Emotional intelligence is a subject that’s been increasing in popularity among leaders and small business owners. So what is the hype and why is it important for your small business? In short, emotional intelligence is having the ability to understand, articulate, and act on your own emotions, and understand the emotions of others. As a business owner, this is helpful in both managing your employees and understanding your customers. The articles below help further explain what emotional intelligence is, dive into more of the benefits of focusing on this area, and provide tips if you’re looking to increase your own emotional intelligence.
How Emotional Intelligence Leads to Business Success
“Why is it so important for leaders and entrepreneurs to develop emotional intelligence?” This is the question Katy Trost uses to kick off her article, “Want Your Business to Succeed? Start Practicing Emotional Intelligence”, on Forbes (@Forbes). As a small business owner, this is likely a question you have. According to Trost, individuals with high emotional intelligence recognize and understand their own emotions, and are able to adequately express, control, and communicate those feelings. By understanding their own feelings, they are better at understanding the feelings of others, which is key to being a strong leader. She has a four step process that you can begin implementing to increase your own emotional intelligence.
Understanding the 12 Elements of Emotional Intelligence
In their article “Emotional Intelligence Has 12 Elements. Which Do You Need to Work On?” for Harvard Business Review (@HarvardBiz), Daniel Goleman (@DanielGolemanEI) and Richard E. Boyatzis (@RBoyatzis) use an example of a fictional manager named Esther to take readers through the 12 various elements of emotional intelligence. When it comes to emotional intelligence, Goleman and Boyatzis say that one of the issues with this subject is that many people define emotional intelligence too narrowly and miss many critical elements that are necessary in emotional intelligence. With the Esther example, and a chart outlining the 12 different elements, readers are able to better understand the components of emotional intelligence and understand the areas they should try improving.
Is Emotional Intelligence a Small Business Owner’s Secret Weapon?
“Starting a business is all about intuition, and intuition stems from emotional intelligence”, says René Lacerte (@rlacerte). In the article “How Emotional Intelligence Can Reduce Risk and Promote Growth” on Inc. (@Inc) from The Hartford (@TheHartford), this quote sets the tone for how emotional intelligence can truly help a small business owner succeed. Some of the benefits of emotional intelligence that are beneficial to small business owners are: stronger hiring decisions, make smarter business decisions, and increasing revenue. If you’re struggling with increasing your emotional intelligence, the article outlines three pieces of advice to help, with a few examples being: improving your ability to read the room, reflecting on strong emotions, and focusing on your breathing.
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