3 tips to improve your emotional intelligence

Is your IQ higher than your EQ?

Most people who consider themselves to be smart may not be in tune with their emotional intelligence (EQ) – or lack thereof.

Good managers tend to be adept problem solvers, knowledgeable and dedicated. Great managers, will be all of those things and have their EQ up to standard, too. Here are three tips on how to improve yours:

Know yourself

A big part of mastering EQ is being better in touch with your own emotions.

Getting to know specifically how and what you feel – and how that’s triggered – can help you better identify when others are feeling similar. In the management setting, this can make you a lot more approachable to staff and allow you to build up an intrinsic rapport with peers.

Look at things differently

Working in a management position can lead to some of your human interaction becoming cold. Whether it’s a high pressure meeting or working towards a big target, empathy for anyone who isn’t performing may not come naturally.

However, considering the emotions of others from their perspective is one of the foundations of building better EQ. The old adage goes that you don’t really know someone until you walk a mile in their shoes, and nothing could be more relevant in developing that sense of empathy in the workplace.

Project happiness

Leading a team and emanating unhappiness will send morale one way. Projecting inner happiness will not only boost your EQ, but it is also likely to rub off on your peers and allow them to become more engaged.

Furthermore, when you spend time in a workplace which is consistently cheerful, you are more likely to notice when someone is not on point with everyone else. This will better your EQ as you’ll be able to identify the triggers which lead to negative emotions in your team.