Most organisations today recognise the value of cultivating Emotional Intelligence (EQ) in their workforce. Scores of studies have shown that people with high EQ tend to perform better, get along better with their colleagues and feel more fulfilled at work.
But what does EQ mean in the workplace: should you be able to separate your personal life from you professional one? Should your emotions stay home?
Whether we like it or not, every single decision we make and every action we chose to take is driven by our emotions. Your ability to recognise your emotions and understand how they are impacting your behaviour will be key to building (and maintaining) strong relationships within a company. By becoming more self-aware and learning to manage your emotions, you are drastically decreasing the likelihood of engaging in alienating behaviours.
To be clear, we cannot control what emotions surface or when they do, but what we can do is make sure that we do not unnecessarily amplify them or let them linger for too long.
Many of us naturally think that repressing our emotions is the most obvious course of action. If you have a history of doing that, you may have noticed that said feelings have a way of building up and erupting at the most inconvenient time.
Being aware of our emotions and learning to manage them is not about overanalysing every feeling or oversharing. It's not about being perfect. It IS about being aware of the role emotions play in our interactions and using them to guide our behaviour.
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