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How To Gain A Competitive Advantage With Emotional Intelligence And Leadership
We did a webinar last week on Emotional Intelligence because understanding Emotional Intelligence and Leadership is one of the keys for having a successful organization. Every leader needs to be aware of what Emotional Intelligence is and the impact it has in the workplace.
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, and use the power of emotions to facilitate high levels of collaboration and productivity. In essence, Emotional Intelligence is the ability to effectively manage emotions.
Why is this important? Because research shows that Emotional Intelligence is a good predictor of performance. As a matter of fact leaders that exhibit a high degree of Emotional Intelligence can have up to 127% more productivity than those that don’t.
Emotional Intelligence can be measured. The measure is called Emotional Quotient or EQ. Just like IQ is a measure of intelligence, EQ measures Emotional Intelligence. One thing to note about EQ is that unlike IQ, EQ can be developed and improved.
The impact of managing emotions of yourself and others is very critical to business success. Because we as human beings are “hot wired” to be emotional creatures, our bodies physically react to emotional stimuli. What that means is when we have a negative emotional experience our bodies react to it.
The way our bodies react to a negative emotional experience has an adverse affect on productivity. For example, a negative experience causes our blood pressure to rise, pupils to dilate, rise in adrenaline and cortisol, blood sugar levels rise, and weakness or shakiness in the body. All of these physiological things impact productivity in a negative way.
In addition, it takes about four hours for these reactions to dissipate in the body. That means that two average negative emotional impact situations in the workplace and your entire day is shot.
On the other hand a positive emotional experience impacts the body in a way that increases productivity. This means that if we can create positive emotional experiences in the workplace on a daily basis the productivity of the workforce improves.
Here are six steps you as a leader can take to increase the EQ of your workplace:
- Have Leaders Model Emotionally Intelligent Behavior - Leaders have to create a culture of EQ by doing. Also the leader wants to create an environment supports learning and self correction
- Get Buy-in to Make the Change - Look to improve on the things that are meaningful to the staff. Buy-in is always a function of WIIFM (what’s in it for me)
- Respect Privacy - recognize when to do team versus individual feedback. Give feedback is a self assuring way
- Apply Experiential Learning - Adults learn by doing. Reinforce EQ with coaching and mentoring
- Celebrate Success - Acknowledge achievement and reinforce progress
- Offer Training - Don’t just train on job competencies. Make sure you team understands behaviors, motivators, and values.
Your Emotional Quotient rises over time. It is proven that senior people have more Emotional Intelligence than younger people. This is important to understand because the workplace is getting younger and younger. In fact in just a few years, 47% of the workforce will be people born after 1987.
If you want to gain a competitive advantage in your marketplace Emotional Intelligence is a prerequisite. If you want more information about how Emotional Intelligence can help you meet your business goals then give us a call today. We will be happy to provide a complimentary strategy session that will help you clearly outline your goals and how to reach them.
Contact Us
954-349-5828
info@capital-idea.net
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