You may not have thought about it, but emotional agility greatly influences your professional life. This is because it concerns how quickly each person deals with their internal world, such as anger, envy, jealousy, etc.
For example, have you ever heard the expression ”make lemonade out of lemons”? She shows how understanding and quickly accepting negative feelings helps with professional performance. After all, this can be directed towards more positive behaviors at work.
Also, consider that recognising strengths quickly can be a differentiator in the market. This is because it is possible to have more confidence and strive to enhance these qualities and stand out.
Are you curious and want to know more about emotional agility and how it influences work? Continue reading and stay informed!
What is emotional agility?
Emotional agility is the ability to know and manage your emotions quickly. In other words, the concept is similar to emotional intelligence , but it focuses on how to control feelings with more productivity and awareness.
After all, the time needed to deal with these issues can mean lost professional opportunities and even losses in management. This is because the job market is educational and faces countless daily challenges,.
So, to deal with this reality, it is essential to be flexible and agile with emotions and thoughts felt. This contributes to a better posture when dealing with obstacles and overcoming challenges that arise.
The idea of emotional agility was developed by author Susan David. She states that putting this concept into practice in your work routine is essential to overcome challenges and feelings that tend to hinder professional performance.
What is the relationship between emotional agility and emotional intelligence?
Emotional intelligence and emotional agility are different concepts. However, they can be complementary, as they both impact an individual’s professional and social life. That is, with emotional intelligence, it is possible to control feelings. Based on emotional agility, this is done with greater flexibility and speed.
How important is emotional agility at work?
After understanding the definition of emotional agility, it is time to learn more about its importance at work. In this sense, imagine the professional scenario in which leaders and other employees are unable to control negative emotions, such as the uncertainties of the coronavirus pandemic.
This would possibly affect performance and the company would become more susceptible to financial crises, and even bankruptcy. This is because the lack of control of emotions increases insecurity, rigidity of thinking and staying in the comfort zone. Especially in times of crisis, getting out of this space by innovating and using creativity is even more important.
On the other hand, dealing with thoughts and emotions quickly and productively can be useful for professional performance. This contributes to the ego being controlled, as well as envy, anger, lack of motivation and other negative feelings. In the end, what matters most is the evolution of each person’s work.
How to develop emotional agility at work?
Did you understand the importance of emotional agility at work? To achieve this, it takes effort, as well as following some good practices. Stay with us and learn about them! Over time, you will see that it is possible to develop this skill and be more successful in your life.
Face negative thoughts
It is impossible to maintain only positive thoughts during work or in your personal life. No wonder: daily, you have to deal with countless obstacles and challenges that tend to be exhausting. So, running away from negative emotions and thoughts is not usually the smartest solution, especially when it comes to leaders .
In fact, this behavior can even demonstrate toxic positivity, in which it is necessary to pretend to be normal most of the time. As a consequence, this can cause frustration and anguish in professionals who cannot feel this way.
Therefore, face negative thoughts and encourage the members around you to do the same. Therefore, this feeling can be quickly managed and even help in making more rational decisions.
Emphasise positive thinking
It is not because negative thoughts need to be faced that they should stand out from positive thoughts. On the contrary, thinking positively helps emotions to be managed with more resilience and productivity. Following another path tends to generate frustration and insecurity.
Balance emotion and reason in decision making
Emotional agility is also beneficial in helping to make decisions that are more balanced between reason and emotion. This is because impulses, insecurities and other external influences can interfere in the decision-making process, which does not always have positive effects.
One of the ways to achieve this objective is to have well-defined professional values so that they guide actions. This is the case of ethics, effort, responsibility, commitment, loyalty, honesty, etc. So, if any decision seems to deviate from the defined values, it is possible that it is not the most appropriate.
Equalise challenge and competence
Another necessary balance when dealing with emotional agility is between challenge and competence. That is, countless obstacles can be overcome when the individual has technical and emotional skills in the area.
Therefore, in many situations, if an obstacle arose, the employee has the ability to resolve it. It is natural to feel insecurity and fear at these moments, but controlling such feelings and focusing on developing the necessary skills is useful for better performance in the processes.
