This blog post will explore the ways in which emotional intelligence can improve communication, teamwork, and productivity in the office.
What even is a ‘workplace’ these days? There is no ‘average’ workplace look and feel. They have become adaptable to the needs of the environment in which we live, the business, the customers and the employees. While Forbes magazine Futurists and Coaches Council are predicting AI (automation), flexibility and upskilling will be leading trends in 2023, one thing hasn’t changed over time and is likely never to change. When people are involved, emotional intelligence is involved.
- Own who we are, what’s driving us and the role we play in each situation.
- Face how well we manage our emotional responses, our limitations, and blockers.
- Feel the impact that we have on the people around us and what makes them ‘tick’.
- Ask the right questions, communicate, and answer the questions that are being asked.
- Drive our motivations, goals, and achievements.
We don’t have the luxury of deciding whether emotional intelligence (EI) will be in our workplace, it’s always there. The level of EI within each person determines the impact of every interaction and the overall success of the organisation.
5 signs that a workplace has low EI:
- There is blame and a lack of ownership.
- People struggle to manage their emotions.
- Leaders and their teams are not connecting with each other on an individual level.
- Communication is poor and/or lacking.
- Motivation and productivity are far from optimal.
Lifting the levels of EI in a workplace is not a short term action. Doing a course, providing workshops, reading a book, attending a keynote, will not make us emotionally intelligent. EI is a skill and just like any skill it can be worked on and improved but it takes ownership, commitment, and time.
In every situation, we have a choice to make; leverage our EI to respond in an emotionally intelligent way or don’t. Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we don’t.
Here are 3 simple ways that EI can benefit any workplace:
Improve Communication
Naturally when we communicate, we default to the way that works best for us. Communication is actually not about us, at all! Communication is all about the person receiving the message. When we leverage our EI and communicate in the way that will connect the most efficiently with the recipient, communication completely changes. We get:
- faster outcomes,
- increase in buy-in,
- less back and forth,
- stronger relationships.
Great Teamwork
When people increase their own self-awareness and start to really own who they are, they also start to notice the effect they have on those around them. This effect tends to differ as everyone is wired differently. A great team not only understands what makes each person ‘tick’ but appreciates it and knows how to leverage the different strengths and skills rather than compete and compare them.
Performance and Productivity
There is endless amounts of research showing that people naturally perform higher and productivity is increased in the workplace when people are happy. The effect on our brains when we are happy releasing chemicals and in turn energy means that more is achieved. How our workplace makes us feel guides our commitment and energy levels every day, and it’s the level of EI in our workplace that determines how we feel.
This isn’t anything new, we’ve known this for so long yet we overcomplicate it time and time again with workplaces focusing solely on the bottom line, technology and technical skills. These are all important to any organisations success but without emotional intelligence also being a focus, success is limited.
