Some people crumble under pressure. Others seem unshakable, no matter what’s thrown their way. The difference? Emotional intelligence. A seemingly ambiguous term, emotional intelligence often leads people to ask: What exactly is it? Simply put, emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to understand and harness your emotions effectively, as well as recognize and influence the emotions of those around you. Emotional intelligence is often overlooked in today’s world, especially within the realm of academia. Today’s students’ hyper-competitive nature, while serving many benefits, tends to dilute the significance of emotional intelligence in their lives, something that must be stressed far more.
The Four Components
There are four components of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.
Self-awareness encapsulates the idea of understanding your own strengths and weaknesses, a skill with extreme benefits—if achieved, you will be able to play to your own strengths and weaknesses in real time and always optimally address problems or difficult circumstances. Another key component of self-awareness is the recognition of your emotions and how they affect your day-to-day life and those around you. This form of cognizance is essential—it allows us to make a positive impact on those around us, enabling us to know how to avoid causing others emotional pain.
The second component of emotional intelligence is self-management, which is the idea of managing your emotions, even in stressful, high-pressure situations. This skill translates exceptionally well into professional situations. For example, if you have to give a talk for a large business conference, emotional intelligence will allow you to recognize that there is truly nothing to be afraid of—it will allow you to escape the fear of judgment, something that plagues almost all of us.
Social awareness is similar to self-awareness in that it emphasizes the importance of recognizing other people’s emotions, not just your own. It involves the skill of reading the room, something that people with high emotional intelligence can do in a split second. Proper social awareness teaches us to respond accordingly to the emotions of others, to recognize how others feel, even if they are reluctant to talk about their feelings.
The fourth element of emotional intelligence is relationship management, which is essentially the ability to influence and mentor others, as well as resolve conflict. It also involves the building of trust in relationships, something that comes as a by-product of the other two skills of relationship management.
Developing Emotional Intelligence
Building your own emotional intelligence is crucial, but to do so you must start by knowing how to identify the lack of emotional intelligence. How do you do that? Think about the conversations you have with people you have built relationships with, then ask yourself: Are your conversations strained? Do you repeatedly blame others when things don’t go as planned? Are you prone to outbursts? If you answered a strong yes to any of these questions, building your emotional intelligence should be at the top of your to-do list.
So, how exactly do you strengthen your emotional intelligence? There are multitudes of effective methods. These methods include journaling, practicing active listening, paying close attention to your emotions, and taking a course or training. The concrete methods, journaling, and training will really stress the growth of self-awareness and self-management. On the other hand, practicing active listening and paying close attention to others’ emotions will accelerate the development of social awareness and relationship management.
The importance of emotional intelligence is profound, underscoring the necessity of it in every aspect of life: school, work, social interactions with friends and family, and even social media. We can become better leaders if we understand other people’s emotions and how they feel internally. We’ll be able to properly delegate tasks to people who can handle them, thus preventing anyone from getting burned out. Another key aspect is that controlling our emotions can help us stay calm and collected in high-pressure situations. Understanding ourselves through emotional intelligence allows us to accept who we are and find true happiness and fulfillment. Once that is achieved, we can then focus on pursuing our goals, with no inner conflict, and help others do the same. And be a positive force in society. In the end, emotional intelligence isn’t just about managing emotions, it’s about mastering yourself and empowering those around you.
Read more articles from our Youth Series section on our Zealousness blog Youth Series Archives – iN Education Inc.
Sources
- Landry, Lauren. “Why Emotional Intelligence Is Important in Leadership.” Harvard Business School Online, 3 Apr. 2019. online.hbs.edu/blog/post/emotional-intelligence-in-leadership.
