Emotional Intelligence
WHAT IS IT?
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is the ability to recognize and control our emotions while understanding and influencing the emotions of others. It is something that one has to be aware of, control and be able to express one’s emotions while handling interpersonal relationships with good judgement. In other words, emotional intelligence is a person’s awareness of his/her own emotions and his/her ability to use that awareness in life’s situations.
It is very important for Emotional Intelligence to be instilled in any organization as it helps people to stay emotionally connected with one another. Without Emotional Intelligence, it becomes very difficult to become productive at work and stay connected to your team mates. This is because Emotional Intelligence is about understanding your emotions as well as acting on those emotions. It is a connection between the heart and the head which is why it is very important to gain control over your emotions. It can be achieved by understanding how well you know yourself and use that knowledge to soar in your work environment as well as your personal life.
A while ago people referred to intelligence as a number attained from a test known as Intelligent Quotient (IQ) and never really paid much attention to Emotional Intelligence. Now it is widely accepted that a person’s intelligence is a combination of IQ, EQ and one’s personality. If Emotional Intelligence is not present this can destroy a person’s personality and way of thinking because emotional intelligence contains both intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence, thus, it is considered to be very important.
HOW CAN IT BE ACHIEVED?
There are steps that need to be considered for one to have Emotional Intelligence and some of these steps include:
- SELF AWARENESS
This is actually the first step of attaining Emotional Intelligence. It is about learning how to understand and recognize one’s emotions. As easy as it may seem to understand and recognize your emotions this is actually something that people struggle with, but it can be learnt with time.
- REGULATING EMOTIONS
Once you have learnt how to understand and recognize your emotions, the next step is to learn how to regulate those emotions. You need to be aware of your emotions, understand them, carefully interpret them and express them well without being biased. Once you have mastered the art of doing this properly then you can regulate your emotions. Being able to regulate your emotions is very important because when there is a problem, it is easy for one to be stay calm and not negatively react in the heat of the moment.
- SOCIAL AWARENESS
Social awareness is the ability to take the perspective of others and empathize with them, you need to be able to understand other people’s actions and emotions and make the right decisions as well as judgement based on this. You need to be mindful of others despite of the difference in culture or upbringing, this will help you learn how to connect with people from all around the world and be able to work with others.
- INTRAPERSONAL SKILLS
Intrapersonal skills are skills that occur within a person’s own mind; they help you manage your emotions; deal/cope with challenges that one may face; and the ability to learn new information. Some examples of intrapersonal skills include self-confidence, discipline and being able to motivate yourself.
- INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
Interpersonal skills help one to build strong and healthy relationships with people around them and in order to do this you need to understand your emotions, practice social awareness and regulate your emotions so that you can respond well to others. If you are part of a team at work or school, interpersonal skills will help you become productive and give morale to your team mates to be productive. It is widely acknowledged that a person with interpersonal skills is very good at solving problems and making decisions without stress and is empathetic towards other people.
CONCLUSION
Intelligence is the ability to learn which is why despite the fact that Emotional Intelligence is not inbuilt, it can be achieved, changed and natured with time and practice. Emotional Intelligence is a must have by each individual because it helps us build stronger relationships, succeed at school, at work and in our personal lives – It helps us to achieve our goals. Without Emotional Intelligence one may struggle to understand and control their emotions and might have uncontrollable emotional outbursts towards other people which would be a disaster. If you want to be able to connect well with other people or be a great leader it is very important for you to build your Emotional Intelligence because an emotional intelligent leader is more likely to succeed in whatever they do and is great at managing relationships in a crisis.
Written By: Kasonde Salome Muyoba
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