Emotional Intelligence and the Bottom Line

Stress levels are often higher at this time of year than any other. You can see it in shopper’s faces, in driver’s impatience behind the wheel and with family members who seem to have a shorter fuse. Maybe that’s because of our high expectations of the Holiday Season or maybe it’s because our ‘to do’ list seems to have a never ending addition of items so it doesn’t get ‘to done.’

What we know is that our personal life directly impacts our professional life. So, how we manage our feelings, including stress, is critical to our corporate success. Employers know that emotional intelligence, our ability to manage our feelings and interact positively with others, is a key differentiator. Fortune Five Hundred companies rate emotional intelligence as more than twice as important as cognitive abilities and technical skills combined.

So, check yourself and make sure that you don’t allow small annoyances and other people’s behaviours to taint your mood for the day. Keep your mental focus on things you can control, and make sure you spend time thinking of positives and what you’re grateful for, rather than what isn’t going well. Staying positive and solution focused will allow you to stay ‘on task,’ decrease inter-personal conflict with co-workers, and ultimately increase your corporate contribution.

Anyone who has had to mediate employee conflicts knows it is a big time waster and negatively affects the efficiency levels of any business. Emotional intelligence will brighten your day as well as your corporate culture, increasing employee engagement and your bottom line!