The first step of Emotional Intelligence Training is to allow myself to feel my emotions and examine them without judgment.
I must trust that, while behaviour can be labelled good or bad — all feelings are valid and acceptable. This is crucial since most of us learn, at a very early age, to judge emotions as good or bad. Then we dissociate from the “bad” emotions. We push them out of our conscious awareness and lose sight of our emotional impact on others.
The next step of Emotional Intelligence Training is even more difficult — to determine if my emotional “data” reflects outer reality.
If I think my co-worker, “Beth,” is sabotaging me at work, I will feel angry. Is Beth really undermining me? It may be clear that her actions are wrong and hurtful to me. In this case, my emotions have helped me recognize the situation. Then I need to determine my action.
Based on my needs and circumstances I can choose to do any of the following:
- talk to Beth,
- talk to my boss,
- look for a new job,
- or not take any large action but “simply” recognize the truth of the situation and adjust my expectations and future actions accordingly.
But, while emotions always provide important information, they don’t always give us accurate info about the outside world. What if I think that all my coworkers are seeking to undermine me? It may be true, but more likely it is my thinking that is distorted, not my workplace. Or, is it my own behavior that creates distrust in my coworkers?
Feelings provide initial information but interpreting this information is hard! I must be brave and honest with myself. The lessons I learn from my emotional data must (eventually) be consistent with feedback from the outer world.
If I find that Beth is truly undermining me, I will need to take action. If I discover that my own thoughts are distorted, I’ll need to adjust my inner dialogue (self-talk). There are wonderful tools to help us do this work.
It is emotionally intelligent to remember that we can take actions to change our circumstances, inside and out, but we cannot change another person. Still, since our actions affect others, when we change our actions, their reactions may change too. If I decide to talk to Beth, we might be able to communicate well and resolve a misunderstanding. Or, if I work to change a distorted thought pattern in myself, Beth may sense less hostility in my voice. She too will relax and use a friendlier tone. I’ll sense this change and act with more kindness. Our interactions may now build off each other in a positive cycle.
Laura and Melanie, great post! Have already received several comments from our readers indicating how important they believe IE to be relative to sustaining respectful work environments. Keep up the good work!
Important information, Laura. I am more of a thinker than a feeler and try to run sensitive issues by my emotionally intelligent friends before launching into decisions that may make sense, but create intense feelings.
Hello Laura,
Thanks for a great post, and example. Often times, our reflexes / automatic responses get the better of us, and that is where the interruption is really needed. One technique I have heard is to stop and count to three before responding – this gives the emotions to settle down somewhat and allows for some information processing to occur before we formulate the response. One that I have used in the past is to simply ask for some time to get back with an answer rather than responding on the spot. Any other tips would be helpful too.
With regards…
Rai.
Thank you for your great thoughts Laura. I’ve found it helpful as well to think of feelings as emotions as a signal that something is going on that simply needs some attention. It doesn’t mean there is an emergency going on but rather an opportunity to move things in a positive direction. Savvy leaders understand the value of paying attention to their emotions and doing the same for others. When people make the shift from reacting to everything and take action more deliberately we create happier workplaces.