I mentioned in my last blog post that there are three critical steps in emotional intelligence:
1. Awareness + Listening to those around you
2. Communicating your emotion
3. Awareness and communication should lead to action
Let’s take a look at how those points work together.
If I’m a ship’s captain and the boat is sinking, what do I do? People are looking to me, as the captain, and asking, “is the boat sinking?” First, I’m aware, I know I’m scared, that’s vulnerability. I’m listening, I hear and observe the emotion of my crew.
Next, communicate that emotion to strengthen your relationship with your crew. I, as the captain, say, “Yes, it is.” But if I state just that, I’m going to have people jumping off the boat.
I have to add action to how I communicate, I say, “Yes, the ship is sinking, and here’s what we are going to do.” Now that I’ve walked this path ahead of my crew members and shown that I’m with them through this challenge, I’ve created harmony between my vulnerability and vision.
