To be a successful manager, you need to be self-aware. Some people find the process of becoming self-aware extremely stressful. As a psychologist, I'm always sensitive to the fact that people think I am psychoanalysing them. The worst experiences are usually at social gatherings. In therapeutic setting, helping patients become self-aware can create stress for them. How many of us really understand our own values, motivations, and drives?
When I coach chief executive officers, one of the first things I do to increase their effectiveness in the organization is to help them become self-aware. I work on the assumption that self-awareness increases the capacity to confront, manage and relieve stress. This is particularly important in relationships where one or both parties have limited self-awareness and are unable to negotiate a meaningful communication space.
Daniel Goleman has been credited with developing extensive interest in the concept of emotional intelligence. I believe that if you have a high level of emotional intelligence you will manage your personal and work life much more effectively. There is plenty of research which suggests that leaders who have high emotional intelligence are more successful in the workplace. They earn more money and their teams are more highly productive. This is not the case with leaders with low emotional intelligence.
People who are able to understand themselves well and adapt well to the emotional demands and social interactions of their work and personal environment are regarded as having high emotional intelligence.Oddly enough, the feelings of the people around you affect your own emotional state. The brain's limbic system is the area where we can examine moods and emotions. People react to each other's emotions and in meetings, for example, it takes two hours for everyone to share the common mood of the meeting.
There is constant interchange of emotionality in the workplace.There is one research study which produced amazing results. Just sitting two people together in one room and allowing them to talk with each other, with their individual heart rate and blood pressure levels monitored, showed that within 5 to 10 minutes their heart rate and blood pressure were almost identical. And the same outcome was noted when they just sat together and didn't talk! How spooky is that?
If we do share common emotionality, it is obvious that we are constantly affecting the ones around us. If we are stressed, our partners at work colleagues are stressed as well. You need to know how you are feeling and how this impacts others. How others feel, especially if they are angry or discontented, affects us too.
None of these bad feelings are healthy or productive. They add to the tension and stress we feel in the workplace.Let's turn the situation upside down. You are free of stress, rarely tense and troubled, and are positive about yourself and others so the outcome is that you will be happy in your relationships and happy at work. You will develop and maintain good relationships and you will manage stress well.
You will know how to reduce stress and your life will be positive and successful.I hope this brief introduction to emotional intelligence gives you some understanding of how important the concept is in your daily life. There are five parts of emotional intelligence and we measure: understanding ourselves, understanding others, being adaptable, general mood, and stress management.
There are often great variations in an individual's profile on these five dimensions. Some people can be high on interpersonal understanding and have very limited self-awareness. Of course it makes life much more interesting for the purpose of this article, the most important issue is how well people manage stress through self-awareness.
About the Author:
Psychologist, Dr Jeff, helps stressed patients. Why tolerate stress? Learn stress relief tricks. Click here for the free What is Stress by Dr Jeff. Don't let stress ruin your life for another minute. Act now - learn how to relieve stress.
Psychologist, Dr Jeff, helps stressed patients. Why tolerate stress? Learn stress relief tricks. Click here for the free What is Stress by Dr Jeff. Don't let stress ruin your life for another minute. Act now - learn how to relieve stress.