What does emotional intelligence have to do with powerful communication?
Emotional intelligence: the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships with empathy. What does that have to do with powerful communication? The more emotionally intelligent you become, the more powerful you will be at communicating.
Our CEO and Founder, Jessica Chen, recently hosted a LIVE LinkedIn conversation with the Founder of The Resilience Edge, Gemma Leigh Roberts.
They shared key tips and personal experiences on developing emotional intelligence and how to get better at it. Note: It’s a skill you can learn!
1. Relationship Building
Emotional Intelligence is so important for relationship building.
It’s why to begin, you have first have to look inwards and become more self-aware of how you act and think. What happens inside your heart and mind when something is triggered? When you are self-aware, you are better at understanding how your emotions impact your interactions with others.
Second, look at the relationships you have with other people and start thinking about how you can make those relationships stronger.
2. Social Awareness
Being aware of others around you is part of building important social awareness skills. In fact, understanding dynamics within relationships can help you become a better communicator.
If you’re not sure how you come off when communicating i.e. shy, loud, direct, indirect, etc, you can also get feedback from your peers about how they interpret what you say or your facial expressions.
It’s important to be aware of the non-verbal message you are sending out in social situations.
3. How To Get Better At Emotional Intelligence
The great news is that you CAN get better at building emotional intelligence. Similar to relationship building, evaluate who you are surrounded by. Ask yourself these questions:
- Are there people who bring out the best in you?
- Are there people who bring out the worst?
- And why?
- What are you feeling, what are you experiencing during those interactions?
As you interact with different people, think about how aware you are at picking up social cues too. And be honest with yourself. Do you find it easy to understand what is happening below the surface of the situation and interaction?
To sum it all up, to boost social awareness and EQ, you have to focus on your senses. What do you see, what do you feel and what can you hear?
Get feedback – ask people around you. How do they interpret your communication? What do they think you could do even better?
The message you send out isn’t necessarily the message received. The message received is how the other person takes it. It’s the difference between impact versus intent. A lot of times we don’t actually know how others interpret how we communicate.
Remember: emotional intelligence is key to being a powerful communicator.
If you would like to see the full LIVE version of Jessica and Gemma’s conversation, check out Jessica’s Youtube Channel.
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