Introduction
The intelligence cycle spans different kinds; Social Intelligence (SE), Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and the basic Intelligence Quotient (IQ). As humans, it’s expected to attain an average level of all as a balance of these intelligence forms an all-around effectiveness of mental acuity. Emotional intelligence (EI), as compared to its counterparts, is one of the most delicate forms of intelligence because half of the time, during application, there’s a submerge of the other two kinds of intelligence to achieve desired result. This article, therefore aims at diving into how business coaches navigate emotional intelligence with their clients to spark long-term interpersonal relationships and create meaningful impact in their respective careers within the bustling city of Lagos, Nigeria.
Emotional intelligence can be defined as the expression of intelligence that deals with emotions objectively and subjectively. It’s the control of one’s emotions and the deliberate control of asserting actions in specific time according to people, organizations and other entities including animals. Popular psychologist, Daniel Goldman defines emotional intelligence as the ability to identify, understand and manage the emotions of self and that of others to ensure compatibility. It’s composed of four major components: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.
To breakdown: (I) Self-awareness explores getting an inward awareness of self and determining temperament type. When this knowledge is identified,it would help tailor the dealings of people to avoid escalation of heated moments. (II)Self-management stretches the management of self after identifying the temperament and emotional scope. This management is an intentional effort geared towards successfully cohabiting and relating with people regardless of your emotional frame. (III) Social awareness x-rays the information you get about different people and their different mental phases. This awareness enables you to carefully engage people in order to meet a common ground. This awareness guides one to be socially intelligent, acting according to norms or beliefs of a given place and being sensitive to cultures of different people. (IV) Relationship management is the overall application of all other core parts to develop and enhance relationships with people. Emotional intelligence is generally tied to being sensitive enough to key into the emotions of others whilst trying to retain relationships for a long-term benefit.
In the context of business coaching, emotional intelligence is the needed skill for coaches to channel accurate empathy, communicate sensitively, build rapport and create a safe environment for clients to dive into thoughts and their respective aspirations. Emotional intelligence offers a strong impact on both the “coachee” and coaches when it comes to business coaching. Through the acquisition of emotional sensitivity, communication cues are clearly analyzed and this helps to address concerns empathetically and accurately. Trust is another beautiful legacy of emotional intelligence being that an emotionally intelligent person isn’t the one that jumps into radical conclusions, they listen and constructively adjudge.
An emotionally intelligent coach should be nestled into a strong adaptive and empathetically equipped base. Dealing with clients as an emotionally intelligent coach, the need to be flexible to adapt to dynamic clients would be a walk in the park because of the background knowledge and understanding about the diversity of clients. This links to being empathetic enough with these clients so much that these clients build very strong connections that leads to the state of overwhelming influence being on a personal level. Once clients get to liaise with coaches on a personal level, it’s already a sign of successful collaboration as there’s an assurance of continued business.
Recent studies have shown that clients are more likely to exhibit traits such as improved self-awareness, enhanced resilience, and increased goal attainment when under the tutelage of coaches with high levels of emotional intelligence. ICF recently conducted a survey on the importance of emotional intelligence and the survey posits that 90% of coaches who are emotionally intelligent has better chances to experience success in their coaching endeavors and this is in correlation of the findings of Journal of Applied Psychology that perceives emotionally intelligent coaches to be more effective and credible amongst their competitors in the industry.
Cues for Emotional Intelligence
- Cultivate Self-Awareness: Here, coaches need to travel down an intrapersonal mode to unravel personal interests. There’s a need to engage in sole mindfulness and self assessment to reflect on an individual journey to know what could sum up as triggers and blind spots in order to profoundly tailor self interest to the betterment of clients.
- Empathy: In simple terms, this is the fitting of oneself into the shoes of others as it could go a long way to the way situations are handled. Coaches are encouraged to actively listen and constantly validate the feelings of their clients as that would make them feel understood. This skill should be adequately groomed as it helps aid emotional intelligence.
- Practicing Emotional Regulation: Emotions are in ranges, this sometimes comes unexpectedly or mostly unplanned. The spontaneity of emotions is a weakness coaches ought to transform as a technique for regulating emotions and ensuring composure at all times. Activities such as deep breathing, visualization and cognitive review can help the realization of emotions to be appropriately regulated.
- Enhance Social Awareness: Diversity amongst clients is a factor that needs to be recognizably considered by coaches. This involves the observation of cultures and specific values of given people on how they think, react and perform in specific climes. Coaches are therefore encouraged to constantly embrace differing perspectives of clients and tailor coaching experiences to fit individual social settings.
Conclusion
Emotional intelligence is a transformative force, this power should be fully harnessed by business coaches as it drives excellence, trust, positive change and growth in the world of business coaching. Ultimately, emotional intelligence stands as a veritable tool for coaches to imbibe, creating long-lasting effective coaching experiences with clients that elevate their creativity and investments in the business industry.
Oladipupo Timothy Clement is a highly accomplished Real Estate and Business Coach with a career spanning over two decades. He is the Founder and CEO of Lifepage®️ Property & Investments Limited, a leading real estate company in Nigeria.
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