Building a successful career requires a lot of strategy and hard work.
After all, there’s plenty of competition in the workplace. That means you need the right education, tons of ambition, and the skills necessary to take you to the next level.
You also need emotional intelligence. Why is emotional intelligence important in the workplace? Great question. Fortunately, you’ve come to the right place for answers.
This article takes a look at the importance of emotional intelligence and why companies should ensure that their employees get the emotional intelligence training necessary to make the office a better place to work. Keep reading to get the inside scoop.
Table of Contents
What Is Emotional Intelligence?
Let’s start with the basics. This is a human characteristic that goes beyond a person’s work experience, analytical skills, business savvy, or other traits that help an individual climb the corporate ladder.
Emotional intelligence, also known as EQ or EI, refers to a person’s ability to understand and control their own feelings and to understand and empathize with the feelings of others.
This is more than simply being a good lead or having a firm grasp of how to command respect or inspire your employees. And yet strong EQ can help you be a better leader and create a healthy work environment where employees can do their best work.
EQ combines self-awareness with empathy in order to understand your own feelings and what those around you are feeling. It also enables you to be a more effective communicator. This is important to organizations because society is becoming increasingly complex, thus good communication is more important than ever before.
Why Is Emotional Intelligence Important In the Workplace?
Working with a team isn’t always easy. There’s a constant potential for tension and miscommunication. This is why good leaders are so important.
But what makes a good leader? This short answer is, there’s not one single trait that makes one person a better leader than another. The recipe for a strong leader can be complex. And yet a leader who lacks emotional intelligence will never be able to get the best out of their employees.
That’s because employees need to be inspired, have confidence in the people giving the directions, and know they have the freedom to take chances and to be vulnerable within the corporate environment.
A manager with high emotional intelligence will have a better understanding of how to encourage their employees to produce their best work without being intimidating or creating a hostile office environment.
Here are some great emotional intelligence training tips.
The Qualities of High Emotional Intelligence
There are several qualities of emotional intelligence. Let’s take a closer look at them.
Increased Self-Awareness
First of all, emotional intelligence will provide a greater sense of self-awareness. In other words, you’ll have an increased awareness of how you move through the world and the way you interact with others.
Have you ever noticed how some people seem to have no self-awareness at all? These are people who lack emotional intelligence. They can be annoying, and yet seem to have the inability to sense that they are annoying the people around them or at least making them extremely uncomfortable.
Self-awareness is a crucial element of being a good leader. Because without it, you will have a much more difficult time building loyalty with your employees.
Increased Empathy for Others
Empathy is another trait that many people take for granted, especially in the workplace. This is the simple ability to be able to relate to the feelings of others.
For example, when someone is struggling in a particular area, they might have a difficult time expressing this emotion. An empathic person will be able to sense that something isn’t right, and then discuss the situation with that specific member of the team to see how you can help or to change directions in order to remedy the situation.
It’s important to understand that employees respond to empathetic leaders. They will actually be more loyal and work harder for someone who cares about their feelings and empathizes with their personal struggles.
Increased Social Awareness
Social awareness is self-awareness at a higher level. This is the ability to assess the atmosphere within a given environment.
For example, you’ve probably walked into a room at work or at home and can feel the tension in the air. This is social awareness. High emotional intelligence gives you the ability to notice when there’s tension and to look for ways to address the problem and navigate the situation with grace and empathy.
Improved Relationship Management
Every relationship in your life is important. And yet every relationship you have is different. Because of this, the more fluidly you’re able to shift from person to person, the stronger each relation can become.
For a person lacking high emotional intelligence, this can be a nearly impossible challenge. That’s because emotional intelligence enables you to meet each person on their own level rather than expecting them to meet you on yours.
Leads With Passion
It’s impossible to overstate the value of a passionate leader. This is because employees want to be led by example. They want to feel your excitement and passion, and they’ll be willing to work much harder for someone who believes in the mission of what you’re trying to accomplish as a team.
Proactive Rather Than Reactive
High emotional intelligence also helps a leader to be proactive in situations rather than reactive. This is a human characteristic that enables you to study a potential problem, assess your options, and then proceed as needed rather than panicking when unexpected issues arise.
Keep in mind that strong leaders are far more proactive than reactive, which helps increase trust among their employees.
A Guide to Understanding Why Emotional Intelligence Is So Important
Building a successful career won’t happen overnight. Fortunately, the more you understand why is emotional intelligence important in the workplace, the more effective you will be as a leader.
Keep scrolling to discover more great career and business advice on this blog.
