Emotional Intelligence

What would you do to get more out of your staff—more productivity, more creativity, and more dedication?

I’m sure many of us have seen that at a certain point more money, better technology, and a cooler office environment no longer produces more. You are no longer getting more from your staff; you are just treading water and keeping your staff happy

So, when you reach that point, what’s left to add to get more?

EI is short for emotional intelligence and is one of the characteristics that makes great leaders great. This characteristic is being aware that emotions drive behavior and impact people, both positively and negatively. The idea is that if we can learn how to manage our emotions and our employee’s emotions, we can improve our work environment without spending a dime.

Highly emotionally intelligent leaders realize the impact of their emotions and how that affects the work culture. They take this understanding and build a positive workforce that strengthens the overall business.

Emotional Intelligence is divided into two parts: interpersonal and intrapersonal.

The interpersonal part of EI is the people skills. This is the area where leaders give helpful feedback, express concerns in a constructive way, encourage participation, and embrace the differences among the staff.

The interpersonal part of EI is focused on empathy for others, such as employees. When leaders use their EI awareness skills, they can elevate each employee’s abilities to higher levels than the employee can attain on their own. The stronger these skills are in the leader, the more each employee’s skills can be enhanced.

The second part of EI is focused on the leader. A willingness to admit mistakes, identify personal growth opportunities, acknowledge personal strengths and weaknesses, and stress management skills are all characteristics of strong intrapersonal EI. Self-regulation by the leader is the overall essence of this part of EI.

Research shows that, for better or worse, emotions will influence each employee’s commitment, creativity, decision making, work quality, and longevity. Each of these has a direct impact on the businesses’ bottom line. If the business leader can influence these emotions positively, the impact on the bottom line will be positive.

Through the awareness of EI, leaders throughout a company can consciously shape the employee’s emotions and have an impact on work production.

There are many ways leaders can inject EI into their leadership style, and each way needs to be tailored to the individual personality and work environment. Here are some ideas that you can use to enhance your Emotional Intelligence and influence the bottom line.

1. Listening – nearly everyone can improve their empathetic listening skills. At the same time, most of us are not aware of the impact our non-verbal communication skills have on our conversations.
2. Demonstrate Joy – just enjoying your work permeates down through the people who work for you.
3. Lose the Ego – You do not need a special parking space or anything that puts you above those who work for you.
4. Consider Others Feelings – although this is easier said than done, with practice you can be consciously aware of the emotions of those around you. Once you are aware, now learn to address them.

Everything about emotional intelligence is taught in the Bible.

Verses and stories abound in the Bible about optimism, forgiveness, mercy, love, care, compassion, empathy, relationships and social awareness—all of which reflect strong EI skills. The people in Scripture are full of emotions and frequently exhibition deep feelings. Jesus constantly displayed His emotions and was always in touch with the emotions of those around Him.

Galatians 5:22-23 sums up the attitude of EI.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Using EI to manage your workforce to become fully engaged is a must in today’s competitive environment. God, through the Bible, has given us examples of how to apply EI. It is up to us to start using EI and see the dramatic effect it will have on our business.