Emotionally intelligent people build great leadership. People who aren’t emotionally intelligent may excel in their job, but they score very low in leadership and people management.
Reading about the leadership journey of Dr Richard Nahas and Michael Hyatt gave me great insights into building emotional intelligence.
Let me share with you 8 strategies to develop emotional intelligence.
1.Accept your emotions
Emotionally intelligent people know that every emotion is valid, and they accept happiness, anger, sorrow as part of their expressions. They identify their feelings and understand how their emotions affect others.
Tip: Awareness allows you to deal with a situation effectively.
2.Express your feelings
There is a thin line between expressing and reacting. Leaders with high EI are aware of their emotions that allow them to manage and present their feelings constructively.
Tip: Express emotions but maintain control.
3.Consider how your behaviour affects your team members
Our words and actions can dramatically impact the emotions of our team for better or worse. When leaders show their anger to their team members by criticizing them, they lose respect and keep their team members from sharing their feelings and sensitive information. Leaders with high EI, express their disagreement more subtly.
Tip: Express your disagreement, not anger.
4. Put yourself in others’ shoes
Emotionally intelligent leaders think from others’ perspective. They don’t make a situation about them but others. Their empathy towards their team members makes them earn respect and adoration.
Tip: Try to understand others’ point of view
I found what Dr Richard Nahas has done as worth noting, he worked alongside shamans, gurus, healers and traditional doctors from around the world to better understand different perspectives on illness and healing.
5. Adapt to situations
Being rigid in your way of thinking will not allow you to adapt to negative situations. High emotional intelligence develops a positive mindset, and leaders with a high EI focus on the solutions and not the problems.
Tip: Don’t focus on the problems but their solutions
6. Create boundaries
Leaders with high EI maintain rigid interpersonal boundaries to mitigate disruptive emotions and lose boundaries to allow free expression of positive emotions.
Tip: Communicate with your team members when they try to go overboard in expressing their emotions.
7. Take help from others
Even the strongest person can feel weak and helpless sometimes. Emotionally intelligent people know that seeking help from others is better than succumbing to their negative emotions.
Tip: Talk to people close to you when you feel anxious or depressed. Don’t try to fight the negative emotion alone. Vent out your anger, frustration and pain in front of those who give you positive vibes.
8. Help others in developing their emotional intelligence
Emotionally intelligent leaders also coach others in the management of emotions. They act as thought leaders and write about their leadership journey, failure and success stories, their problems and how they tackle them to inspire others.
Tip: Write down your emotions when they overflow. Document your story and share it with people to motivate them.
