Do you ever experience that business as a whole can be hostile? Maybe you have a boss that doesn’t value you. Or a client that treats you like grime. Many a times it has been found that people feel left out, unsung, and neglected at work. And consequently, they suffer. Business is not always fun. However, we can certainly develop the scenery by getting better at one thing: Emotional Intelligence (EI).

Economic Forum Emotional intelligence, also known as ‘emotional quotient’ or EQ, is what employees need to process to thrive in the workplace of the future. At work, we deal with complex problems. And we often have to work together to find solutions.

Achievement in business is not about your grade-based metrics like SAT scores or IQ tests, it’s about making an impact as a leader and if you want to achieve meaningful things, you must be able to work with other people. From that perception, EI is the main expertise that can bring better results and extra success.

Generally speaking, EQ refers to someone’s capability to observe, comprehend and manage their own outlooks and emotions. Psychologist, Daniel Goleman has clearly stated that it has five fundamental mechanisms:

Conscious Knowledge —the ability to recognise and understand your moods and emotions, and how they affect others

Self-reliance — the aptitude to control instincts and moods, and to think before acting

Internal motivation —being driven to pursue goals for personal reasons, rather than for some kind of reward (the opposite is external motivation)

Understanding — the capability to identify and appreciate others’ motivations is vital for building and leading teams positively

Social skills —the aptitude to manage relationships and form networks

Emotional Intelligence predicts performance: How much of an impact does emotional intelligence have on your professional success? The best answer is: a lot! It’s a commanding way to focus your dynamism in one direction with a tremendous result.

People with a high degree of emotional intelligence earn more money than an average people with a low degree. It’s imperative to study the emotional intelligence of your team. Also, if the members are lacking in this area, it’s significant to work on refining these skills for the betterment of yourself and the organisation.

Emotional Intelligence in the workplace: Numerous mental health experts consider that emotional intelligence is a valuable asset in the workplace, where workers with high levels of EI may possibly be better able to collaborate with others, manage work related stress, resolve conflicts within workplace and learn from previous interpersonal mistakes.

This may not mean high emotional intelligence is beneficial or necessary for all jobs. Numerous research based studies shows that jobs that necessitate huge amounts of personal interaction like sales or real estate jobs can benefit from workers who possess high emotional intelligence, the opposite is true for professions like research scientist or an accountant.

Besides, in places where people tend to work alone and possess high emotional intelligence may perform at a lower level than an average worker because they may be desperately concerned about the feelings of other people.

Leadership skills and role of EI: Emotional intelligence may not be needed for every type of job; it can be an important attribute for most people in leadership positions. To be efficient leaders in the office, managers, superiors, and other specialist figures must be capable to function effectively with people under their charge. A good leader is competent to create the type of work environment where each person feels important and inspired to be successful.

Leaders with greater emotional intelligence are capable to use their social skills to substitute relationship and faith with their employees. They lean towards to view their team members as persons with exceptional abilities, backgrounds, and behaviours, rather than as a uniform collective. Good leaders always try to recognise and associate emotionally with their staff, share their joys and concerns.

Like all other types of relations, work relations may experience glitches sooner or earlier. When battle arises, leaders with extraordinary emotional intelligence may be better able to switch their own instincts and can view the condition from all perspectives, and look for solutions. Real leaders are apparent and are not frightened to confess when they are wrong.

In fact they are more likely to try to progress work relations. As you train your brain by constantly practicing new emotionally intelligent behaviours, your brain figures the trails required to make them into habits.

Before long, you begin responding to your surroundings with emotional intelligence without even having to think about it. And just as your brain reinforces the use of new behaviours, the connections supporting old, destructive attitude will die off as you learn to limit your use of them.

The writer is master practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and founder of CEDP Skill Institute Mumbai.