How Emotional Intelligence Helps When You're Under Pressure at Work
How Emotional Intelligence Helps When You're Under Pressure at Work
One of the core competencies of emotional intelligence is learning the skill of recognising and understanding our emotions when they show up. In this post, I want to focus on recognising our emotions, because this is the very first step.
To recognise an emotion, we first need to feel it in our body. When that disturbance arrives, instead of reacting automatically, we pause and observe. Where am I feeling this? Is it in my stomach? In my chest? Around my heart? In my head? Where exactly is it showing up?
Once you've noticed where you are feeling it, ask yourself: What emotion am I actually experiencing? Is it hurt? Is it intimidation? Jealousy? Anxiety? Fear?
Simply naming the emotion helps us to see it more objectively. It creates a small but important distance between the emotion and ourselves, allowing us to observe it rather than become consumed by it. This is the beginning of developing emotional intelligence.
The next time you notice an emotional reaction, perhaps you're sitting in a meeting and someone says something that catches you off guard, or you're having a conversation with a colleague and something they say creates a disturbance inside you, pause for a moment. Notice what is happening within you. Is your chest tightening? Is your heart beating faster? Do you feel a hot flush rising through your body? Is there a knot in your stomach or a heaviness in your chest?
Before doing anything else, simply ask yourself: What emotion am I feeling right now?
This is where emotional intelligence begins—not by changing the emotion or trying to make it disappear, but by recognising that it is there.
In my next blog, I'll explore the second part of this process: understanding what your emotions are trying to tell you, the message they carry, and why learning to listen to them can transform the way you lead under pressure.
My coaching 1:1 programs and Group Leadership Programs focus on helping you develop your emotional intelligence (EI) by teaching you tools and strategies so that it becomes one of your core leadership pillars to support you to lead with clarity, calmness and confidence.
Warmly,
Johanna