Is emotional illiteracy dimming your shine and impacting your team?
Here’s a harsh truth: Individuals who struggle to understand and manage their own emotions, experience more conflict, mental health struggles and are often big contributors to toxic environments.
What does a lack of emotional intelligence, also known as EQ, look like? Here are a few ways to recognize emotional illiteracy:
- Difficulty in self-regulating emotions, leading to frequent mood swings and emotional outbursts.
- Lack of self-awareness, which makes it challenging to recognize their own narratives, emotions, motivations, and how they impact others.
- Difficulty in empathizing with others or understanding their perspectives, leading to communication breakdowns and strained relationships.
- Inability to manage stress and difficult situations, leading to feelings of overwhelm and an inability to cope with adversity.
- Struggle with communication, both verbal and nonverbal, which can make it challenging to express themselves effectively or interpret others' messages accurately.
- Tendency to blame others or external circumstances for their problems, rather than taking responsibility for their actions.
- Difficulty in adapting to change or new situations, leading to resistance and inflexibility.
It is important to note that having low emotional intelligence does not make someone a bad person, but it can lead to challenges in various areas of life, including personal relationships and professional success.
In a team environment (work, sport, family…), it creates a culture of blame and finger-pointing, where team members are quick to assign fault without taking responsibility for their own emotions and behaviors.
To break this cycle, it's essential to develop emotional intelligence (EQ) skills. In fact, improving your EQ score is the secret sauce to skyrocketing your personal and professional success!
And YES, EQ can totally be learned!
EQ Defined:
Emotional intelligence is the measure of a person's ability to recognize, understand, and manage their own emotions, while also being able to perceive and navigate the emotions of others.
Emotional intelligence includes skills like empathy, self-awareness, self-regulation, social skills, and motivation. Having a high EQ has been linked to success in personal and professional relationships, as well as effective leadership and communication.
Providing emotional self- regulation and resilience training - rooted in science and research - can be an effective way to help a team raise their EQ and develop the skills they need to work together effectively. (Psst…quick FYI: that’s actually what I do!…and if you’re interesting in learning more, let’s chat!)
Let’s start paying attention to how often we play the blame game!
Levelling up our emotional intelligence is a smart investment in ourselves and our team's future that promises great returns!!
Do you want to learn more about how you can improve in this area? I invite you to schedule a discovery call with me. It’s FREE and you’ll come away with some actionable strategies on how to increase your own personal EQ.
Until next time!
*** If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with your friends and family!***
** If this email was forwarded to you, and would like to continue receiving bits of goodness once a month, consider joining the NSM tribe below **