Naiman Labs Newsletter #19. Everybody talks about emotional intelligence

Hello everyone, 👋

Welcome to the newest issue of Naiman Labs weekly newsletter. Get ready this one will be interesting but a bit theoretical 🧑‍🏫

In this issue, we'll be discussing Emotional Intelligence (EQ), one of the biggest buzzwords in management and HR world. Even though many people use this term, I often realize that not everyone gets what it is about. And to be completely honest, the EQ subject is so wide and so large that I also feel that I've just scratched the surface there.

The Five Key Components of EQ

Daniel Goleman, one of the biggest researchers in EQ field, identifies 5 key components of EQ:

1. Understanding of your own emotions 😔😀😠

2. Taking responsibility for your emotions 🤔

3. Ability to self-motivate 💪

4. Reading other people's emotions 🧐🤗😢

5. Maintaining healthy relationships with others ❤️

Let's take a closer look:

1️⃣ Understanding of your own emotions

Understanding your own emotions is the first step in improving your EQ. Instead of hiding your emotions, try naming them. For example, when you're feeling down, write down the emotions you're feeling. "I feel sad." "I feel frustrated." Naming your emotions helps you take responsibility for them and make sense of why you're feeling a certain way.

⚒️ Why do you need it? Let's say you're feeling anxious about a project deadline. Name it. And now instead of quietly and deeply stress about it you can take some actions. Maybe you need to take a break, talk to a friend, or practice some relaxation techniques to calm down.

2️⃣ Self-regulation

Self-regulation involves being able to manage your emotions in a productive way. This means not letting your emotions get the best of you, but also not suppressing them entirely. Instead, aim to find a healthy balance.

⚒️ Let's say you receive negative feedback on your work. A sign of a high EQ is instead of getting defensive or lashing out, you take a step back and consider the feedback objectively. Take a deep breath, and think about how you can use the feedback to improve.

3️⃣ Reading other people's emotions

Being able to read other people's emotions is an essential component of EQ. Empathy and active listening are the key here. When you're talking to someone, try to put yourself in their shoes and understand their perspective. Whenever you have a conversation, genuinely try to understand other people's points of view. Pay attention to what they say, try to summarize it for yourself.

⚒️ How EQ works: if you're in a meeting with a coworker who seems upset and if you are able to recognize their emotions, you can adjust your approach and offer support or assistance if needed.

4️⃣ Self-motivation

Self-motivation is about keeping a positive and active spirit that urges you to reach your goals, even when there are obstacles in your way. This requires discipline and making intentional choices.

5️⃣ Maintaining healthy relationships

Maintaining healthy relationships is another important component of EQ. This involves being able to communicate effectively, build trust, and navigate conflict in a constructive way.

⚒️ How EQ works: in case you have a disagreement with a coworker, you don't avoid the topic, you exchange the feedback, but you approach it calmly and respectfully. Listen to their perspective and express your own in a non-judgmental way. Work together to find a mutually beneficial solution.

Improving your emotional intelligence can lead to a more productive and satisfying work life, as well as stronger personal relationships. By developing your ability to understand your own emotions, regulate

🙌 People management article of the week

To go a bit deeper with the topic of EQ, I suggest reading this essential article from HBR by Daniel Goleman.

💼 Career tip of the week

Take a pause and listen. Again in addition to our EQ topic. This small tip will help you handle the criticism at work. Don’t react immediately. As human beings we all have instincts of immediate reactions. We can hide, we can fight back, we can run away. Whenever you face negative feedback at work, don’t react immediately. Take a walk, take a day to “digest” the feedback and come back to your manager, or colleague. You’ll see the difference 💯

⚙️Productivity tip of the week

Summarise. The power of summary is amazing.

Try summarising some interesting articles you read. Make 1-3-5 sentence summary.

Try taking well-structured meeting notes at work. This applies not only to 1-on-1 meetings where you want to capture the main points, but also when someone is presenting and you want to be engaged. Try summarizing the key points of the presentation just for yourself.

Here are some tools that can help you summarize:

• Otter: You can record meetings and this AI-powered tool will convert it to text and summarize the key points.

• Notion AI: Notion has embedded AI in its blocks, so now when you read or write something, AI can help you summarize it.

• Pen and paper: AI tools are good, but making your own summaries will help you better. 😉