The Empathy Advantage: Elevate Your Impact with Emotional Insight

Want to stand out as a leader? Learn how sharpening your emotional radar can help you connect, communicate, and inspire.

Emotions are your body’s way of communicating important information to you, such as what you need, what is important to you, what your values are, and what action (if any) you need to take. Making emotions work for you, or being emotionally intelligent, involves understanding and managing your emotions, as well as recognizing and influencing the emotions of those around you.

Why is EI important in the workplace? Well, because it is now widely recognized that high levels of EI are related to better communication, better performance, and better leadership at work. Luckily for us, emotional intelligence involves a set of skills that can be practiced and cultivated. One such skill, social awareness, involves becoming more aware of the emotions of others on your team and within your organization.

Here are some tips to help build your social awareness of emotions:

Practice empathy by making a commitment to understand others’ emotions, needs, and perspectives. Empathy can help us form strong relationships with colleagues, mentors, or clients.
Don’t assume. Humans are complex and emotions can be complicated and nuanced. Making assumptions about how others are feeling can sometimes get us into trouble. It may be helpful to instead ask that person more directly how they are feeling about a situation.
Take another perspective. Imagine what another must be feeling by picturing yourself in their shoes. Or, ask your colleagues and friends how they might feel in a similar situation.
Zoom out. Strong emotions can zoom us in on one micro element of the situation, causing us to lose perspective. Try “zooming out” so you are better able to see the whole picture, including what others’ around you might be feeling.

Dr. Natalie Ferreira is a Clinical Psychologist at Laksman Doell Psychology. She has a passion for helping individuals to increase their emotional intelligence at work and in relationships, so they can lead more enriched and fulfilling lives.