How to Use Emotional & Social Intelligence to Your Advantage

Being able to recognize and understand the less obvious details of communication gives you the ability to size-up others, properly delegate work tasks, and overall thrive at the workplace! But where can you begin?

Using Social and Emotional Intelligence to Gauge and Understand Others

One of the greatest advantages of developing social and emotional intelligence in the workplace is the ability to read between the lines. To know when someone is content, upset, challenged, or emotionally healthy allows you to find the best ways to engage and work with them.

Learning how to utilize social and emotional intelligence is one of the most effective ways to create a happy, healthy work environment. When peers feel that their feelings are being understood and taken into account, they can communicate more openly. This can be invaluable for learning where the work environment needs to improve, and where others feel satisfied.

Using Social and Emotional Intelligence to Delegate Effectively
In the workplace, most people don’t want to upset the applecart. But just because your associate accepted a task doesn’t necessarily mean they have any passion for it, or even that they are the ideal person for the job! By learning how to read the emotional and social cues of your team members you can establish their strengths, where they could stand to improve, and how well they synergize with the rest of the team.

How to Use Social and Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

• Actively listen as much as possible – It’s very easy to fall into the trap of being the only person allowed to speak or vent, especially in a leadership role. But this is the opposite of what you need to be doing. Actively listening enables your ability to empathize, and creates productive conversations that allow you to better learn the needs of others.

• Nurture a collaborative work environment – For decades the workplace has been seen as a place of competition; work is a cutthroat environment where the best individual comes out on top. But this is not proving to be healthy — or sustainable. We are social, collaborative creatures and tend to do our best work as a synergistic group with a unified goal.

• Listen with your gut, but act with your mind – Our instincts can often provide further insight into what is really going through the minds of those around us. This can be useful, and shouldn’t be ignored. But it can also be misleading — there’s a little bit of anxiety in all of us! Take note when your gut tells you that a coworker needs something from you, but also take the time to reason-through before pursuing the issue. When the time comes, engage them in a healthy way, and actively listen to find out what you need to know.

• Take a close look at yourself – In order to utilize the other points on this list, you must be able to examine yourself carefully. How are you reacting to what others are telling you? Do you act rashly, or respond to criticism with anger or aggression? Presenting yourself as responsible and capable of empathy is critical.

By utilizing social and emotional intelligence you can inspire others, improve morale, and create a healthy work environment where everyone is at their best. If you’re new to using these skills, start small! Taking the time to listen to others can be a huge first step, and provides you with an opportunity to build a better understanding of those around you. From there, add in the rest — you’ll be surprised by how easy it all comes with just a tiny bit of time and effort!