Emotional Intelligence: How You Can Improve

We all know that Academic Aptitude is a measure of Intellectual Intelligence. But Emotional Intelligence is used to measure one’s social skills.   

Hence, Emotional Intelligence or quotient (EQ) is the ability to understand, use and manage one’s emotions. It could also be referred to as being people smart… It is a part of the human mind that can be developed and improved upon by learning and practicing new skills. Some people naturally have good EQ skills, but others may need to work on them.

 Developing Emotional Intelligence can:

1. help to build and maintain strong friendships
2. make informed decisions
3. deal with difficult situations
4. help turn intentions into actions

Understanding and getting along with people is a useful skill that applies in almost any area of life.

Improving Your EQ

According to Daniel Goleman to improve one’s Emotional Quotient, there are five personal skills one must develop which are;

1. Self-awareness
2. Self-regulation
3. Social Skill
4. Empathy
5. Motivation

Skill one: Self-awareness  

Put simply, self-awareness is understanding your emotions and how they affect your actions and interpersonal relationships with others.

To master this skill, you must be able to monitor your emotions, recognize your emotional reactions to certain situations. Understand the relationship between how you feel and behave, know your strengths, limitations, have a good sense of humor, and be confident in yourself.

Skill two: Self-Regulation

This is being able to express your emotions appropriately. To be proficient at regulating one’s emotions you need to be flexible and adaptable. Self-Regulation also involves being able to manage conflict and diffuse tense and difficult situations.

Skill Three: Social skills

Developing social skills is important for connecting with others, to handle and affect other people’s emotions effectively.

Strong social skills allow for meaningful relationships with others. These social skills include active listening, verbal communication, non-verbal communication, and persuasiveness.

Skill Four: Empathy

Emotional Empathy is literally feeling what the other person is feeling. To build on this skill, you respect the feelings of others even when you don’t agree with them, do not belittle or make judgmental comments instead use questions to know how they feel.

Skill Five: Motivation

Motivation is having the drive to achieve a goal; it includes taking initiative, being committed, and being persistent. To stay motivated, set clear achievable goals, do not compare yourself to others, be determined not to give up, and be positive.

Only those who understand and regulate their emotions are able to work effectively with others. So, understand your own emotions, manage them appropriately, use them to achieve your goals; by doing this you will understand the emotions of others and influence them positively.

Emotional intelligence helps you work in a team. Read how to build a winning team.