Yes, cognitive intelligence is pretty useful. It helps people solve problems easily, enables their critical thinking to analyze a project more, and helps them think of more out-of-the-box ideas. But what’s the point of that if that intelligent worker of yours breaks down easily in the face of stress, or takes criticisms way too personally? That’s why emotional intelligence is important too, and as a boss in an engineering firm or company, you and your employees have to learn to build on it.
Here are 5 ways you can teach yourself and your employees to be more emotionally intelligent
Assess strengths and weaknesses
Source: Workinginpeelhalton
People often get derailed from themselves because there’s a gap between how they see themselves and how others see them. It’s at this point where you and your employees need to know what exactly their strengths and weaknesses are; Not just by letting them think about it, but by pointing out other’s strengths and weaknesses that they may not have realized before.
Teach yourself and others to be open to feedback. Let them examine their performance reviews. People need to understand themselves realistically to understand where they need to grow.
Change perspectives
Source: Romper
Now that everyone knows what they can do well and what they need to improve on, it’s time to teach them to be considerate of others too. When they’re focused too much on themselves, they fail to consider what others might be going through as well. So teach them to be understanding and patient. Teach them to put themselves in other people’s shoes and realize that their way of doing things isn’t the only way, and it may not work on others.
Tackle stress
Source: PopKey
It’s a scientific fact that emotion will always fire faster that logic, and in times of stress, it’s more likely for one’s logic center to malfunction. In the world of engineering, letting emotions affect the quality of your work can be dangerous for whatever you’re creating, so we need to learn to handle the stress so that it will never happen.
Stress is most often caused when someone feels cornered and there’s little to no way out of the situation, so giving them several options to do something can help them avoid it. There are several other ways too, by trying to reduce the workload if possible, getting more sleep, avoiding too much coffee, or even just a simple 10 minute break.
Keep a diary
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This may be cheesy, but it’s actually pretty useful. Keeping a simple journal wherein you note what you feel and when you felt it helps them recognize their own and other’s behavioral patterns. It helps them look at themselves easier and realize the bad habits they may have to break or learn how to respond to a situation better.
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