The ability of an individual to identify and manage the emotions of other people as well as his own is known as his emotional intelligence. When it comes to management of emotions, they not only understand but also realize the effect of those emotions on people around them.

A person with high emotional intelligence is most likely someone who never lets temper take his control, is highly trusted, considered easy to talk to, takes criticism well, and has the reputation of making careful decisions after listening to his staff or team. Having emotional intelligence as skill enables handling stressful situations in a calmer way, helping to find better solutions to any problem.

Why is emotional intelligence important

Businesses are essentially run by people. Therefore, influencing the effectiveness of the minds these people means influencing the productivity of the overall business. Some experts have come to believe that emotional intelligence may, after all, be a better predictor of a person’s success as compared to his cleverness or IQ level. This has made the significance of emotional intelligence to grow more than ever.

Emotional intelligence as a skill enables you to understand, empathize as well as negotiate better, helping you retain good work relationships and fit in better whenever faced with a group situation. Also, it enables you to have the qualities of self-awareness, self-regulation, self-motivation, empathy, and social skills, all of which are prerequisites to becoming a true leader.

How to improve emotional intelligence as a skill

Following are the keys to improve emotional intelligence as a skill:

  • Becoming more self-aware. You must analyze yourself as to what your strengths and weaknesses are, what your true passion is, and what your emotions about various things are. You can use various methods and techniques for this purpose. For instance, keeping a record of everything that makes you angry may help you determine some of your weaknesses, and rating it from 1 to 10 every time an emotion is triggered may help you be aware of the intensity of your own emotions.
  • Express yourself. You must first be able to express your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs in order to be able to manage your emotions. Bottling up everything inside is never a good plan for emotion management.
  • Manage the emotions of others. This process has two steps. You must first be able to increase your empathy to understand how exactly the other person feels. Afterwards, respond in a manner that you would have liked someone to respond to you if you were feeling the same way.
  • Practice in the real world. One of the most important rule for improving emotional intelligence as a skill is practicing in the real world. It is important because it allows you to get some honest feedback. Your ability to face all the criticism and use it for improvement purposes will in itself be the evidence of improvement in your skills.
Job profiles that require this skill