What is the value of EQ within your business?

Having worked in the conference industry almost 6 years now, I’ve come to realise that how I respond to my emotions has a major influence on my ability to work effectively with others. And working in a highly competitive, deadline driven and stressful environment, the ability to harness the power of my emotions to create significant connections with others and be a positive influence can sometimes be a challenge.

Leadership at its core is an invitation to a future that is better than today. People willingly follow leaders who have a strong sense of optimism and aspire to bring the very best to this endeavour. To grow and develop as a leader, we need to be able to grow and develop our emotional intelligence. Over the years, I have learnt to implement these four key dimensions; self-awareness, personal mastery, leadership connections and influencing others into my daily work life.

Self-awareness is when you’re aware of your emotions and how your emotions may impact on your life. For example; by nature, I have a short temper and can sometimes allow it to get the better of me. However, I’ve come to accept that things don’t usually go as planned and I’ve learnt to not allow my performance as a Manager is affected by frustration and anger.  When it’s close to handing in my conference program on deadline week, I am calm as a cucumber and not a frantic mess.

Secondly, I’ve recognised that I don’t need to be a slave to my emotions and have developed different techniques to help replace my emotional patterns that do not serve me well with the ones that do. In other words, through conscious choice and creation of new thinking habits, you can master your emotions and rewire the way your brain responds to your emotions.  

The third dimension is leadership connections. This process begins with a leaders’ ability to accurately perceive the emotions of others and understand their immediate reactions and behaviours. This is not about being sensitive to others. It’s getting firmly into their shoes and tightening up their laces. It means thinking and feeling as others think and feel. Even though you think and feel differently. I’ve learnt that having empathy is simply not enough. To create profound connections, you must demonstrate your willingness to open up your own personal agendas and commit to being of service to others.

The fourth and final dimension is influencing others. Put simply, moods matter. If you are positive and upbeat, you inject energy and passion into your organisation. If you are pessimistic and gloomy, you suck the energy and passion out of your organisation. Which one are you?

In summary, emotional intelligence just means blending your rational side with your emotional side. In these times with increasing complexities, increasing stress, increasing pressure, emotional demands are growing. As the demands increase, we also have to now intentionally and deliberately learn and practice these skills so that we can be effective in the environment that we’ve created. 

The best part of my job as a Conference Production Manager is to create and manage my own conferences from concept to delivery, identify future conference topics as well as giving me a chance to expand my business card collection. Having a bit of a sweet tooth, you will always find me having lollies on my desk or you will catch me browsing on fashion sites during lunch breaks.