Emotional Intelligence - 10 Skills To Future Proof Yourself
In this sixth post on 10 Skills You Need To Future Proof Yourself, we’re focusing on ‘Emotional Intelligence’.
What is ‘emotional intelligence’?
Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to read other people and empathise with their thoughts and feelings.
It’s more commonly referred to as ‘people skills’.
Aside from learning how to effectively interact with others, having strong emotional intelligence is also about understanding yourself and working on your weaknesses.
The good news is you are able to change your EQ over time. To achieve this, you just need to work on the following four areas:
1. Self-Awareness - This is about having a clear understanding of who you are, your strengths and weakness and how you react emotionally in situations. Knowing yourself means you can work on the areas where you need to improve. Many people believe that this quality is the most important part of emotional intelligence.
2. Self-Regulation - This is the ability to control emotions; it’s about learning to think before you act. Having control of your emotions is important so you don’t behave impulsively or say the wrong thing.
3. Empathy - The ability to identify with and understand the wants, needs, and views of others. People with empathy are good at recognising the feelings of others. As a result, they are usually excellent at managing relationships and listening to others.
4. Social Skills - Someone with good social skills is good at building relationships and knowing how to make others feel valued and included. They are great communicators and confident in front of others. Identify those types of people and observe how they behave. You will almost certainly learn something.
Why is it important?
People with high emotional intelligence are usually successful at most things they do. They get the best out of others and themselves.
It improves your relationships with friends, family and work colleagues.
It makes you a better negotiator. If you can empathise with others you can always find a solution to benefit both parties.
It’s fundamental to being an effective leader.
How do I improve my EQ?
Here are 6 ways to improve your ability to be emotionally intelligent:
1) Learn to really focus on the needs of those around you. What is it that motivates them?
2) Observe how you react to people. Are you fair to everyone? Do you take the time to understand their point of view?
3) Examine how your actions will affect others. What will the impact of your decisions be on them?
4) Take responsibility for your actions. People are often willing to forgive if you make an honest attempt to make things right.
5) Do a self-evaluation. What are your strengths and weakness? What can you improve on?
6) Learn to regulate your emotions. When we act on impulse we often make mistakes or cause offence. Exercise, meditation and self-observation are your friends here.
If you want to learn more about ways to improve your emotional intelligence then try our Mental Fitness and Well-being course.
