Hi, and welcome back to my YouTube channel.
I'm Anne Koopmann, a leadership coach, facilitator, lecturer, and speaker,
and also the host of the Lead Like YOU!
podcast.
I empower emerging leaders and small business owners to lead with
impact, courage, vulnerability, strengths, and emotional intelligence.
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In today's episode, we're going to talk about how we can use emotional
intelligence to communicate with impact.
Let's get started.
When we talk about impactful communication, what does it actually mean?
Goleman defines impactful communication as an effective give and take.
Two people who are able to contribute to the conversation.
It's the ability to clearly state what we want, to communicate our needs
and our motivations and our opinions.
But also the ability to listen properly to what the other person
has to say and their point of view.
It's about using empathy to understand their point, to
understand where they're coming from.
And it's about coming to a compromise where both parties feel accepted and part
of the discussion and the resolution.
To communicate effectively, we have to be receptive for good and bad news.
We have to stay objective and be open to take information in.
So how can we use emotional intelligence to communicate with more impact?
Let's talk about the definition of emotional intelligence.
And emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize our own
emotions and the emotions of others.
And then furthermore, to manage these emotions so that they don't
have an impact on our behaviors.
And be able to manage relationships effectively and
motivate ourselves and others.
So how can this help us in communicating effectively?
One big competency of emotional intelligence is self control.
And this is really important because it let's us manage and control our emotions.
If we lack this competency, then we might not be able to enter any
conversations in a neutral state.
We might already be in a bad mood.
We might already be frustrated or very stressed.
And by going in any situation with these negative emotions, it will hinder our
capacity to truly listen and to truly stay open and receptive to the other
person's opinion and point of view.
You want to enter a conversation in a neutral state, and that will allow you
to have a good, strong posture as well, to be confident and relaxed and to show
the other person that you're truly there and present and ready to listen to them.
That's so important about communication.
Furthermore, emotional intelligence or self control allows you to
not get flustered in the moment.
Let's say you're in a communication.
You hear something that you didn't expect.
If you lack self control, then that might actually really kick you out of balance.
And you might react in a way that is not as professional or
might ruin the relationship.
If you have self control, you can stay calm and react
in a very reflective matter.
You can look at the information that you just received and then start to
rationally think about the best response.
You can manage and purposefully change the way you respond to make
sure that the conversation doesn't get out of hand or conflict arises.
Another way that self control can help you, is to help you level your nerves.
Because if we're nervous, when we go into a conversation or a presentation or a big
speech, we might end up talking really, really fast or mumbling our way through.
But if we can manage our emotions, if we can manage ourselves, if you can take
a deep breath and be relaxed, then we are able to communicate really clearly.
And we're not gonna have any kind of risk of not bringing
our message across properly.
Another really important competency of emotional intelligence is empathy.
With empathy you can actually listen and be curious to hear what the other person
has to say and refrain from judgment.
And that is really important because if we listen and we judge the person
and what they say at the same time, we're not objectively open to really
listening to what they have to say.
So we have to use our empathy to keep a curious mind and stop ourselves from
judging the other person too quickly.
Empathy allows us to truly tune in and really start to listen to
what the other person has to say.
Where are they coming from?
What's their motivators and the drivers?
What is their emotional state?
Starting to really understand who they are and what they want to achieve.
You can adapt your language and your body language to the
person that you're talking to.
And that's really key and important because it again, lets you tune in
to the person and build a really rapid connection straightaway.
If you're managing a bigger team or if you're entering a big meeting
room empathy, let's you read the room within a few seconds.
So you really know really quickly how to change your approach. Do you need to lift
the mood, use a little bit of humour?
How do you bring the people along the journey with you and inspire them?
That way you can also make sure that you truly address the needs of your
audience to really understand what they need and what motivates them.
And you also know how much to say and when maybe to not speak at all.
The third component and competency of emotional intelligence I want
to talk about is the social skills.
And that's your relationship building skills.
How do you invest and build these relationships to truly engage
in meaningful communication?
How can you inspire the person and how can you make them feel truly special?
Whoever you speak to should leave the conversation feeling like they
were the most important person in the world to you right now in that moment.
To make sure that you were fully present and fully understood
their needs and their motivation and where they were coming from.
Investing in the relationship.
Remember it's a give and take And that will allow you to inspire
and to truly share your vision with that group or that person.
Emotional intelligence allows you to say what you want to say, to
speak clearly, and to make sure that your voice is heard as well.
It's so important that you build your confidence to speak up and voice
your opinion and voice your ideas.
And emotional intelligence allows you to not be too pushy.
To be assertive, but not aggressive.
By tuning in to the other person, using your empathy, by managing
your own emotions, and by building relationships, you are able to bring
your point across, convince other people of your idea and stay confident while
building trust and strong relationships and inspire others for your ideas.
I hope that you found these tips interesting.
Let me know in the comments what resonated the most with you.
And I'm looking forward to seeing you in the next episode.
Make sure that you subscribe and give a thumbs up.
And I see you soon.