The UE Coaching Blog



Emotional Intelligence - Your Hidden Weapon For Success

To be a successful business owner and a respected leader, it's essential to have emotional intelligence - the ability to be able to control your emotions and understand the emotions of others.

One of the main reasons your emotional intelligence is key to business success is because it allows you to manage difficult conversations and situations. When you can read and understand the emotions of others, you'll be able to better handle conflict. You'll also be better equipped to negotiate and reach agreements.

And when you’re involved in high stakes deal making, this will make ALL the difference.

In addition, strong relationships are essential for business growth. When you have strong relationships with your customers, clients, and employees, they'll be more likely to do business with you. They'll also be more likely to refer you to others. And, when employees feel supported by their boss, they're more likely to be productive and loyal.

Finally, a key component of a thriving business is a positive work environment. When employees are happy and feel supported, they're more likely to be productive. On the other hand, when employees are stressed or unhappy, it can lead to decreased productivity and even turnover.

So, as you can see, to grow and thrive in your business, you must focus on improving your emotional intelligence skills.

Let's look at how high emotional intelligence or poor emotional IQ can impact a company's success or failure.

Negative emotions have the power to have significant influence on a company's performance. The negative emotions themselves may not only affect the individual who’s experiencing them; they can also have a ripple effect throughout the entire business.

For example:

· Anger can lead to hostility and aggression, which can damage relationships with clients, suppliers, and employees.

· Anxiety can lead to insecurity and indecision, while fear can cause paralysis and hinder decision-making.

· Depression can lead to a lack of motivation and apathy towards work, and stress can cause physical and emotional health problems.

Although difficult times can be very stressful, it's important to stay calm to make the best decisions for your business. It's easy to get swept away by your emotions during a crisis so it's important to stay level-headed and rational if you want to make well-informed decisions.

Business isn’t always roses and rainbows (hell, even myself, who practices this ALL the time, had a bout of complete forgetfulness when it came to my own emotional intelligence training last week) and challenges will pop up. I’m not saying you can’t experience those moments of frustration; it’s having the ability and intelligence to pull yourself out of them quickly.

On the flip side, the influence of positive emotions on business is much more beneficial than the consequences of negative emotions. This is because positive emotions tend to produce behaviors that are conducive to success.

For example:

· Happiness can lead to increased creativity and productivity,

· Satisfaction can result in loyalty from employees and customers.

· Gratitude can create a sense of connectedness and social responsibility

· Hope can inspire people to work harder and achieve their goals

Leaders who practice emotional intelligence create an environment where people can feel safe being themselves. This allows for more creativity and productivity and as a result, team members are more likely to stay with the organization for the long haul.

When it comes to business growth, emotional intelligence is critical, and you, the business owner, must be able to understand and manage your emotions as well as (or better than) those of your team, to develop a company culture that promotes growth. And although having strong company culture is important, it isn't enough on its own to bring about real business progress - you must combine it with emotional intelligence to achieve this.

Think about it this way…

A company with a great culture but poor emotional intelligence is like a ship with a leak. Even if the boat is seaworthy and has all the right amenities, it will never get anywhere if it can't stay afloat.

So, what can you do to improve your emotional intelligence?

Here are some suggestions:

· Mindfulness: this is the practice of being aware of your thoughts and feelings in the present moment. It can help you to understand your emotions better and respond to them in a more positive way.

· Self-awareness: this is the ability to recognize your own emotions and thoughts, as well as how they affect your behavior. It can help you to manage your emotions better.

· Empathy: this is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. It can help you to build better relationships with others (for a GREAT look at how effective empathy can be in the workplace, just google Gary Vee & Empathy – not the wine, the emotion)

· Problem-Solving: this is the ability to come up with solutions to problems. It can help you manage difficult emotions and situations more effectively. Get curious about the circumstance at hand and notice how the emotion you feel changes.

When it comes to business growth and its future success, emotional intelligence is essential and must be given top priority by business owners. Emotional intelligence empowers leaders to remain cool under pressure while still making good judgments, allowing for more innovation and productivity.

We’re living in a time where the success of your company is dependent on your ability to remain calm, cool, and collected. Leaders with high levels of emotional intelligence like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Gary Vaynerchuk have all thrived over long periods because they were able to create a calm and controlled environment in which to operate while simultaneously increasing creativity and productivity.

The ability to manage one's emotions is a key difference between leaders who succeed and those that fail. The best leaders know how important it can be for the success of their company. These people stay calm even when things get heated - they're always level-headed enough so as not give into impulsive reactions like anger.

If you’re a business owner, then you know it’s inevitable that things at some point will get hard. How you see, perceive, and then conduct yourself during those moments will be the defining factor between the ultimate failure or incredible success of your company.

Emotional intelligence will give you an edge over your competition because it allows for more effective decision-making on behalf of both you and other employees within your company. This is critical to the future of your business; make sure that emotional intelligence is a high priority for you and your team.

Learn it, live it and love it!