Emotional intelligence is key to professional success. In addition to contributing to personal wellbeing, it can help you be a more productive and happier professional.

Employees who can manage their emotions tend to have top qualities such as self-consciousness, motivation, and empathy. Self-consciousness in the workplace is the keystone of emotional intelligence, considering that it enables individuals to have self-control over their behaviors and sentiments, creating a more harmonious environment.

A proactive attitude and a positive thinking

A positive attitude is way more than a smile or trying to think happy thoughts. Our day-to-day activities and the routine in the workplace are filled with challenges. However, how we deal with these difficulties will have a major bearing on the workforce atmosphere.

Emotionally savvy individuals face challenges as opportunities to learn, grow and stretch their limits. Problem-solvers come up with innovative alternatives to overcome obstacles.

Learn from the unexpected

Who enjoys being under pressure day in and day out? However, it’s all part of the professional game. New deadlines, demands from your boss, urgent matters or sudden business meetings are always there to shake your agenda.

Success in a job can frequently come down to how you handle unexpected situations. Have you ever been asked “How do you work under pressure?” during an interview? Given that stress is unavoidable, this is one of the most frequently asked questions. While some may fall apart under the pressure of the unknown, others will discover new ways to overcome hard times.

Our tips: start planning, create a prioritization plan, keep a cool head, and adopt an objective perspective.

Effective communication

Communication is way more than just chatting. It’s about connecting and establishing genuine relationships.

Poor communication in the workplace give rise to misinterpretation and conflict. On the other side, effective communication is a vital tool in achieving business success and sustaining positive connections within an organisation. In the workplace, apart from mitigating conflict, valuable communication also promotes higher performance, productivity, employee engagement and team effectiveness.

Embrace an assertive attitude to achieving goals by specifying purposes and outlining exactly what you need and what you mean.

Listen and reflect on constructive criticism

Listening is just as important as expressing an opinion. Let’s face it, critiques can be hard to receive. Nevertheless, constructive criticism is essential to our personal and professional development.

The shape is what tells apart constructive criticism from destructive criticism. In this case, nonverbal communication is just as significant as the words one pronounces.

Constructive criticism focuses on encouraging continuous improvement, while negative comments have no other intention rather than harming and destroy someone’s efforts and self-esteem.

No one is perfect and negative feedback is inevitable throughout your work life. But don’t get defensive and, especially, don’t make it personal. Instead, you should listen, take a step back and then reflect.

Understanding and identifying stress in the workplace

Great professionals are driven to succeed. They give their full effort and commitment to every single assignment.

Stress is ubiquitous in our daily lives. There’s a natural degree of stress in every workplace. A must-do task comes without warning. Emails in your inbox. New meetings. You know how it feels.

Experts reveal that stress can actually be a great motivator.  Nevertheless, there’s a limit between a healthy dose of stress and feeling overwhelmed and anxious.

Extreme pressure at work –– and outside of it – can become harmful to your performance. Therefore, it is important for you to identify the causes of stress in the workplace so that you can take measures to reduce stress levels whenever possible.