#PowerYourGrowth: This 12.12, check out 12 exercises to level up 12 aspects of your EQ.
12 aspects of EQ
Being emotionally intelligent is not just all about empathy, there is a plethora of competencies that make up emotional intelligence / EQ, 12 to be exact.
There are 4 areas of EQ, each with their own aspects:
Self-Awareness
Traits: Emotional self-awareness.
Self-Management
Traits: Emotional self-control, Adaptability, Achievement orientation, Positive outlook.
Social Awareness
Traits: Empathy, Organizational awareness.
Relationship Management
Traits: Influence, Coach and mentor, Conflict management, Teamwork, Inspirational leadership.
Which area do you think you lack in the most? Find the tools you can use to tell where your EQ needs improvement in the Harvard Business Review article here .
12 exercises to improve your EQ
After assessing your EQ levels, you now have a roadmap of which directions to go. To target each EQ area accurately, there are a range of exercises that are made for the purpose of improving your EQ:
Worksheets
1. Giving Feedback: Improving Your Self-Awareness
With this worksheet , you’ll be able to boost your self-awareness and, in turn, your emotional intelligence. It includes 15 questions, including “How do you think others felt when you stood for something and did not back down?”.
2. Self-Awareness Activity
Another good worksheet for enhancing your self-awareness comes from Florida State University. It lists 30 traits that you might feel are strengths or areas for you to improve, such as imaginative, curious, funny, and more.
3. Social Awareness Activity
The worksheet includes 5 pictures of faces and a list of emotions like happy, tired, frustrated, etc. You’re free to match more than one emotion with each picture. The point to be more aware and responsive of the emotions of those around you.
4. Self-Management Activity
This activity can be focused on any emotion, but the worksheet targets anger. The instructions include prompts like “Think of a time when you were angry and how you handled it.” By doing it, you will hopefully find better coping mechanisms.
5. Name Game
This worksheet is a great choice for those who are just beginning to learn about emotional intelligence. You are asked to write each letter of your name in a vertical format, then write a positive trait/emotion corresponding to each letter.
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Exercises
6. Temperament Analysis
This exercise includes a questionnaire of 6 questions, addressing 4 parameters of temperament; genetic inheritance, physical, life experiences, environment.
7. Be the Fog (Regulate Your Emotions)
If receiving criticism provokes strong emotions , this simple exercise will help you “be the fog” and learn how to regulate and modulate your emotions.
8. Making Eye Contact
Consists of three stages; step one (no eye contact), step two (make eye contact and break it right away), step three (make eye contact and pair up with that person).
Learn more about ways you can do to improve your EQ, including 4 other exercises, in the full article here .
12 EQ benefits at work
It seems like such a hassle to do all these exercises, and focus on your EQ. Digging into our emotions will often feel exhausting and draining. So what will we actually gain from these activities?
There are many advantages of having a “high” EQ, but ones that will really help you deliver better at work include:
You will learn to avoid acting and speaking defensively. Instead, you will better recognize and control any negative emotions you may feel at the moment.?
Everybody has setbacks, failed projects, and doubts about themselves from time to time. EQ will help you to be more resilient and move forward positively.
EQ exercises are meant to make you recognize your feelings and personal limits. This way, you can then plan your interactions and activities accordingly.
In VUCA situations, stress can peak while productivity take a nosedive. With trained EQ, you’ll be able to determine the best response and adjustments.
Poor EQ will lead us to fight about a failure or pass blame. Stable EQ will help you control your emotional responses and focus on problem resolution instead.
Read more about the other 7 benefits of having trained emotional intelligence at work in the full Continu piece here .
Happy 12.12 to those who celebrate.
Keep up with the 12 aspects of your emotional intelligence with the 12 exercises above. Hopefully, we’ll meet a more emotionally-intelligent version of you as we release our new Monday Mavens edition next week.
See you again soon!