For our latest Training Tuesday on April 5, we dove into the world of emotional intelligence with Vibrant Coaching founder Nicole Greer. As both CEO and principal coach of Vibrant Coaching, Nicole brings more than 20 years of experience to her teachings.
Prior to the training session, participants were encouraged to take an emotional intelligence assessment. They were asked to rank themselves on how confident they felt with topics such as describing their own feelings and taking responsibility for their actions. Participants were able to score themselves on four topics: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. This exercise gave participants insight into the subject matter for the evening and helped them discover their emotional-intelligence related strengths.
Emotional intelligence (otherwise known as emotional quotient or EQ) is the ability to understand, use and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict.
Four Buckets of EQ
- Self Awareness– How well you know yourself and knowing that your feelings have an impact on others.
- Self Management– Being responsible for yourself, your emotions and actions, taking responsibility for yourself (in productive and healthy ways).
- Social Awareness– Reading and anticipating others’ emotions.
- Relationship Management– Being able to identify the difference between healthy and toxic conflict and knowing when to initiate change.
Being a Light to Those Around You
Nicole introduced the group to the term “diminisher” and stated that diminishers have the power to make the room “go dark” for those around them. She gave the example of co-workers walking into a meeting and seeing someone they classify as a “diminisher” attending. This leads to some participants in the meeting feeling less comfortable participating. The negative presence of the diminisher can be distracting and harm productivity to those around them.
To combat diminishers, Nicole encouraged the group to make a conscious decision to “be a light” and use their emotional intelligence strengths from the assessment. Nicole stated that people with emotional intelligence have a more positive impact on others.
In 2020, the World Economic Forum ranked emotional intelligence as number six on their list of top ten skills. 90% of top performers have high EQ by getting their work done in a positive manner and making those around them feel comfortable at the same time. 58% of your job performance is impacted by your EQ and 71% of hiring managers value EQ over IQ. People with high EQ make approximately $29k more annually than their low EQ counterparts.
Next Steps
In terms of next steps, Nicole recommended using Pinterest to research terms such as: feelings, emotion chart, EQ, etc. This will populate various charts and graphs related to emotional intelligence and will help participants to learn different words to describe their feelings better. This will then lead participants to pinpoint better how they are feeling during particularly emotional times in their lives.
Additionally, Nicole recommends practicing yoga to help keep breathing in control, which helps get oneself under control. Also on Nicole’s list of self-care practices:
- Goal setting
- Making a conscious effort to smile
- Finding a mentor
- Getting plenty of sleep at night, and
- Incorporating positive affirmations into your daily routine.
If anyone is interested in life coaching services, they can contact Nicole Greer at nicole@vibrantcoaching.com or visit her at her website https://www.vibrantcoaching.com/
