While emotional intelligence is partly innate, it can still be developed. Let's look at some simple rules that can help you develop your B2B business right now.
Avoid the "bunker mentality". This means that sharing emotions and thoughts should be the norm in your company or team. "Communication about communication" helps people better understand each other and regulate their own behavior. Sharing experience at work promotes openness and transparency within the team. As a result, employees communicate more openly and take others' feelings seriously without losing sight of their work goals. For example, despite the fact that many companies operate mostly remotely, it is important to regularly exchange feedback and collaboratively solve emerging mental difficulties.
There are three types of feedback: corrective, developmental, and supportive. It is best to use a balance of corrective and developmental feedback.
Corrective feedback is information or comments provided to correct errors, improve work, or change the approach to a task. 1. A manager pointing out flaws in an employee's work and offering specific recommendations for improvement. 2. A colleague sharing their observations on how a particular action or decision could be improved. 3. A client expressing comments or suggestions that will help the company improve and meet market demands.
Developmental feedback is information or comments aimed at developing the skills and potential of an employee or team. 1. A manager pointing out the advantages and strengths of an employee to encourage their growth and development. 2. An employee offering a colleague constructive advice and support to develop new skills or overcome difficulties.3. Training programs or workshops that provide an employee with tools and knowledge to expand their competencies.
Supportive feedback is information or comments aimed at supporting and reinforcing the positive aspects of work or behavior. For example:
- A manager expressing appreciation and gratitude for an employee's good work or achievements.
- An employee showing support to a colleague for their contribution to a project.
- A client giving positive feedback on a product or service that will help maintain the team's motivation.
Learn emotional self-regulation and empathy. This can be a starting point in developing emotional intelligence. Conducting special training and masterminds focused on awareness of your own emotions towards clients and colleagues helps managers better understand the needs of clients and convincingly argue proposals. It is also important to conduct training as openly as possible, listen to each participant, and take notes.
There is a vivid case study of how actively working with the empathy level of personnel directly impacted their performance. At the start, there was a group of key employees with very strong hard skills but a dip in soft skills. Developing EQ was necessary, as one of the basic tasks of the employees was communicating with clients, presenting projects, and managing the team.
Based on the interviews conducted, managers identified growth areas and created a 6-month training program. Since the employees' academic intelligence was very high, they mastered the theory quickly and spent most of their time training soft skills: personal effectiveness, communication management, team management, the ability to give feedback, etc. After six months, managers saw results: projects were delivered on time without significant disagreements with clients, and employees did not experience emotional burnout even during deadlines. An indirect result was also a significant increase in the eNPS (employee satisfaction level) within the company.
Develop feedback procedures. Creating feedback within the team will allow you to develop emotional intelligence through constant interaction and exchange of experience. This will also help the team better understand and consider the individual needs of each member, which will effectively impact their future interactions with clients. Feedback should be given regularly like at least once a month one-on-one with employees.