Not long ago, talking about emotional intelligence in relation to work environments was rare. Therefore, the resources that were invested in working the development of this ability were also extremely scarce because it was considered “accessory.”
Emotional intelligence is today a key factor in relation to employability and professional performance and development.
In a constant work world, which presents new challenges and new ways of understanding interpersonal roles and relationships, its impact has been expanded and deepened. Today it is known to manage crisis periods, make decisions strategically, positively motivate the team, and the list continues.
In times of great technological advances, where it seems that Chatgpt can with everything, there is something that remains inherently human: emotions. While there are people in the world and while our work is linked in one way or another with other people, we need to zoom about this key ability.
Find out in this note how to understand the concept of emotional intelligence and what are the 5 central aspects you would have to take care of developing it.
“I feel that I explode with anything, but I don’t know how to handle it at work.”
“When something does not go as I hope, I find it hard to replenish and move on with the rest of the tasks.”
“Faced with a situation of pressure at work, I panic and I can’t think clearly.”
“I find it difficult to separate the problems of my personal life, I end up getting home frustrated, anxious, angry and that affects my family relationships.”
Let’s start by defining emotional intelligence in a simple way: it is the ability to understand what we feel, handle it without overflowing and using it in our favor in daily life. It also implies knowing how to interpret others to communicate better and build healthier and more effective relationships.
From a scientific view, emotional intelligence is not strictly a “intelligence” but a set of skills related to emotions that includes: ability to perceive, understand, regulate and use emotions adaptively, both in oneself and in others, to facilitate thinking, decision making and social interaction. In summary, they are a set of cognitive and emotional skills that influence adaptation to the environment.
Emotional ability is relevant to all people and in all areas but we will focus on identifying five key aspects that make it an essential in the current work world.
1. Emotional intelligence and adaptability
The ability to recognize and manage one’s emotions is essential to travel volatile work environments, where uncertainty and change are the norm. If we understand that emotions are responses to events (which can be internal or external), we can dimension the amount and intensity of emotions of all kinds that a person (and also teams) experiences in a work environment of these characteristics. How successfully the person identifies, regulating and using their emotions will be one of the most relevant factors when adapting creatively to the new scenarios and challenges. On the other hand, emotional intelligence allows us to anticipate changes with effective strategies, based on, for example, “read” correctly emotions of other people and consider it for decision making.
2. Emotional intelligence and remote and hybrid work
Frequently we find surveys and publications about the pro and against remote work. I believe that staying in that dichotomy does not allow clarifying or making better decisions. The invitation is to think what we do with hyperconnectivity and lack of physical contact generated by digital overload. Stress due to hyperconnectivity exists, anguish against the sensation of isolation, too. On the other hand, it is known that social relations are a structural part of human life. Developing emotional skills allows the person to regulate in similar situations and find the equilibrium point from being able to identify their own emotional needs.
Associated with this aspect, neuroscience has contributed a lot of evidence on emotional regulation techniques that contribute to maintaining psychological well -being and productivity in remote work.
3. Emotional intelligence and decision making
Emotions influence every decision we make, from the selection of projects to the negotiation of a salary, because they always pursue the purpose of improving our coping capacity of the different events that are presented to us, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. To understand how these processes are given allows the person to make more rational and strategic decisions, avoiding falling into emotional biases.
4. Emotional intelligence and the leadership of the future
Leaders with developing emotional intelligence foster more cohesive, innovative and committed work teams, which directly impacts productivity and organizational climate. Leaders who know how to manage their emotions and sustain the emotional management of others are those who achieve greater adhesion of their team to their proposals, suggestions and invitations. Self -awareness, self -regulation and empathy already became key competences for the leaders of this new work present, capable of managing talent in multicultural and highly digitized environments.
5. Emotional intelligence and job fatigue
6 years ago WHO included Burnout syndrome as a mental disorder in the International Disease Classification (CIE), understanding the growing prevalence it has in our society. When stress is chronled and fails to be managed successfully, the person “burns.” The consequences of this are many and seriously. The development of emotional intelligence allows to prevent burnout from granting clear tools to identify early exhaustion signals and apply self -regulation strategies.
Emotional intelligence is not only a competitive advantage, but a necessity in the current work environment. Remember that you can always develop your skills to have a better quality of work and life.
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By CEDOC
