How can you build emotional intelligence and resilience as an employee engagement leader?

As Employee engagement leader, you not only have create a positive work environment, but also develop the required skills and mindsets that enable employees to thrive in challenging situations. As an employee engagement leader, one needs to cultivate emotional intelligence and resilience, both for team,organisation and self.

As a leader when you want to build emotional intelligence and resilience, work on their 1. Emotions - are they attached to the engagement activities 2. Perception - how are they percieving this 3. Change - are they ready to accept the change if you are able to work on these to handle them, you can become better at employee engagement.

Transactions are the building block in a workplace. These transactions though work based but what is important that we bring our whole self to work and hence each transaction leaves an impression and finally build up to influence. And emotional Intelligence plays a very important part in this. It is safe to say that we more often than not our perspective involves the overall experience and hence when we invest in understanding the emotional intelligence part of the transaction it results in more productive ones. Thus leadership may have many courses , guides , coaching but you need to invest in updating your EQ along with your IQ.

Emotional intelligence is a proven indicator of success; it fosters better performance, healthier relationships, and sound stress management. Those with high emotional intelligence are active listeners, critical thinkers, and relatable mentors.

EI has largely been demonstrated to be linked to personal and professional success. Beyond that, it's EI and the way you apply it to your life one of the determinant factors which has a greater impact on your career success as well as company benefits when measured and trained, because yes, EI is a competency or trait you can improve.

To build emotional intelligence and resilience: 1. Develop self-awareness and understand your own emotions and triggers. 2. Cultivate empathy by actively listening and showing genuine care for others. 3. Build strong relationships by creating a supportive work environment with open communication. 4. Manage your own emotions effectively and regulate them appropriately. 5. Practice stress management techniques and prioritize self-care. 6. Stay updated on research and best practices in emotional intelligence and resilience. 7. Seek feedback from others to identify areas for growth and improvement. By implementing these strategies, you can enhance your emotional intelligence and resilience as an employee engagement leader.

In a fast-paced setting, resilience involves more than just enduring stress; it's about thriving within it. Resilient professionals possess the ability to quickly assess and adapt to new circumstances, finding innovative solutions even in the midst of uncertainty. They view challenges as opportunities for growth, using setbacks as stepping stones toward achieving their goals. It's crucial for: Change: Embracing change as growth. Pressure: Handling high demands with composure. Setbacks: Learning from failures and moving forward. Well-being: Prioritizing self-care and balance. Positivity: Maintaining an optimistic outlook. Problem-Solving: Finding creative solutions. Focus: Staying goal-oriented amid distractions.

Resilience is not just a trait. It's a mix of several behaviors. Some of them are: - personal awareness to know when are you close to a high level of stress. - time to review your success and failures. Learning is not something that just happens when failure occurs. It's something you have to cultivate. - vulnerability, you'll never get to be resilient if you aren't open and share your thoughts and fears. Once you do it, you'll find people surrounding you and supporting you. - Broad and improve your network. Resilience, the broader and honest your network is, the stronger you'll resilience will be.

Developing emotional intelligence is a path that will look different for everyone. For many, it will span a career worth of positive and negative interactions with others. Each interaction will carry with it new information about the way we respond to others, and how they respond to us. Others will find emotional intelligence through journaling, meditation, or prayer. Setting aside time each day to be open and honest with yourself about what you feel is not always the first, but the most efficient step toward the flexibility of mind that is resilience. Resilience is recognizing that a wrench in the system is frustrating and that words can hurt, and choosing to continue forward in acknowledgement of how these things made us feel.

Acknowledge that people have different levels of resilience. Absorb criticism and deflect praise. Listen to what your team tell you about outside pressures. Never EVER underestimate how non work issues can affect performance at work. In particular, (and this is not meant to be sexist) value and acknowledge work of women who are running a home and often doing a large proportion of childcare. In my experience they can sometimes feel undervalued at home because they just ‘get on with it’. Do not EVER make them feel like that at work.

