The Mindspa Institute loves writing about Emotional Intelligence aka EQ. If you are a regular reader on this subject you will know that a lot of research and articles indicate that great leadership and success depends on high EQ. Working remotely means saving time and money. You don’t have to get dressed and sit in traffic for hours to be at work. You don’t have to rent office space or use petrol to get to work. It makes sense to work from home especially with what today’s technology enables us to do remotely.
Both employers who have remote employees or employees who work remotely don’t necessarily think that EQ skills are important for them, but in actual fact it is more important. Think about it…when individuals work from home it takes much more self- motivation. However, the downside to this is that a lot of remote workers feel detached with a lack of leadership. Managers who work remotely might distrust their workers or feel a sense of lost leadership because they can’t physically see who and what they are managing.
EQ has been defined as “…the capability of individuals to recognise their own, and other people’s emotions, to discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, to use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour, and to manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt environments or achieve one’s goal(s).” (Wikipedia.org) If you are a regular reader on this subject you by now know that EQ forms a huge part of life successes.
If you are passionate about EQ, you will be familiar with Daniel Goleman who is seen as the leading expert on this subject. In his theory he includes five skills that he thinks are the drivers behind great leadership performance namely Self-awareness; Self-regulation; Social Skills; Empathy; Motivation.
Working remotely is probably the way the future work office will function. The easiest way to manage this is to change with the times and strengthen both sides’ EQ. Working well remotely and being trusted to work like this can only work if there is a good relationship between the employee and the employer/manager.
EQ skills for remote workers can be the key to the success:
- Better decision making and dedication: Working remotely requires a lot of self-motivation and for that you need self-awareness and self-regulation. You get to know yourself a lot when you are trusted to function and work on your own without ‘big brother’ watching over everything you do.
- Remain composed and calm: Skills in EQ can equip the remote worker to keep their cool and be focussed in a time of pressure and deadlines. You are forced to deal with your conflicts and get over a situation quickly as you can avoid office drama.
- Deal with conflict better: High EQ skilled employees are better at resolving conflicts because they can put themselves in other’s shoes. They can relate to the person’s grudges and upsets because they understand various challenges office bound employees face.
- Better leaders: Because high EQ tend to have greater empathy their leadership skills are enhanced. This helps when having to lead a team remotely.
- Open-minded and welcomes feedback: Because remote employees sometimes may feel guilty for not going to the office like co-workers, remote workers with high EQs are more likely to listen, reflect, and respond to constructive criticism. They thus welcome feedback and mostly try to improve.
Remote workers with a high EQ are very in touch with themselves because they know how important their well-being is. If you have remote employees and would like to equip them with EQ skills to optimally function well away from the office, book The Mindspa’ s Emotional Intelligence course. This training course looks at how the fundamentals of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) will improve your inter-personal relationships, communication skills and increase your professional and personal success.
EQ, more than IQ, determines professional and personal growth and success. EQ can be developed to increase your skills in being organised, effective, focused and positively motivated.
This fun, practical workshop explores all aspects related to effective and emotionally intelligent management of people at all levels of your business and personal life. It will equip delegates with the knowledge and practical skills to manage difficult people, difficult conversations and conflict. It will explain the principles of effective inter-personal communication and how to understand behaviour in order to modify it. This workshop will be beneficial for everyone who has wanted to handle bosses, spouses, children, in-laws or employees in a more effective manner.