Rebecca and Emma were discussing how emotional intelligence can save lives!
Emotional intelligence is often labelled as being kind and caring to others, but it’s also about the ability to understand when your emotions are changing and how to be in control of them. Someone with emotional intelligence should be able to stop themselves before they display a behaviour linked to a negative emotion. ‘Never write a letter when you’re angry’ as the saying goes!
It’s important for everyone to show a level of emotional intelligence to understand the impact of their emotions upon others. It’s also hugely important in life-saving roles. For example, in the medical profession, it’s been proven that higher emotional intelligence can improve efficiency and lead to better decisions that save lives! An emotionally intelligent person is likely to work successfully in a team. When the team performs better and works collaboratively, the outcome will be more successful. Not being in charge of your emotions can cause negative impacts. An everyday example is driving. When a vehicle pulls out in front of you, causing you to emergency break, what’s your first reaction? Are your emotions doing you a service or dis-service at that moment? For most people, their immediate emotion would be anger towards that driver. If you then act with your emotions, your response can cause more harm than good. It’s important to identify your emotional state before, during and after the build-up of an event. This’ll help you to change the outcome for the future and learn from it.
At Rambutan, we see emotional intelligence as a muscle. If you work on it, it gets stronger. The more decisions you make guided by this ‘muscle’, the more you won’t need to consciously think about it. As behaviouralists, we look at creating self-mastery and how these skills can be used to help others. By enhancing your own emotional intelligence, a chain reaction can take place. If we all improved this ‘muscle’ by just 1%, we could greatly improve the environment that we live and interact in! A parent with high emotional intelligence can help their child learn it as they grow up. This young person will then be able to manage their emotions and see the impact they have upon others from a much earlier age (adults still sometimes struggle with this!).
A good leader, who uses their emotional intelligence in the best way possible, can influence people in a positive way: leading to a better work experience, higher productivity and improved decisions.
As the use of AI ever increases, our unique selling point, as humans, is our emotional intelligence. Our ability to understand and ultimately help each other to be the best version of ourselves is a role that no AI can do. We need to hold onto our emotional intelligence and show that not every role can be done as effectively by AI as a human.
Have you mastered your emotional intelligence? Why not read our top tip to discover more about your emotional intelligence.
