Business Communications For Emotional Intelligence And Success

Emotional Intelligence and Success at Work

Discuss about the Business Communications for Emotional Intelligence and Success.

Effective communication is the back born of every successful transaction between individuals and even corporate businesses.  Communication is the sharing of meaning putting in mind all the aspects of communication such as emotional intelligence, non-verbal cues, active listening and cultural considerations. Hence, possessing the mastery of these communication skills will ensure success at social and professional levels. This paper seeks to outline why emotional intelligence, active listening and assertiveness are critical to effective communication. Additionally, the paper will point out why ethos, pathos and logos and cultural consideration translate to successful oral presentations. 

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a crucial determinant of success in work life as people understand themselves and others compared to cognitive ability (IQ) that emphasizes on technical abilities. Goleman (1995, 1998) defines Emotional intelligence as the capacity to understand self-emotions, control them, motivate self, recognize other people’s emotions and handle personal relationships. Cohesive and harmonious relationship with people creates an environment for success in social and professional levels. According to Van Genderen (2013), emotional intelligence challenges the traditional understanding of IQ as the success assessor due to the capacity to manage self and others. Emotional intelligence encompasses self-awareness, and self-management; the ability to comprehend self-emotions and control them,  motivation; being guided by goals in life, empathy; being aware of other people emotions and social skills; managing people’s emotions in relationships (Goleman 1995). Adhering to all components of emotional intelligence will guarantee effective communication skills that are crucial in successful interactions in all aspects of an individual’s life.

Self-awareness includes establishing ones’ emotions, values and goals and, this guides the person’s conduct to achieve success. People high on self-awareness leads to better work performance through recognizing how their emotions affect themselves and co-workers (Lunenburg 2011). Being aware of the impact of personal emotions to productivity and work relationship helps people to focus on the positive emotions and evade portraying behaviors that affect personal and team performance. Additionally, self-awareness helps people to create goals and be honest with self; this builds confidence that translates to success.  Individuals with the abilities to manage self-emotions will make effective decisions guided by reason and not emotions. Khokhar & Kush (2009) argue that people with emotion regulation skills take the time to keep disruptive emotions away and embark on sound decision making. Success in life is guided by the choices people make and, possessing the abilities to make good decisions free from personal emotions will provide room for excellence.

Emotional Intelligence Influence on Active Listening and Assertiveness in Organizations

 Self-motivation capabilities allow people to use their self-emotions understanding to set and pursue goals in life.  Being high in self-motivation allows one to modify self-emotions and enhance their chances of succeeding in different activities. Empathy as an emotional intelligence component allows people to cater the need of others and ensure success in services offered. Empathy helps leaders to make decisions considering others people needs and emotions (Lunenburg 2011). The ability to understand others will enhance healthy relationships that are motivating and encouraging and, results to success. Social skills strengthen team relationships at work and ensure high-quality production. According to Khokhar & Kush (2009), people with abilities to manage relationship influence others to adopt their vision and motivates them to work. Hence, being able to bring emotional intelligence at work will guide relationship and overall business success.

Active listening and assertive communication can enhance how organizations top management and employees communicate through taking care of self and other people emotions and, composing a response that is mindful of others.  Active listening is accurately getting what is said and giving appropriate feedback. However, active listening can be distracted by the recipient emotions and, this will hinder effective communication. Emotional intelligence will help the organizations leaders and staffs to evaluate their moods and emotions to ensure they engage in active listening. Self-awareness will enable listeners to quiet their emotions to comprehend and assess the information (Kelly & Kaminskien? 2016). Managers who are aware of their feelings will be able to evaluate their state of emotions and, engage employees in a conversation when they are emotionally ready. According to Gerdes & Segal (2009), emotions such as anger and anxiety can diminish a person’s ability to listen actively. Hence, being high on self-awareness will enable workers to suppress emotions that can inhibit their listening skills to ensure they get the right information and give a valid response. 

Emotions in a conversation can tell what is not said and, being able to associate with the person’s feelings will enhance the understanding of the message. Employing empathy in listening enables the listeners to get the message accurately and interpret it rightly to give the best feedback (Jones, Bodie & Hughes 2016). Emotional intelligence will equip business leaders with the knowledge of employee’s emotions and, hence, be able to listen attentively. Gerdes & Segal (2009) note that empathy in listening builds trust, respect and encourages the speaker to reveal more information. Managers with the abilities to associate with their employees’ feelings will create a healthy working environment and, this will enhance the understanding of the message.

