Why we should want to be Emotional Intelligence!

Now that we know what emotional intelligence is all about, if you are still on the fence about making the effort to invest in developing your emotional quotient, I am here to help make the case. Till a few years ago, most organizations focused on skills! What skills where needed for a particular role was the basis of hiring for it, our appraisals, promotions – all of it was skills driven. But that is beginning to change where a large number of organizations look for a combination of EQ and IQ. I have heard of wonderful interview experiences with the likes of Airbnb, Amazon, Google and others.

Also, as individuals when we look for jobs, we look for organizations with anchor in a strong people focused culture. Why just organizations and individuals, when we build products, we think if human-centered design. Well, all of these lead us onto one path, that of developing out emotional intelligence. Unfortunately, our education system is still lagging behind, where we are still skill focused. If emotional intelligence had been something we grew up with, we as individuals, organizations and society would have been highly compassionate and productive. But, its never to late to get started right? So, here are highlights of the benefits of being emotionally intelligent, just to name a few –

1. Connect better with others

Teams with emotionally intelligent members are great at working together. They strive towards positive and productive communication and work towards building trust and creating value as a team. Developing Emotional Intelligence makes us open-minded and non-judgmental.

2. Become more resilient

Not many people like change, but Emotional intelligence gives us the tools we need to deal with any change that comes your way. It helps us be more adaptable.

3. Improve communication skills

Whether it’s an angry customer or an upset teammate, difficult conversations can stir up a gamut of emotions. If we have the right skills, we can handle those conversations by emotionally connecting with the other person enabling a viable resolution.

4. Boost performance at work

Emotional intelligence allows us to quickly build rapport and trust with people. It enables us to understand feelings and empathize with them, creating a conducive work environment leading to higher productivity!

5. Keep commitments, meet goals – Take the lead!

Good leaders focus on understanding people, leading them with influence and inspiration not command or authority. Emotional intelligence helps us to achieve this understanding to develop pertinent leadership skills and guide our teams purposefully.

To sum up, being emotionally intelligent I’d like to quote Abdul Kalam, who said “Lovely thing to learn from water. ‘Adjust yourself in every situation and in any shape’. But most importantly, always find out your own way to flow.” I’ll take it a step further and say its like being like a river. We flow in a direction but have the power within us to forge new paths, stay calm, provide relief to everyone who comes to us and also take them along on the journey. And when we merge with the ocean, we become a part of it so seamlessly. We can hold our own when needed and be a part of bigger whole when needed! Now, isn’t that just beautiful!