When you go for a job interview the question that will be asked you by the interviewer will be all about your hard skills. Hard skills are the skills that you learn in your college or school like how to develop a website, coding, or any other theoretical or practical knowledge that has been taught to you and will help you earn.
Later, when you join the company or the organization you will get to know your soft skills. Soft skills are the ones which you will need when you will talk to a customer or a client. How you talk to them, the way you solve their problems, if you understand them or not and many other things which you will learn slowly and gradually in your job as you interact with more and more people.
Soft skills are also considered Emotional Intelligence(EI). So, EI is basically where you understand you’re and other person’s emotions, identify them and handle them! In the past IQ was considered to be the most important factor but now Emotional Intelligence or having soft skills is considered more important.
In many countries when you go for a job interview they ask you to fill out a form that will show your emotional intelligence. Well, you can’t have an amazing employee who is emotionally unavailable, right?! EI also shows the success you will achieve in your job or life.
Why Is EI Important In The Workplace?
EI benefits various aspects of our life. When a customer comes to you with criticism regarding your product or service, you positively take that criticism and assure the customer to solve his/her problem. When you use EI in the workplace you are less likely to make any impulsive decisions and instead, you will think about it logically and the consequences of your decisions. It helps you to understand your colleagues and helps you cooperate with them.
Can EI Be Acquired?:
We all can learn how to be more emotionally available but it takes time and patience. Here are the few things that I think can help you learn or acquire emotional intelligence:
Be More Empathetic
Put yourself in other people’s shoes and it does not mean that you have to be in the situation that they are in right now, it simply means that you have to feel what they are feeling is in that situation! Don’t judge them for showing you how they are feeling either directly or indirectly!
Try Handling Feedback
If someone is telling you something or pointing out your mistakes then don’t hold any grudge against them. Instead, take it positively and learn something from it and try apologizing for your mistakes.
Listen To People:
When a person is telling you something about their feeling or their problem then try to hear them properly without interrupting them and making the whole conversation about yourself!
Assess Your Decisions
While making a decision, think about how it will affect the people around you, and think about its consequences. If you are gaining something from that decision but it’s affecting the people around you then think of an alternative plan.
So, showing your emotions, and looking out for someone is valid and there is no shame in that. Having mental stability and emotional intelligence in the workplace is the most important thing! Learning hard skills is easy and it will get you a job but having soft skills will teach you some things which no one can. Try listening to your customers, be in their shoes, and think about, what would you have done if you were in their place? And then you will get your answer!
