Emotional Intelligence: Do You Have It? Part 2

By Marcia Zidle on July 31, 2012

For anyone who wants to advance in their career, emotional intelligence (EI)  is essential for success. How would you rate yourself?

According to Daniel Goleman, who helped make the idea of EI popular, there are five main elements of emotional intelligence. Part  1 focused on these three: self awareness, self regulation and motivation.  Here are the last two.

4. Empathy
This means putting yourself in someone else’s situation. If you want to earn the respect and loyalty of your team, then show them you care. How can you improve your empathy?

  • Put yourself in someone else’s position. It’s easy to support your own point of view. After all, it’s yours! But take the time to look at situations from other people’s perspectives.
  • Pay attention to body language. Perhaps when you listen to someone, you cross your arms, move your feet back and forth, or bite your lip. This body language tells others how you really feel about a situation, and the message you’re giving isn’t positive! Learning to read body language can be a real asset when you’re in a leadership role because you’ll be better able to determine how someone truly feels. And this gives you the opportunity to respond appropriately.
  • Respond to feelings. You ask your assistant to work late – again. And although he agrees, you can hear the disappointment in his voice. So, respond by addressing his feelings. Tell him you appreciate how willing he is to work extra hours and that you’re just as frustrated about working late. If possible, figure out a way for future late nights to be less of an issue (for example, give him Monday mornings off).

5. Social skills
Those who do well in this element of emotional intelligence are great communicators. They relate well with most people even those who are different or have different experiences.  Because of thier empathy and self awareness are also good at managing change and resolving conflicts diplomatically. Th So, how can you improve your career by building social skills?

  • Learn conflict resolution. Everyone – who works with, sells to, leads or helps others, must know how to resolve conflicts with their team members, customers, their peers and even bosses. They also need to know how to maneuver the inevitable politics within an organization.
  • Improve your communication skills.  How well do you communicate? Our communication quiz will help you answer this question, and it will give useful feedback on what you can do to improve.

Career Success Tip:

The better a leader, manager or professional relates to and works with others, the more successful they will be in their careers. Being competent in these five emotional intelligence (EI)  elements (self awareness, self regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills) will help you excel in the future! Also see Career Resilience #1 and Career Resilience #2.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?