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Emotional Intelligence at Work
Scenario: Sandra is asked to do a presentation on behalf of her
department to 40 high-ranking managers. Understandably, she feels
nervous.
Sandra’s Response (low 'EQ'): 2 weeks before the presentation,
Sandra notices that every time she thinks about it, she feels nervous.
She takes this as a sign that she is going to do badly, with the
following results:
The closer the date comes, the more nervous she gets, disrupting
her eating and sleeping patterns and making her feel bad generally.
Her preparation is disorganised due to the level of anxiety she
is experiencing.
Every time she imagines doing the presentation, she sees it going
horribly wrong, therefore preparing to fail.
When the day comes, she feels terrified right up to the time she
comes to speak.
Although the first few minutes are awful, after a while things get
better. She is pleasantly surprised.
Due to her nerves beforehand, her memory and recall is not working
as well as it can and she has to refer to notes more often.
There is little humour in her presentation as her anxiety made it
impossible to see the funny side of anything!
At the end of her presentation, she is so astounded to not be dead,
she forgets to thank her team.
(Note: If the above has left you feeling a little queasy, check
our Public Speaking Tips
for comfort.)
OK, so maybe I played it up a bit for effect, but you get the picture.
And although there are other factors involved, the initial interpretation
of feelings of anxiety is a key point here. Good emotional intelligence
training teaches skills to identify and manage emotion appropriately.
Next, EQ
