Emotional Intelligence for psychologists and coaches: why is it useful?

What does it mean to be trained or not in Emotional Intelligence? How does it apply at work?

The ability of human beings to learn to adapt to challenges is what makes us the most intelligent species on the planet. This is a fact that we can see simply by looking at the way we can transform societies and lifestyles to improve our fit with the world.

However, beyond this fact, there are many nuanced details about our potential that have only recently been discovered. Emotional Intelligence is one of those concepts that have emerged in recent decades that help us learn new ways to relate to others, deal with problems and plan projects.

In this article we will see why Emotional Intelligence is one of the most relevant phenomena that every psychologist and coach should know about, and how we can apply this knowledge both in our lives and in our professional context when dealing with people.and how we can apply this knowledge both in our lives and in the professional context when dealing with people.

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Before going into details and looking at examples, let's start with basic definitions to know what we are talking about.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a set of psychological skills related to the recognition and management of emotions, both in oneself and in others.both in oneself and in social interactions with others. It is, on the other hand, one of the parcels of intelligence, which groups all the psychological potentialities that a person has when it comes to learning and applying his knowledge and mental ability to problem solving.

Thus, someone who takes advantage of EQ will not be using skills that are totally separate from what we usually call "intelligence", but a part of them.

What happens is that, for historical and cultural reasons, when most people talk about how intelligent a person or entity is, they tend to consider only certain forms of expression of intelligence that do not include EI. In the end, until recently, it was believed that rationality and emotionality were separate and conflicting domains.Emotional Intelligence serves, among other things, to refute this idea.

Examples of the use of EI at work

If the work context is full of challenges and a good part of them involves the management of emotions? why shouldn't we consider Emotional Intelligence as part of professional success? The truth is that being unaware of EI does not mean that it does not influence us while working in contact with team projects and while dealing with clients or colleagues; on the contrary, on the contrary, ignoring it makes us more sensitive to failures in managing what we feel (and how we communicate it). (and the way we communicate it).

These are several examples of how enhancing EQ is useful for professionals such as coaches or psychologists, who are always in contact with people.

1. It contributes to generate motivation

One of the things we know about motivation is that it is not based on objective criteria, but on the ability to recognize goals that are meaningful to people, that allow them to live with more enthusiasm. Emotional Intelligence helps to isolate and recognize those concepts that help to motivate others.This is essential both in recognizing patterns of emotion in the way others express themselves, and in setting goals that correspond to those motivations.

This is essential both in coaching applied to the organizational or sports field and in psychotherapy, since in all these cases it is essential to do what is necessary for people to commit to an action plan that forces them to leave their comfort zone, to break with what they have been doing so far.

2. Facilitates conflict resolution

Both in psychological assistance tasks and in situations of teamwork or facing challenges under pressure (something typical in sports and competitions, for example) it is very easy to lose a lot of time and resources due to confrontations that arise from not knowing how to manage stress or frustration.

Beyond the unpleasant feeling that comes from seeing that there is still a long way to go to reach a goal, this kind of event not only does nothing good, but can also cause the progress of a project to come to a screeching halt or the dynamics of teamwork to be weighed down by the rarefied atmosphere. If something is not done to address the problem, this means not reaching the objectives, in some cases, or terminating the psychological intervention and referring the patient or client, in others.

For example, thanks to Emotional Intelligence we can adopt a more neutral perspective and realize in real time that responding in a bad way to an accusation would only fuel a conflict that we are in time to stop.

3. It allows us to adopt a constructive mindset

Being able to find value even in so-called "negative emotions". allows you to use virtually any relevant experience as a source of learningrather than dealing with bad experiences with sterile cynicism.

For example, if a person shows defensiveness without there being a reason for it, beyond how unpleasant their responses may be, this provides information that they are possibly feeling insecure, perhaps because they feel exposed or unprepared for a certain kind of task they have to perform.

4. Improve the flow of communication

Both the psychologist's and the coach's work is based, in most cases, on communication.. That is why it is very important to develop skills related to the detection of the emotional subtext of what those around us say, and at the same time to know how to express oneself well through verbal and non-verbal language, taking into account the way in which the context changes the meaning of words.

It is not the same to congratulate an employee who is happy with his job performance as it is to congratulate an employee who feels overburdened by his responsibilities, and a detail as small as this can totally transform that person's attitude towards us and towards the organization we represent.

5. Helps predict emotional response

Through Emotional Intelligence it is easier to anticipate the way in which to anticipate the way in which our body is predisposed to react to a certain situation, which allows us to prepare ourselves and the organization we represent.This allows us to prepare ourselves and do what is necessary to modulate that emotional torrent. This is especially useful in times of crisis and in situations where important events occur and we need to act quickly.

Where to be trained in Emotional Intelligence?

There are some organizations specialized in training for professionals that have interesting courses in Emotional Intelligence. One of them is Escuela Europea de Coaching, an organization that has a presence in several countries beyond Spain, in which it carries out the Emotional Awareness Program.

This 65-hour course is aimed at coaches in training, psychologists, CEOs and managers and other positions in which interaction with people at both a formal and emotional level is essential. It has both theoretical learning sessions and stages of practical exercises supervised by coaches.

If you are interested in learning more about this Emotional Intelligence training program, you can find EEC's contact details by clicking here.