Social awareness is a vital Emotional Intelligence skill, especially in a workplace undergoing change. At its’ core, it involves recognizing and understanding the emotions of others.
It’s important to identify and understand the emotional state of others during change. This gives you better insights on how to help and guide them through to adoption and sustainable change.
5 Tips to identify and understand emotions:
✅ Watch for the emotional cues beyond their words. Listen to their tone, pace, volume of their voice.
✅ Pay attention to non-verbal cues like body language, facial expressions, and gestures. People often express emotions physically even when they don’t verbally.
✅ Put yourself in their shoes. Empathy helps us understand the emotions behind others’ actions or words.
✅ Encourage others to express their thoughts and feelings by asking them open ended questions to get more insights into their emotional state.
✅ Be receptive to what others are feeling without judgment. This helps build a trusting environment where emotions can be expressed freely.
Identifying Specific Emotions:
👀 Fear. Usually indicated by increased nervousness, avoidance behaviors, a hesitant tone of voice, or a tendency to be unusually quiet or withdrawn.
👀 Resentment. This might show up as sarcasm, passive-aggressive behavior, reluctance to cooperate, or subtle negative comments.
👀 Anxiety. Signs include restlessness, excessive worry, difficulty concentrating, or being easily agitated.
👀 Anticipation. Look for energetic body language, an engaged and forward-leaning posture, eagerness in tone, or an increased willingness to participate.
👀 Confidence. Typically, confidence is expressed through direct eye contact, assertive speech, a firm stance, and decisive actions.
👀 Satisfaction. Indicators include relaxed body language, smiling, a calm tone of voice, and positive feedback.
Everyone expresses emotions differently, so it’s important to consider the individual context and not jump to conclusions based solely on observable behaviors.
Building relationships and understanding personal communication styles can greatly enhance your ability to accurately read emotions.
Have you noticed any of these emotions in someone recently? Which one? How could you tell?
#ChangeManagement #EmotionalIntelligence
How socially aware are you? Are you picking up what others are putting down?
