People

We all get along with certain types of people better than others; mostly those who are like us and whom we can relate to on some higher or invisible level. If your job requires you to meet new people all the time, you don’t have the luxury to simply connect with those whom you are drawn to naturally and ignore the rest. You have to make sure you get along well with everybody at least reasonably well. It’s a tough ask, but those with a higher emotional intelligence will be able to pull it off better than those without it. As a trainer you will coach a variety of people over your career. Some of them young and fresh out of school, eager to learn new things; others experienced and at best lukewarm to you; and yet others old and jaded, not really interested in listening to what you have to say because they think they have seen and heard it all. Some will talk a lot and ask many questions, while others will simply not open up. It won’t matter how different they are from each other because your brief will remain the same – to coach them all to the best of your ability.

So how does emotional intelligence help you with this?

Here’s how. Because high EI makes you sensitive to other people’s states of mind, their emotions, as well as their defences/inhibitions, it helps you tailor your approach to different temperaments. This ability to switch gears when greeted with different personalities and learning styles is important for trainers to possess. It helps them know how to deal with the gregarious outgoing types, as well as those painfully shy and averse to speaking up. Your audience will also be able to relate to you better. When they see you not just taking an interest in their learning but also moulding your approach to suit their personality, they are very likely to trust you and feel encouraged to participate in the classroom. In any case, it helps for a trainer to give off the vibe that he or she is approachable and that they value all their audience’ opinions.

Emotional Intelligence Helps You Reach Your Full Potential as a Trainer

When you look at all the points presented above collectively, it becomes clear that EI can help you tap into your full potential. Training is about communicating ideas – whether these ideas are being exchanged with board members of an organisation, your colleagues, or your students. And you are always able to communicate better when you are aware of the underlying emotions at work.

Emotional intelligence is a learnable, measurable, scientifically validated skillset that fuels better effectiveness, relationships, wellbeing and quality of life. Explore more about the world of Emotional Intelligence and to address below questions.

1. I want to learn more about emotional intelligence for myself
2. I want expert help to use EQ to increase value in my organization
3. I want effective tools & methods to bring EQ to my clients
4. I want to improve my school / university with social emotional learning

CTA

MasterMyLife EQ Education Pvt. Ltd.

(Collaborator-University of Mumbai's GICED)

Kalina Campus, Vidyanagari, Santacruz (E), Mumbai

Web: www.MasterMyLifeEdu.com

Email: [email protected]

Cell: +91 98201 67715