Emotional Intelligence: Relationship Management

The last quadrant of Emotional Intelligence is Relationship Management.

Social Skills (last post) and Relationship Management go hand in hand.

Those who do well in the social skills element of emotional intelligence are great communicators. They are just as open to hearing bad news as good news.

Therefore, individuals who have good social skills are also good at managing change and resolving conflicts diplomatically. They are rarely satisfied with leaving things as they are, but they don't sit back and make everyone else do the work: they set an example with their own behavior. They understand what to consider as they manage their relationships with others: decisions, interactions, outcomes and needs.

How would you rate yourself when it comes to Relationship Management?

Look at the characteristics below and ask yourself: How do I impact others? Do I work with others effectively?

·         Am I Inspirational?

o   Do I guide and motivate with a compelling vision?

o   Am I a mentor, role model and an authority figure?

·         What Influence do I have?

o   Am I wielding a range of tactics or persuasion?

o   Do I articulate points in persuasive clear ways that effectively motivate others?

·         How well do I develop others?

o   Do I bolster others’ abilities through effective feedback and guidance?

o   How do I help others build their skills and knowledge?

·         Am I a Change Catalyst?

o   Do I initiate, manage and find new directions?

o   Do I recognize and support the need for change and make it happen?

·         How well do I manage conflict?

o   Am I good at resolving disagreements?

o   Do I have the skills to improve relationships, negotiate and lead?

o   Am I able to settle disputes, differences of opinions and misunderstandings?

Do you want to improve your Relationship Management?

Here is some simple guidance that has helped me:

·         Seek to build high quality, high trust relationships

·         Try to discover what role emotions are playing in your interactions with others

·         If you sense tension or other emotional reactions in a person’s body language or speech, ask questions and seek to understand

·         Be quick to settle disputes, differences of opinion and misunderstandings

·         Learn conflict resolution

o   You must know how to resolve conflicts between individuals.  

o   Learning conflict resolution skills is vital if you want to succeed.

·         Improve your communication skills

·         Learn how to praise others

o   As an individual, you can inspire loyalty and great appreciate simply by giving praise when it's earned.

o   Learning how to praise others is a fine art, but well worth the effort.

Recap:

Emotional Intelligence is an art and takes practice.

·         Self-Awareness is the most critical Emotional Intelligence (EQ) competency area and it is the foundation for succeeding in all of the other competencies. If you’re self-aware, you always know how you feel and you know how your emotions and your actions can affect the people around you

·         Self-Management is about staying in control. It’s about managing your emotional reactions to all situations and people in order to stay flexible, positively direct your behavior and commit to personal accountability.

·         Social-Awareness is the ability to “recognize and understand the perspectives of other individuals, groups of people or communities and apply that understanding to interactions with them.” It’s the ability to observe body language, facial expressions, and even posture in an effort to respond appropriately.

·         Relationship-Management is about managing change and resolving conflicts diplomatically. They set an example with their own behavior. They understand what to consider as they manage their relationships with others: decisions, interactions, outcomes and needs.