Unleash the Power of Emotional Intelligence with These 5 Surefire Techniques for a Thriving Workplace Culture!

Intelligence has a new dimension in contemporary times. The intellect is no longer limited to academic excellence and business acumen. Today, to be successful, you also need emotional intelligence along with IQ. In fact, in the coming times, emotional intelligence will be an indispensable requirement for employees and employers. The idea of ​​EQ in the workplace has gained lately and will multiply in the coming years.

It is interesting to note that many companies are now conducting equalization tests for hiring. According to the ideas of Mitrefinch Inc, almost 90 percent of companies will use EQ tests to select the most suitable candidates in the future. This is for the simple reason that companies realize the importance of emotional intelligence for success. Companies now view EQ as an imperative professional skill that their workforce must possess. As an employer, you also understand the need to foster an EQ culture within your organization. This blog presents some valuable strategies for promoting EQ in the workplace to help you with that. Before that, just to be on the same page, let’s briefly review the definition of EQ.

What is emotional intelligence?

According to a linkedin article, emotional intelligence contributes 56 percent to a person’s professional success. This ratio again speaks to EQ’s vitality in achieving success and optimizing growth. Also, on average, people with high EQ earn $29,000 more per year than people with low EQ. This is a testament to the sheer prowess that the EQ skill has. In a literal sense, it can change a person’s luck and make them much more successful than they would be without EQ. But what exactly is emotional intelligence? What does it mean to have this significant trait that can contribute so much to a person’s success?

People who have good EQ have a great understanding of their emotions and themselves. Also, having EQ means being full of self-awareness and having the ability to manage your emotions and decisions. To add, salient dimensions of EQ include empathy, self-regulation, and various social skills. The definition can be subjective as different people have different interpretations of intelligence. However, in a general sense, EQ is a person’s ability to work with their emotions and decisions to make success-oriented decisions. Next, let’s look at the various ways to cultivate an EQ culture in your company.

Ways to reinforce EQ in the workplace

Create awareness

The first step in teaching a new virtue in the workplace is to raise awareness about it. Some of your employees may not be familiar with the notion of EQ. Also, given the subjectivity or confusion surrounding the concept, they may not have a clear idea. Therefore, you must first raise awareness about emotional intelligence. Your employees need to know about EQ, its benefits to success, and its relevance to the workplace. The idea should be presented to them as something that benefits their professional growth and development.

The concept can be explained during orientation sessions or other training modules to make staff members aware of the importance of EQ. When employees learn about EQ during their orientation training, it will be beneficial. They will know that the company works around EQ’s core values ​​and expects the same of its employees. You will not be able to incorporate a new culture unless you create great importance around it. So making EQ a part of training modules and workplace discussions will be a perfect way.

Self-regulation model

People with high EQ are known for their effectiveness in self-regulation. They constructively regulate their emotions and feelings. In addition, they know how to regulate their temper in the face of challenging situations that test them to the core. It goes without saying that if a person is not able to manage their feelings in the workplace, their vulnerability can negatively affect them. Furthermore, this will also have negative repercussions for the organization. Even the best professional certificates it will have limited impact if a person cannot control their feelings. Being a leader, you must lead by example. You must model self-regulation for your employees.

When they see you staying calm in challenging situations and not letting your emotional mix affect your work, they will be inspired. You have to lead from the front and be neutral in situations. This does not mean that you cannot show your emotions or that you should hide them. However, when setting the benchmark for self-regulation, you must set goals for your staff to manage emotions skillfully. They need to learn that emotional vulnerability should not interfere with their critical thinking skills. You are a role model for them, and their best opportunity to learn is from you. So show them the way and lead them towards effective self-regulation!

Promote empathy in the workplace

Remember, empathy is a prominent attribute of emotional intelligence. We have all been through these unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic together. We were all caught up in the apprehensions and anxieties brought on by the pandemic. The world has surely realized the importance of empathy in this pandemic more than ever. Given that, empathy has now become a vital feature of a healthy and supportive work environment. To substantiate, according to findings from the State of the Workplace Empathy Study, 96 percent of workers expect a display of empathy from their employers. Since, in order to foster an EQ culture within your organization, you need to meet the expectations of empathy. When you meet these expectations, empathy will be reflected in the company’s holistic culture.

To best promote empathy, you must earn the trust of your employees. You need to convey to them that they can approach you with all their concerns. You have to show the willingness to understand his feelings and emotions. This can also be done by starting wellness programs. Furthermore, it is a fact that work stress is real and is making professionals prone to mental health problems. You can also promote better stress management techniques for employees. When they see that their employer cares about their well-being and mental well-being, they will be motivated to do the same for their colleagues. In the bigger picture, it will establish a better EQ in the workforce. After all, empathy is one of the most important driving forces behind EQ.

Training for better self-awareness

To learn EQ and benefit from it, employees need extraordinary insight into self-awareness. They must be able to better understand themselves and reflect on their previous decisions. Also, they must have a clear understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. Here the focus is more on emotional strengths and weaknesses. For that, you need to train employees to be more self-reflective. This self-awareness will be crucial for them when receiving feedback from their superiors.

When your team members have a better self-awareness, they will be able to contribute better. This is another vertical where you have to lead from the front. Self-awareness must be encouraged and employees trained to master it. Additionally, this self-awareness can be promoted through healthy competition, team-building activities, and performance reviews. A vital part of self-awareness will also involve training your employees to deal with failure. Failures often have emotional impacts on people’s motivation and morale. Such discouragement makes them emotionally fragile and affects their confidence. Going forward, employees must know how to deal with failures and look beyond them.

Prioritize social skills

Social skills are complementary to emotional intelligence. While employees need to understand their own emotions and those of others, it’s also important to respond appropriately. Better understanding and mutual support have a direct correlation with communication skills. Employees must be able to socialize with each other and express themselves better.

Other crucial social skills include active and effective listening, understanding nonverbal communication cues, and conflict resolution. Therefore, you have to improve these skills in your teams to achieve the goal of creating an IQ-driven culture. You can also refine the hiring process accordingly and hire candidates who endorse impressive and quirky soft skills.

In conclusion, the future will belong to those companies that invest in the idea of ​​building an EQ-inspired workforce. As mentioned above, emotional intelligence has different virtues that need to be reinforced in the workplace. There are several ways you can achieve this. But in most of these strategies, you will have to lead the way. The positive changes you make to your personality will set the standard for all workers. At last, you need the IQ to think outside the box and make EQ a practical reality for your organization.

The charge Five effective ways to foster a culture of emotional intelligence in the workplace first appeared in Earring.