Emotional intelligence essential at workplace
By Ghadeer Ghloum
KUWAIT: Emotional intelligence or emotional quotient is a wide concept that can hardly be described in limited words. However, there are some remarkable factors that reflect one’s high level of EQ, such as maturity, empathy and sound judgments.
What identifies an individual as emotionally intelligent?
Emotionally intelligent people have self and social awareness. Self-awareness means that they are capable of understanding their emotions (what triggers a certain feeling, desire, idea) and the way these emotions affect others (how do people view them), whereas social awareness is the skill of understanding the emotions of others (validating people’s emotions even if they do not seem cogent) and treating them accordingly (listen carefully, show empathy and reach for a comfortable closure).
Business Development Manager and Lead Trainer Basil Rizvi shared his thoughts with Kuwait Times about the significance of a person’s EQ in order to regulate their emotions and cope with different environments to successfully move forward. “EQ is the real key for true success. It helps a person to recognize and understand who/what they are, why they are the way they are and then how they can manage themselves within their environment,” he said.
According to Rizvi, being emotionally intelligent provides a sense of security, transparency and perception of one’s persona. The way of reacting to different situations and handling oneself and social relationships also reflects how emotionally intelligent a person is. For instance, controlling and/or redirecting one’s anger to better behavior in a certain situation, or the ability to compromise to a reasonable degree for the sake of keeping a corresponding relationship with others, shows one’s EQ level.
Why is emotional intelligence necessary at work?
EQ occupies a major role in various fields of individuals’ lives, especially at their workplace, where people spend plenty of time interacting with others who have different backgrounds and characters, in addition to working under pressure and serious responsibility. This necessitates having a high EQ level and embracing interpersonal skills to avoid misunderstanding and conflict.
“At the workplace, EQ helps the individual to recognize and understand stress (both active and inactive). It also helps the individual with conflict resolution, negotiation and to understand how to work effectively with different personalities at the workplace. EQ brings awareness – internally and externally,” Rizvi said, emphasizing the significance of emotional intelligence at the workplace. It enables people to notice signs of others’ unspoken feelings, which determines what would be appropriate or inappropriate to say or do under certain circumstances (the capability of reading the table). This ensues efficiency at work due to building healthy relationships that reciprocate among others and motivates a progressive environment.
What are the key factors to enhance one’s EQ level?
Emotional intelligence can be learnt and improved. Yet, it depends on one’s preparedness. Qualifications such as good listening, humanity and decency pave the way for whoever heads towards this direction.
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