8 Reasons Why You Should Practise Emotional Intelligence at Work

Work-life can be hectic, stressful, and draining. The workload, office drama, and various elements of the work package can leave you feeling burnt out if you don’t manage everything well. This is why emotional intelligence is something you need to cultivate within yourself if you want to thrive in the working environment. By managing your emotions wisely, you'll be able to have a more productive work life, and here’s how.

Improves Your Communication

Let’s face it: communication is at the heart of everything we do at work. To relate with everyone around you and to convey any message that will be received well, you need to be very good at communicating. However, communication works hand in glove with emotional intelligence since it is the driving factor that will help you to understand not just your feelings but also the emotions of those around you so that you can communicate well. Therefore, being emotionally intelligent will foster a more open dialogue that will encourage others to share their thoughts, leading to more fruitful discussions and a more engaged team communication-wise.

Strengthens Your Connections

When you take the time to understand the feelings and perspectives of the people around you, you will notice how your connection and the way you relate to each other will be enhanced and improved. Through your emotional intelligence, you will be able to make the people you interact with at work feel valued, heard, and understood, making them more likely to support you in your projects and initiatives. By being emotionally intelligent, you not only enhance your connections but also create a network of allies who can help you navigate challenges. Whether it’s sharing a laugh during a tough day or lending a hand with a project, these connections make work more enjoyable.

 Helps You Manage Conflict

Due to the different personalities, opinions, and stress levels that are at your workplace, it would be ignorant to expect no conflicts to occur. It is more likely that one way or another, people will conflict thus the need for emotional intelligence to manage such situations. When you cultivate emotional intelligence, you become better equipped to handle conflicts constructively. Instead of reacting impulsively or letting your emotions take over, you can pause and assess the situation. Which will allow you to approach the conflict calmly and thoughtfully, helping to manage the situation. By being emotionally intelligent, you will be able to navigate the workplace with more resolve thus reducing the impacts of conflicts within the workplace and helping to manage any more conflicts that may escalate. 

Enhanced Resilience

Emotional intelligence fosters resilience because it helps you recognize and process your emotions accordingly. Instead of spiralling into negativity or self-doubt, when you have emotional intelligence you can acknowledge your feelings, learn from the experience, and move forward with a positive outlook on life. Instead of feeling defeated, when challenges come into your life, you will be able to take a moment to understand what went wrong and see it as an opportunity for growth. This ability to bounce back not only boosts your confidence but also sets a positive example for others, encouraging a culture of continuous improvement and resilience.

Enhanced Decision Making

Working requires you to constantly make several decisions, even if they are difficult decisions to make. By being aware of your feelings and understanding their influence on your choices, you can approach decision-making more thoughtfully and successfully. Emotional intelligence will influence you to evaluate your options more rationally and have more clarity on the decisions you make, promoting better outcomes.  Overall, the more emotionally intelligent you are, the more confident and effective the decisions you make will be.

Promotes a Collaborative Environment

A collaborative environment is very important when it comes to a workplace environment. It encourages creativity and innovation, as people are more likely to contribute their unique perspectives when they feel more comfortable and heard. Emotional intelligence also helps in recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of team members, helping people to better allocate tasks among each other with this in consideration and without it escalating into a fight. By understanding how to leverage each person’s skills, you create a dynamic that fosters collaboration and boosts overall team performance due to your leaning on your emotional intelligence. 

Promotes Adaptability and Flexibility

In today’s ever-changing work environment, adaptability is key. Emotional intelligence helps you navigate change with a more open mindset. This is because when you are faced with new challenges and you have emotional intelligence, you are better equipped to manage your emotions and embrace the unknown instead of resisting change out of fear or uncertainty. You can, therefore, approach everything with a willingness to learn and with respect for the diversity and complexity of things. This flexibility not only contributes to your personal growth within the workplace but it will also help your team become more resilient and to have a better and more positive outlook on life.  

Promotes Mental Well-Being

It is obvious that at some point, people in a workplace will become stressed due to the pressures associated with work life. This, however, should be easy to manage if you have emotional intelligence, as it will help you regulate these feelings of stress and manage them better. You may even find yourself now creating support groups within the workplace so that you can ensure that the rest of your team has an equal opportunity to discuss work pressures that may be affecting them and so that you look for solutions that prevent burnout but make the workplace a more pleasurable environment to be within. Emotional intelligence within the workplace will help create a culture where mental well-being will be prioritised, making it easier for everyone to speak up about their struggles and seek help when needed.