Emotional Intelligence

The term ‘Emotional Intelligence’ was first coined by Peter Salavoy and John Mayar in an article in 1990 and has since been popularised by the work of psychologist, journalist and author, Daniel Goleman in his seminal 1995 work of the same title. In his book, Goleman describes Emotional Intelligence is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions and feelings, as well those of others.

However, this core tenet of Emotional Intelligence, to better understand oneself, finds its roots in Ancient Greece. Indeed, the phrase “know thyself” was once inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo (located atop Mount Parnassus) and has been a point of reference for philosophers, psychologists and, laterally, thought leaders in the communication and leadership space.

Writing last month in Medium, Isard Haasakker, uses a powerful storytelling approach of giving feedback to show how following 5 simple ‘P’s can enhance your Emotional Intelligence and enable more empowered communication.

Prefacing – making a statement that engages someone in a non-threatening manner

Prioritising – taking the time prior to a discussion to structure thoughts to maximise clarity and comprehension

Pausing – strategically stopping to invite a response from the other person in the discussion

Politeness – recognising how politeness can be leveraged to mitigate resistance and nurture positive working relations

and finally…

Phrasing – being mindful to select words and phrases that will motivate, engage and inspire the other person and avoid triggering a negative emotion

A sixth and final ‘P’ that we can add to this list to assist in developing our Emotional Intelligence is Psychometric Profiling. A number of reputable tools are available that allow us to explore our own communication preferences, priorities, styles and tendencies, while also providing us with a blueprint for engaging in skilled relationships with other communication styles.

Here at Think People, our Consultants are accredited DiSC® and Insights Discovery® practitioners who support clients across all sectors and industries to develop the Emotional Intelligence, Communication and Interpersonal skills of individuals and teams. To find out more about our upcoming Academy workshop ‘Emotional Intelligence for Effective Communication’ as well as other upcoming workshops in the series, simply click here.