I always try to expand my sphere by getting to know new people and developing my existing personal relationships. My advice to entrepreneurs? Practice these social skills both internally and externally (clients).
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (PRWEB) January 16, 2019
4 Emotionally intelligent behaviors in Entrepreneurship
Emotional intelligence according to Goleman's definition as the ability to manage your internal emotions and identify the emotions of the other individuals surrounding you. Emotional awareness has been proven a common characteristic of highly successful people.
Emotional Intelligence is measured with the Emotional Quotient (EQ).
According to the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), individuals with a low EQ (Emotional Quotient) struggle with change management, team work and being able to build relationships. A recent study by the Carnegie Institute of Technology showed that 85% of financial success is linked to a high EQ, while only 15% is due to technical skills.
A high EQ leads to better performances.
Entrepreneurs need a lot of EQ and emotional skills to succeed in their career. Negotiation skills, liability, trust, sales tactics, and regular, clear communication are all EQ characteristics.
The good news is that it can be learned through life experiences, practice, failure and awareness. Here are good habits from emotionally intelligent people you can implement in your daily routine.
1. Show Empathy
The entrepreneur journey can be very lonely sometimes. There are times when it is going to be hard to step into the shoes of someone else.
Showing empathy toward others’ feelings is far beyond simply comforting someone when they’re feeling down or give a little piece of advice on how they should feel. Rather, being empathetic develop with your understanding of how your actions and words affect others, and improving the way you communicate with them to share your opinions. The choice of the words you use and the tone you’re using are determinant in succeeding of telling the truth. Your language must be chosen wisely.
As a matter of fact, from my experience empathy is highly efficient to conduct successful negotiations. Human's natural inclination is to serve our clients and ourselves, but a successful negotiation is when you have created a win / win situation for all parties. Allowing time to consider all angles, or being empathetic, increases the chances of a successful deal.
In the long run, not only can you create mutually beneficial results, but others will be more open to work with you in the future, you are able to build a stronger reputation and subsequently better your business.
2. Find common grounds
Being relatable is the easiest way to make friends.
Entrepreneurs with high EQs are more acquainted with the importance of social and interpersonal skills. Just because you are able to create the conversation with strangers at a party, though, doesn’t automatically mean you’re relatable. Active listening will help you spot similar qualities in other people so you can react with confidence and positiveness on different given situations, indeed.
If you still need to work on your interpersonal skills, get out of your comfort zone sometimes. The more you do it the easier it will be!
I always try to expand my sphere by getting to know new people and developing my existing personal relationships. My advice to entrepreneurs? Practice these social skills both internally and externally (clients).
3. Include self-awareness in your routine
The successful people I have met throughout my career shared a common characteristic: they are highly self-aware, they perfectly know their strengths and weaknesses. They take the time to scrutinize deficiencies and proactively work on bettering themselves in both their professional and personal lives.
By definition, most self-aware agents can also govern their emotions. Self-discipline leads to reflection rather than irrational backfire.
I like to call this reflection our own internal conversation.
Individuals capable of creating this internal conversation don’t get defensive or show bellicosity toward others when a tense situation arises because they have the ability to discuss their concerns in a sincere, non personal way.
A lot of people constantly battle with not taking criticism personally.
Even though you do get offended in a flash, work on avoiding spontaneous and counterproductive reactions. Taking a breath and allow some time to trigger your inner dialogue creates a level-headed attitude.
Personally, I always allow myself an instant to digest someone’s words before responding — not only it shows thoughtfulness and care but also it gives you more time to assess the situation and refrain from being aggressive.
4. Gain experience from mistakes
Everybody makes mistakes. Even the most successful individuals commit misjudgment once in a while.
However, Entrepreneurs should take these missteps seriously and use them as learning experiences. Rather than allow unpleasant encounters to ruin a relationship, I would recommend that they take some time to step back and look at the overall picture. It takes hard work to regain lost trust or repair broken ties.
Be true to yourself.
On a day to day basis, it’s important to study your failures, but also to move forward with your life.
Not letting go of on shameful situations won’t help you grow internally. In fact, the more you are stuck in the past, the more you will avoid relationships and fear that you will make the same mistakes over again.
My final advice, try to implement Emotional Intelligence in every step of the Entrepreneurship journey and you will be successful.
Mylene Garot
Emotional Intelligence Expert
Author of The Emotional Intelligence Guidebook for Successful People