5 Ways EQ at Work Can Skyrocket Productivity

Over the years, EQ or emotional intelligence has become a salient skill in the workplace. In fact, the overall scenario of the corporate world has witnessed a paradigm shift. There is now a much greater emphasis on practical skills and qualitative traits of the workforce.

Among these skills in the limelight in contemporary times, EQ is gaining an edge over others. As per the Future of Jobs report by the World Economic Forum, EQ is among the most vital job skills. Besides, as cited by Vantage Circle, 75 percent of Fortune 500 ventures provide EQ training to their employees. 

This is a testament to the fact that there is a correlation between EQ and productivity. Why would companies invest exorbitant amounts in EQ training if the outcomes were not promising? But how does EQ add to work efficiency, and why is it so essential in the workplace? 

In this post, we will discover the answers to these imperative questions. We will shed light on how EQ benefits employees and overall organizational success. Before we do that, let us evaluate the definition of emotional intelligence to be on the same page. 

Understanding EQ better 

There is a lot of subjectivity around the true essence of emotional intelligence. Different people may have different understanding and perceptions about EQ. 

In the general sense, EQ is your ability to decipher and manage your emotions in a successful way. It also includes your capability to realize others’ feelings and emotional states.

The purpose of EQ is to be aware of emotions and utilize them to make worthwhile decisions or solve problems.

With your EQ skills, you are able to regulate your emotions, and you assist others in doing the same. 

Speaking of its relevance in the workplace, people with emotional intelligence earn up to USD 29000 more on average than others. This validates the importance of your skills to identify and control your emotions to make responsible decisions. 

With this skill, you can meet your career goals much before your target deadlines. It is a skill that will become more and more popular in the course of your career advancement. Moving forward, let us delve deeper into the elements of emotional intelligence. 

Components of EQ 

Emotional intelligence as a skill is a culmination of various skills that enable the identification and regulation of emotions. Emotional intelligence can be further divided into the following five components. 

- Self-awareness
- Self-regulation
- Motivation
- Empathy
- Social Skills

These skills are essential for all professionals. Whether you are a business owner, manager, or executive, you can gain immensely from your emotional intelligence. It is one crucial leadership trait as well as a characteristic trait of successful people at all levels. In the subsequent section, let us highlight the various ways in which EQ can add to your work efficiency. 

5 Fascinating merits of EQ in the workplace 

<span class="h-circle">1</span>Enhances the outcomes of collaboration

With emotional intelligence, your ability to work in teams and foster effective collaboration increases. These are imperative virtues of workplace productivity. Organizations are fond of employees who can work in teams or lead teams to complete common organizational goals. This is the simple reason why companies invest time, effort, and money in team-building activities. Collaboration is one of the top professional skills to have for career advancement.

When an individual has high EQ, his emotional understanding becomes better. People with EQ have greater acceptance of others’ thoughts, emotions, and ideas. Moreover, EQ enables you to show greater trust in your colleagues. Also, communication becomes more efficient and worthwhile. Given the empathetic nature of EQ, you and your co-workers will be able to build successful working relationships. All these factors will amplify your performance and will benefit the organization in the larger sense. 

<span class="h-circle">2</span>Drives higher motivation

Motivation is a salient component of emotional intelligence. Intrinsic motivation is one of the major reasons why employers prefer EQ to IQ. Your motivation is the launchpad of your productivity in the workplace. Your level of motivation and your measurable performance are directly correlated. Given that, with emotional intelligence, you can have a larger sense of motivation in your endeavors. The correct blend of motivation and awareness will help you deliver exceptional performances in the workplace. 

Individuals with emotional intelligence are optimistic in nature. For every goal you set as an employer or employee, you need optimism and motivation. You do not want to look at challenges as hurdles, but you want to view them as opportunities. This is what the underlying difference between successful and regretful people is. EQ gives you the motivation to be positive in all circumstances and maintain poise even in a crisis. As long as there is profound motivation, the graph of productivity will witness growth.

<span class="h-circle">3</span>Helps you in developing leadership skills

Leadership has become one of the most essential soft skills in the workplace. With leadership traits, every employee stands a fair chance to be an employer tomorrow. Emotional intelligence gives wings to your leadership potential. Managing emotions, understanding other’s feelings, and radiating motivation are what great leaders do. Emotional intelligence enables you to mitigate emotional vulnerabilities from the path of organizational goals. Neither will you let your emotions come in the way nor the emotions of others. You can sideline all the roadblocks that come in the way of creating an environment of high employee engagement.

You can model self-awareness, empathy, and self-regulation for others. Emotional intelligence will allow you to lead by example and drive positive changes in the workplace. You can grow in stature as a leader by incorporating emotional intelligence into your personality. You will know how to be empathetic and not let the emotions of your team override their decision-making and performance.

Hence, companies are investing in the emotional intelligence training of their employees. They aspire to identify and develop leaders who will take the top positions in the near future. If you do not begin to work on your leadership skills now, it may be too late.

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<span class="h-circle">4</span>Improves time management

Time management, productivity, and success go hand in hand. One common thing among the most successful people in the world is effective time management. Doing the right things at the right time is a simple yet powerful formula for attaining success.

People who have high EQ know how to plan and rightfully prioritize tasks. Besides, because of the consistent intrinsic motivation, they can meet deadlines. Otherwise, when we struggle for motivation, we end up procrastinating and missing deadlines. But EQ facilitates your and your team’s journey to building a 10X culture. 

To add, managers or leaders with EQ do not micromanage everything. They endorse faith in their team members to do things their own way for optimized results. They can empower their team members, understand their emotional responses, and lead them to complete tasks on time. Hence, the higher the EQ, the better will be your proficiency in time management. EQ will enable you to stay ahead of time and be aware of the risks of time wastage.

<span class="h-circle">5</span>Better self-awareness and self-control 

Emotional intelligence makes you attain a better sense of self-awareness and self-control. These two are essential fundamentals of your productivity in every task you perform. Self-awareness and self-control drive your decisions and actions. If you lack either of these, there is a possibility of making decisions that are inspired by emotions or instincts.

Self-awareness gives you an insight into your strengths and weaknesses. It further helps you to understand how your emotions may impact your actions. You will be far more receptive to feedback and constructive criticism. This will not be the case if you are in denial of your shortcomings. 

Furthermore, self-control will help you in handling testing times and befitting situations. In challenging situations that all of us face often, we can either let our emotions take control or control them to maintain poise. Such situations will test our character time and again.

As long as we exhibit self-control and regulation, we can overcome any circumstances.

Our prudence and problem-solving skills will not be overwhelmed by our emotions. This can have a direct impact on our productivity and the outcomes of our choices. Having said that, EQ can overhaul the course of your career for the better. 

To encapsulate, there are multidimensional benefits of EQ in the workplace. It can add more value to the productivity of employers as well as employees. Today, there is high demand for this skill in the corporate world. Companies and employees already know this, and they have initiated their EQ training.

Given the greater significance this skill will gain with time, it will be wise of you to invest in your EQ skills starting today. EQ has the prowess to unlock new horizons for you and your team. There are enough trends to suggest that ignoring the need to develop EQ can be detrimental to your career. If you want that the future shall belong to you, emotional intelligence is the headstart you need.

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