The Benefit of Social Awareness to Emotional Intelligence
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The Benefit of Social Awareness to Emotional Intelligence

|Apr 10, 2021
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Sharpening your social awareness for emotional intelligence is an asset to any employee in an organization. It is not something for management to work on while subordinates unknowingly practice insensitive behavior towards each other and those whom they report to. Social awareness skills should be developed even beyond the concept of the workplace.

Those who lack them tend to have functional issues in various facets of life. That is why it is crucial to find adequate resources to learn how to develop social awareness for emotional intelligence.

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While more apparent factors, such as lack of a proper ergonomic office chair or a height adjustable standing desk may seem like they require more immediate attention, motivate your remote team to practice social awareness as a point of importance too. These physical factors can indeed affect productivity. However, the solutions to them tend to be just as clear-cut as the problem is. Additionally, the said solutions are usually one-off actions.

However, there is a difference when emotional factors alright play. Not only may you be unable to understand why situations do not work out as well as they could, but there is the possibility of a negative impact on the business because of the less-than-ideal interpersonal relationships in the office. 

What Is Social Emotional Intelligence?

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The concept of social awareness for emotional intelligence in business is not too different from the default principle of social awareness. A socially aware person is cognizant of actions and other interactions and the wider effect that they may have. Therefore, social awareness in business is understanding the weight of your words and actions and being considerate of the impact that they may have on others in the workplace.

Not having this skill set in your arsenal can make you an incredibly tone-deaf person who goes on without any measure of emotional intelligence or accountability. 

Types of Social Awareness

While emotional intelligence for physical workers is vital, one could argue that emotional intelligence for remote workers is even more important. These people must function without the benefits that a physical workspace offers. So, there is a lot of room for communication breakdown, especially from an emotional perspective. Here are the types of social awareness that come together to make up this concept. 

Emotional Self Awareness

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Emotional self-awareness is the closest type to the general meaning of the awareness concept. To do this effectively, you must first understand yourself. How do you feel in various situations, and what does that mean for the way you operate when placed in them? Once you understand this, you bring external persons into the mix. For context, an external person is anyone who is not you. So, for everyone else, you must pay attention to how your actions and speech affect their feelings in the workplace. 

Humility is another important element here, as losing it is going to cause you to put yourself on a pedestal. The moment you start doing that, others are going to feel below you. 

Motivation

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Motivation is arguably more important for those in a leadership position than it is for those who are not. It is one type of social awareness for emotional intelligence. Even so, you can encourage healthy competition, positive work culture and a will to be better in your colleagues without being a manager or supervisor. However, you must master the art of self-motivation first. Inspiring people and getting them to feel excited usually comes from healthy respect yielding commitment to purpose.

So, if you are going to be centering others’ focus, you must center your own first. When done well, motivation can help you to boost employee self-esteem

Empathy

Empathy

Do not ever make the mistake of becoming a parochial person. Even if you are right now, put the necessary effort in to change that. Empathy is what allows you to make an allowance for other perspectives, even if you do not fully understand them. Only in doing this can you truly encourage others to behave openly toward you. 

Cooperation

Cooperation

Cooperation is all about understanding the necessity and power that comes within the context of a team. There are two layers to effective cooperation. One is individual while one is not. On the individual side of the spectrum, everyone must be acknowledged as unique and talented. Therefore, putting in the effort to understand each other's strengths can go a long way in effective planning. It helps to build social awareness for emotional intelligence.

On the team side, it is the shared understanding that all members are a single link of a more powerful chain, which means that they can achieve greater things when pulling in the same direction. 

Self-regulation

An important type of social awareness for emotional intelligence is self-regulation. It is paramount to keeping you from knowingly or unknowingly engaging in abusive behaviors towards your colleagues. As far as regular workers go, the danger that they can create lies within offending others and alienating team members, which may make collaboration a bit difficult. Managers have a bigger problem, as a lack of adequate self-regulation can lead to authoritative abuse. Not only does this stifle productivity, but it also removes the elements of motivation and respect that a team should have for its leader.

Benefits of Individual Social Awareness to a Group

Benefits of Individual Social Awareness to a Group

So, when all these social awareness skills are adequately developed, how does this benefit the organization? Why is it that everyone should be encouraged to grasp this concept? Well, consider the following benefits: 

  • A greater understanding of each other makes for better interpersonal relationships. 
  • Feeling like the team is a safe work space, which lends itself to more realistic expression, even when managers are in the mix.
  • People are more motivated and feel human, which makes them more willing to work with the group.
  • Grievances between subordinates can be handled better usually since there is more understanding in the equation. There should also be fewer grievances overall.
  • The rigid line between manager and subordinate that sometimes discourages excited and productive behavior is removed.
  • Management of team members and delegation becomes less difficult as people are more receptive.

How to Enhance Social Awareness Skills

How to Enhance Social Awareness Skills

Managers need to do their best to support subordinates in getting them to understand and incorporate social awareness skills in the workplace. Here are some measures that can be taken to achieve this outcome: 

  • Enrolling employees in sensitivity training.
  • Creating a supportive organizational culture of understanding and open discussion. 
  • Arranging more team-building activities. 
  • Using constructive criticism to curb undesirable behaviors. 
  • Address issues with a calm mind and balanced perspective to lead by example.
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