Aristotelian Rhetoric and Cultural Elements in Oral Presentations

Emotional intelligence will enhance assertive communication through a clear and confident state of personal opinions and feelings while acknowledging and respecting others feelings from the point of knowledge.  Being self-aware will enable the top leadership and employees to make decisions without emotional interference. Self-awareness reveals one’s feelings, values, and abilities and, guides the construction of valid responses (Ünal 2012). Assertive communication allows people to state their opinions confidently and respectfully. Thus, an employee who understands himself will able to conceive a message that is considerate of his values and goals. Furthermore, empathy guides assertive communication due to the evaluation of other people’s feeling and needs.  Organizational leaders will be able to construct messages that are cognizant of their employee’s emotions, to ensure effective communication. Hence, emotional intelligence will guide active listening and assertive communication that are crucial in a communication and, enhance meaningful interactions in formal communications in organizations.

Aristotle arts of Public Speaking help speakers to build credibility and successfully persuade the audience to adopt their messages. Ethos in persuasive speaking concentrates on the speaker’s authority and knowledge on the topic. According to Murthy & Gosal (2016), ethos encompasses the speaker’s character and perceived trustworthiness by the audience.  Moreover, the speaker’s credibility is enhanced by the similarities between him and the audience and his reputation. Oral presenters must appear credible in the eyes of the message recipient to ensure the audience is attentive and anxious and participate in the presentations. Speakers with high ethos draw the audience attention through expectations of valuable information (Tropiano 2006).  A speaker will be more compelling and have high chances of succeeding when he appears credible before the audience. Pathos in public speaking concentrates on the speaker’s ability to connect with the public emotions. 

Pathos is the appealing of the audience psychology and getting them to the right emotional state (Murthy & Gosal 2016). Speakers who employ the use of pathos can appeal to the audience to take the advocated initiatives to achieve or evade the elicited emotions in the talk. Tropiano (2006) notes that appeal to emotions enhance the audience comprehension of how the topic affects them directly and, give them the reason to act.  A speaker who appeals to audience emotions portrays what the members of the audience will feel when faced with similar situations. Hence, a persuasive speaker will be successful when he shows the emotional state the audience will be in when they adopt the message.

Use of logos in public speaking refers to the rational argument employed by the speaker to support his advocated points of view. According to Smith (2004), pathos is the showing of truth in the speaker’s message through substantive arguments.  Speakers should give evidence to the audience to prove the case in the topic. Speakers who employ logic in their presentations speakers have high chances of influencing the listeners to their directions. Human beings make decisions by use of information that makes the most sense (Tropiano 2006). Hence, supporting claims with facts and rational arguments help the speaker to persuade the listeners.

Cultural backgrounds play a crucial part in the delivery of oral presentations. Individualistic and collectivist culture as noted in Hofstede’s intercultural model affects communication apprehension and how the speakers engage the audience. According to Croucher, Sommier, Rahmani & Appenrodt (2015), speakers from individualist culture will focus on their needs in the presentation while speakers from the collectivist culture will strive to cater for the groups need. The individualist experience low communication apprehension as they endeavour to meet their needs and engaging in self-satisfactory activities during the presentation. However, collectivist culture speakers’ will concentrate on the audience needs and be sensitive to their perceptions which result to communication apprehension.  Hence, individualistic and collectivist cultural elements affect public speaking anxiety and the level of audience engagement.

Conclusion

Consequently, Emotional intelligence (EI) is a key determinant of success in life due to the ability to understand and manage self and others. E.I guide people’s personal and working relationships that translate to the effective conduct of business. Moreover, Emotional intelligence will enhance formal communications in organizations through active listening and assertive communication. Managers and employees will be able to listen undisrupted by emotions and respond fully aware of other’s feelings. Oral presenters should employee ethos, pathos and logos to build their credibility and persuade the audience through emotional and logic appeal. Additional, public speakers must be aware of their cultural dimensions such as individualistic or collectivist cultures that affect oral presentation. Thus, incorporating emotional intelligence in communication is crucial in social and professional life.

References

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