Boost personal and professional connections with emotional intelligence
Boost personal and professional connections with emotional intelligence
In an increasingly online world, it can be easy to forget about the person behind-the-device or even knowing whether there is one. The Cigna U.S. Loneliness Index, which explores loneliness in culture and work, found that 61 per cent of adults reported sometimes or always feeling lonely. Solo and isolated work environments are more predominant than ever with an increase in hybrid and remote work post-pandemic.
The ability to recognize and manage emotions, including loneliness, in oneself and others is a highly useful tool. With more and more interactions occurring online, the demand for emotional skills is growing — by 26 per cent by 2030, compared to 2016, according to the McKinsey Global Institute. Enhancing our emotional intelligence (EI) allows us to also boost our social skills, understand our emotions, including loneliness, and create solutions to avoid isolation.
Influence of increased emotional intelligence
Enhancing your EI can influence your communication, emotions and overall well-being. Professionally, this can also mean improving skills to become a more effective and influential leader when it comes to relating to others and improving team dynamics. Courses, like Building Emotional Intelligence, offered through Lethbridge Polytechnic, help individuals recognize, understand, manage and use emotions effectively in oneself and others. The course uses the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i 2.0) and EQ 360 model of assessing emotional intelligence.
The assessments can identify strengths and weaknesses and can be used as a tool to guide personal and professional development plans. The assessment also generates a report, which is broken into 15 competencies, and grouped into five composite areas:
1. Self-perception
2. Self-expression
3. Interpersonal
4. Decision making
5. Stress Management
Implementing EI into real-life
Incorporating EI into your daily life can be as simple as having a better understanding of how you handle stress or interact with others. Having this understanding allows you to be better prepared and have an awareness of how situations affect you and provide opportunity to recognize areas of weakness and build upon strengths. You can also apply this into your professional ecosystem. Understanding your teams’ emotions allows you to better tailor workload and team dynamics. This boosts your leadership skills and produces outcomes in productivity, job satisfaction and engagement.
Bringing EI online
A NordVPN study says the average Canadian spends a quarter of their life — the equivalent of 22 years — online. This technological connection can lead to real-life disconnection, making EI all the more important. Increasing mental health awareness, inclusion and diversity through EI allows for better connection. Learning EQ-i 2.0 helps to create stronger, more cohesive and collaborative teams. So, no matter where your team is, sitting beside you or up on a screen, you can ensure success and productivity.
The value of EI is rising in this age of artificial intelligence (AI). We crave human experiences, and emotions are not something a robot can replicate. Brandon Hall Group research shows EI enables collaboration, effective leadership, adaptability, better customer service and ethical decision-making. While AI can takeover tasks that don’t require human input and are more analytical in nature, machines have yet to learn how to replicate soft skills required by leadership and management. Don’t wait to boost your personal and professional connections, inquire here for the EQ-i 2.0 assessment with LC Extension today.