Have you wondered what the buzz around Emotional Intelligence is all about? What do Emotions have to do with business? How aware are you of your emotions and others when doing business transactions?
In today’s rapidly changing world, people need to harness and maximize their emotional energy to better cope with continuous change and increasing levels of complexity in their world. We need to be more aware of others’ emotions and our own.
Let’s do a quick exercise to understand the importance of emotions in business.
- List the top 3 to 5 skills that are required for your business. For example, a sales professional might say: Presentation, listening, networking and closing skills.
- Look at each one and indicate what percentage of that skill is emotional and what percentage is cognitive. For example: Change Management is at least 75% emotional, dealing with the emotions of those affected including yourself, changing people’s emotions from the negative to the positive and reacting to situations.
Now image if you can harness your emotions by being aware of your own emotional make up and being able to direct your emotions based on the situation. Image how you could improve your performance, your interactions with others, and ultimately your business results.
The more aware you are of your own emotions and the emotions required for a particular situation, the more prepared you can be and the more likely you are to have a positive and powerful outcome. When was the last time you stopped and looked at how you were feeling and what you were thinking as your approached a challenge in your business? How did you respond to the situation? How did you relate to others involved? Image how you could turn a bad situation into a better outcome if you were able to direct your emotions so that you responded positively to the situation and were able to relate better to others involved quickly and effectively.
For example, you are about to go into negotiations for a supplier contract – what emotions are required? It’s important to be empathetic toward your supplier situation but,at the same time. you have to assert yourself to ensure that your needs are understood and met while being flexible and open to alternative solutions.
Here are 3 steps you can take to harness your emotions in each situation.
- Stop: Next time you are preparing for a meeting or a one on one discussion, stop and think about what emotions are at play in this situation, both from your and the other party’s point of view.
- Think: Now ask yourself how you can direct your emotions to ensure the best outcomes. How can you steer your emotional reaction to enable a winning outcome?
- Act: Create a mental plan for your next meeting/one on one. What will you do differently? How will you relate to the other party?
Once you understand the emotions that are work in a situation, and you direct your emotional reactions, you will create more positive results!
What are the top 3 or 5 skills you require? What percentage is emotional? How can being aware of this help your business? Where can it make a difference?
I love to see entrepreneurs follow their passions, serve more people and create the lifestyle of their dreams.
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I think emotion plays one of the biggest parts in closing a sale or convincing someone in a meeting. Having that perfect paradigm shift in their mind is where you want to be. Great post and I really enjoyed reading it!
Kyle thank you. Emotions definitely play a huge role in sales and repeat sales. A client who loves what we did for them is going to come back and do business with us and hopefully become a ‘raving fan’. I think emotions drive 90% of buying decisions. I know for myself I can do a huge amount of research but in the end my emotional reaction to company I’m buying from and the product will be a large part of my final decision.
Emotions are the driving force for the actions and decisions we make. Attempts to sterilize the work environments of emotions are usually counterproductive.
Joyce – absolutely, and people think it is wrong to bring their emotions into to work. Emotions are one of the great things that human have, when learn how to direct them we can create amazing things.
Too many people think there is no place for emotions in business, Heather, but they are an intrinsic part of all of us so understanding both our own emotions and the possible emotions of our colleague/client will better prepare us for the meet, plus help us create the outcomes we want. (that’s a long sentence!)
Agnes, Absolutely, the post you’ve made this last week are about your emotional experience and that of some great speakers starting with http://agnesknowles.ca/technology-entertainment-design-x-part-1/
Great post. You bring a whole new meaning to using your emotions. Anita
Excellent post Heather and have never thought about emotions in that way. Thanks for sharing.
Merle, it is amazing what happens if you concentrate on what emotions are at play in a business situation and strive to use that knowledge in a positive way.