Nurturing interpersonal relationships is important in numerous aspects of business- managing staff, collaboration, sales, customer service, etc., but especially in leading people in the context of COVID.
Developing emotional intelligence can help mediate conflicts, identify stressors, deal with failure, respond to rejection, form meaningful (profitable) relationships and build a resilient community.
DEFINING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Emotional intelligence is not about having feeling or being emotional. Outside of sociopaths, everyone has feelings and emotions. Emotional intelligence is the ability to be aware of, reconcile, and express one's emotions appropriately and recognize and respond appropriately to the emotional states of others. The concept of appropriateness is situated in social and cultural norms and expectations. There is a personal and social aspect to emotional intelligence. It is important to remember and find balance in both.
Write down your answer to the following scenario:
Cameron and Alex are in conference room discussing a project. Cameron gets up and says, "well I think we covered everything here" and moves towards the door. But Alex keeps talking while Cameron sighs and taps his foot. Alex and Cameron need to develop which aspects of emotional intelligence? (answer at the end)
To develop COVID level emotional intelligence in business:
Connect your thinking and feeling brain by exploring how your feelings and the feelings of others may be impacting thinking.
Create psychological safety by creating a space where people feel free to express themselves and feel buffered from external stressors.
Welcome dissent and prepare to be wrong to create an inclusive environment.
Model empathy and remove the risk of ridicule to create a safe space, demonstrate key behaviors, and meet people where they are.
Invite challenges and get messy to make progress while accepting the ambiguity of the time.
Scenario Answers Cameron = self control; Alex = conscientiousness
Additional Resource: Psychology Today has a great (but rather long) emotional intelligence test which provides a free summarized snap of your emotional quotient.