Do you consciously use emotions to help you

with the task at hand? Are you aware of creating the right emotions to facilitate your self and your team? This is a skill that forms part of EI.

For example, when creating new content / ideas or products you want to be in a state that maximises creativity; an expanded, open mind that facilitates high reaching aspirations and goals. You want to be exuding an excited, high energy vibe that encourages new ideas. You can help yourself and your team to move into this state for example with uplifting music or physical movement –you know moving around the room or a different space instead of sitting behind a desk at a computer.

But when its time to buckle down and plan or proofread or edit or concentrate, that same vibe isn’t conducive to paying attention to detail, so you need to be able to shift into a more steady, stable, lower energy state. You can again use different music to do this, or, as a leader, you can subtly shift emotional states by using the tone and cadence of your voice.

EI skills help you to be able to lead your self and teams to different emotional states in order to optimise performance for the task at hand.

In a world of uncertainty where things are constantly changing and our emotions may be fluctuating more rapidly, its more important than ever that we keep charge of our emotions instead of letting them take charge of us, our teams and our businesses.

Remember, EI skills, just like any other skill are learned and improved with practice. So have fun practicing to regulate and create emotional states consciously in a way that is helpful to you, your team and your business.