Emotional Intelligence Series – Part 1

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In today’s world, now more than ever, creating extraordinary Customer experience is becoming an edge businesses have over competition, and has become critical for survival.

Because emotions play a great role in determining where, how and why a Customer buys or uses a particular product/service.

It is important that Service reps & Customer interfacing staff in any organization have some degree of Emotional Intelligence.

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to accurately observe, name and interpret one’s emotion as well as other people’s emotions, and the ability to use this emotional information to guide thinking, behavior and interaction with others.

Being intellectually capable is important in life, and just as well, being emotionally intelligent plays a great role too, and leads to better interpersonal relationships as well as “workplace success” (Mark Craemer – University Consulting Alliance).

Emotional Intelligence is what enables us to develop the following abilities-

  • (Self-Awareness) – Being able to accurately recognize and understand our emotions and how we react to them
  • (Self-Management) – The ability to manage, control and adapt our emotions, moods and reactions to achieve a desired result.
  • (Motivation) – Motivating ourselves by harnessing our emotions & taking appropriate action is a function of E.I (Emotional Intelligence).
  • (Empathy) – Understand the feelings of others, understand their emotions and making use of the information to relate with them more effectively.
  • (Social skills) – How to build relationships, relate with others, work as part of a team, lead, argue, and negotiate.

How Does Emotional Intelligence Affect My Service Quality?

Human beings usually make decisions based on emotions and then rationalize with logic (sorry I sound philosophical), being able to understand how people (Customers too) feel and why they feel that way will greatly impact on their perception of you (and your brand). The points below, are as a result of Emotional Intelligence –

  • Better Relationships with Customers and Colleagues: By being able to understand our own emotions and those of the people we interact with, we can communicate our feelings and ideas better, understand and relate better with people around us as well as being able to argue/criticize constructively.
  • Complaint Resolution: When we can discern people’s emotions and effectively & empathize with their perspectives, it becomes easier to effectively resolve their complaints, because we have a deeper understanding of their needs and desires, and how it accumulates to the complaint.
  • Success: Emotional intelligence boosts your ability to motivate yourself, this eliminates procrastination to great extent & boosts self-confidence. This means that you can delay self-gratification and see the long term outcomes of your decisions, improves individual focus and boosts success.
  • Stress Management: E.I. is vital for enhanced cooperation and team work, it helps us to better manage stress. And gives makes it easier to consciously alter our moods. (Thinking positive can perform wonders).

Simple Practices That Will Boost Your Emotional Intelligence

Pay Attention To How You Feel. Start right now, ask yourself – how am i feeling at the moment? (Happy, sad, indifferent, anxious?) And over the coming days, do this at intervals, this enables you to keep your emotions in check and understand what triggers certain emotions, and with practice it becomes second nature.

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How Are You Reacting To The Way You Feel? Emotions usually elicit one reaction or the other from an individual, you get hyperactive when excited or make sharp movements when agitated. How are you reacting to your emotions? This knowledge comes very handy in both work & interpersonal relationships.

Try To Respond Instead Of Reacting To Emotions. You can consciously respond to an emotion only by being aware of it in the first place. It takes a lot of conscious effort to maintain a professional composure when an irate Customer is yelling at you.

Start Practicing Empathy. Start with yourself, why are you feeling the way you feel at the moment? Are you disappointed? Or are you feeling slighted? Usually the answer doesn’t come up immediately, but as you pay attention you begin to understand why you feel the way you at certain times and this would come in handy when you try to empathize with your Customers.

Emotional Intelligence is a life skill, it doesn’t just come in handy in Customer relations, but it comes into play in our personal, work and social lives. It is possible to keep improving our Emotional Intelligence quotient by regular practice.

While skills and experience may get you the job, Emotional Intelligence will ultimately determine how well you succeed and how far you rise in the organization.– Mark Craemer

 

Kelechi Okeke
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