The four components of emotional intelligence are, (1)self-awareness, (2) self-management, (3) social awareness, and (4) relationship management.
Self-Awareness is your level of awareness and how accurately you can assess your emotions. Many people are extremely busy and rarely take a step back to reflect on how they respond to situations in their everyday life. Another source of self-awareness is accessing how others respond to us. It is difficult to consider how others view us. We like to think they view us a certain way and can struggle to be objective and see things from another’s point of view. One way to improve in self-awareness is to include a time to be reflective. In addition, a person can seek out feedback from people who are honest and whose ideas are valued. Research shows that people who sought out negative feedback were much more self-aware and effective than those who sought out positive feedback. Self-awareness is key when managing others. In order to be an effective manager or leader a person must always be aware of the way they react in specific situations especially when they are difficult or could result in negativity.
Self-Management is the ability to control one’s emotions. This includes transparency, adaptability, achievement, and optimism. A key factor in superior self-management is whether or not a person reacts or responds appropriately to situations. For example, when an irritating email arrives in your inbox, is a response fired back immediately? Is there remorse and regret when reviewing how situations have been handled? Is there a lack of patience when dealing with others? When an individual reacts, most tend to do what comes naturally, which stimulates the emotional part of the brain. When a response is considered and acted upon, it generally goes against what is natural. This is the reason why a response is more difficult than a reaction because it engages the rational part of the brain. It is essential as an employee, a co-worker, or a supervisor to become skilled at self-management. There will be situations that may not go the way you would like them to or your ideas may not be chosen as the best solution to a company problem. To handle these situations with dignity and respect shows positive self-management.
Social Awareness is composed of organizational awareness, focus on service, and level of empathy. To improve on organizational awareness, a person must assess the emotional climate in groups and recognize power dynamics. In the same way, the ability to assess others’ needs to play into the focus on service. It is important to take an appropriate level of personal responsibility. All of these attributes are necessary for improving your value in the workforce. When you focus on others more than yourself you are able to adapt yourself to the emotional climate that coworkers produce, hence making effective teamwork possible.
Relationship Management is the ability to serve as an inspiring leader who instigates change, to collaborate with a high-functioning team, and to manage conflict. Those who excel in this area work well with a group in spite of the presence of stress, conflict, and diversity. This diversity includes people who have differing opinions than one’s own. The challenges that this may present can be solved by always listening to other people’s suggestions even if you do not agree. This way, you can still show kindness while still keeping your own opinion.
Diversity is a key ingredient in the process of developing your company’s success. Diversity skill training is an ever-growing need due to rapid growth in marketplace globalization and focuses on affirmative action. Strategies should be in place to help employees understand and avoid all forms of workplace discrimination and harassment. Employers and employees both should be provided with training to recognize and release preconceived ideas regarding cultural stereotypes. The success of a business depends upon the ability to collaborate with employees from all walks of life. A good business leader may facilitate cultural interaction by setting up lunch gatherings featuring different ethnic foods or perhaps creating company discussion panels or roundtable discussions that directly address diversity issues in the workplace. Acknowledging diversity and working together toward a common goal will result in continuous interaction, with understanding and tolerance to follow.
Prompt
Emotional intelligence and communication are skills that are cultivated over time. Define emotional intelligence and compare your verbal communication from 5 or 10 years ago to how you verbally communicate now. In what ways has your emotional intelligence grown? How has this influenced your communication skills? Explain in your response how the four components of emotional intelligence relate to the growth of your verbal and non-verbal communication. Your response should be a 600-word paper, minimum, with two IWG citations.