EI fosters healthier relationships, helps build trust and foster a better working environment. Resilience is significantly correlated to EI which can help improve employee engagement thereby increasing productivity,  decreasing employee turnover plus reduce absenteeism. The ability to connect and engage effectively with employees as an employee engagement leader requires great self knowledge. A key approach is to practice mindfulness, compassion, self awareness with active listening. In addition, it is important to communicate effectively and recognize employees' efforts- get to know them and support them. Furthermore  leaders need to learn to accept feedback without becoming defensive and use 1-on1s to mentor and coach employees. 

Strengthening emotional intelligence involves active listening, empathy, and open communication, fostering a supportive atmosphere. Simultaneously, building resilience through a positive mindset, stress management, and adaptability empowers you to lead by example, navigate challenges, and inspire your team. By nurturing these qualities, you create an environment where team members thrive personally and professionally, contributing to a culture of growth and success.

A study conducted with one of Italy’s leading information technology, engineering and management companies, Svimservice, demonstrated that even a short training program for professionals working in a highly competitive and technical environment offers significant benefits in the development of emotional intelligence competence. After a two-day training, EQ scores increased significantly. Competencies such as knowing yourself, self direction and applying consequential thinking got the biggest positive change range.

Celebrate achievements no matter how small. Contextualise them by pointing out what challenges have been overcome in order to deliver them. Never accept ‘well that’s just what we do’ as an explanation. Often the pressure is to see where you are, where you’ve got to get to, and how you’re going to do it. However don’t forget to acknowledge how you’ve got to where you are. The journey you’ve been on. The bumps in the road that you’ve negotiated.

As an engagement leader, make emotional intelligence a priority by seeking out training and development opportunities to better understand your personal triggers and reactions. Set the tone by remaining calm and thoughtful even amidst uncertainty. Listen actively to employees with empathy and appreciate diverse perspectives when problem-solving. Offer supportive coaching on managing stress and share real examples of persevering through work adversity. Employees respect authentic leaders who grow in self-awareness and withstand choppy waters. Lead by example in continuously building your own emotional resiliency; your team will follow suit. Investing in EI growth for yourself pays dividends in inspiring others.

The empathy listening is a key to unlock people heart. Your eyes contact and all physical reaction are very important. When people speak out try not to judge,think about your experience or finding some good words to suggest them. But really listen with the empathy and gain more information and feeling as much as you can. Reply them with the soothing sentence first then provide the options (if they asked for). I think it's a good empathy way of listening. Sometimes people don't want the suggestion but the good listener who understand their feeling.

Start your 1:1 discussions with your team with ‘How are you?’. Listen to their replies. Take an interest. Follow up on what they tell you either privately or openly (if appropriate). By doing this what you’re implicitly telling your team is ‘Yes the work is important, and we’ll come to that, but let’s talk about you first. Because that’s MORE important, and impacts work anyway’. Otherwise you’ll talk about work first and possibly make judgements that aren’t fully informed because you don’t know what else is going on in people’s lives.

Leading with empathy in a professional environment involves actively listening to your team, understanding their perspective, and showing genuine concern for their well-being. It means creating an open and supportive space where team members can share their thoughts and challenges without fear. Empathetic leaders provide assistance, recognition, and respect work-life balance. By practicing empathy, leaders foster strong relationships, promote open communication, and contribute to a positive and productive workplace.

Short and sweet: Leading with empathy goes hand in hand with fostering a culture based on psychological safety. You can really succeed one without the other

First you have to create for your team to be able to grow and learn is psychological safety: that internal feeling that nothing will happen to you if you share your thoughts, you bring 100% of yourself to your job, you openly ask and give feedback, you make mistakes and share it and what have you done to solve it,... Psychological safety is a must if you want your company to thrive and grow in the middle of this fast pacing economical, social and environmental change.

Promoting learning and growth as a leader involves fostering curiosity, providing resources and mentorship, setting clear expectations, offering feedback, encouraging challenges, and recognizing achievements. Lead by example, embrace collaboration, and create an environment where failure is a chance to learn. Personalized development plans, autonomy, and regular check-ins also empower team members to acquire new skills and drive their own growth.

To build resilience and psychological safety, it is important for a leader to be vulnerable. Vulnerability humanizes leaders, encourages risk-taking among team members which leads to more creative teams.

I feel that more training on EI is needed throughout organizations. Many leaders do not fundamentally understand it or its importance for themselves and those they are mentoring.