How to Boost Emotional Intelligence
In today’s fast-paced world, success is not just about being smart. You also need to know yourself and connect with others.
This skill is called emotional intelligence (EI). People with strong EI can manage their emotions, build positive relationships, and handle challenges with confidence.
The good news? Emotional intelligence isn’t fixed — you can improve it with practise. In this article, which is a part of our Emotional Intelligence hub, we’ll explain what EI is and why it matters. We will also share practical steps to boost your emotional intelligence in everyday life.
What is emotional intelligence?
Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to understand, use and manage your own emotions. EI is explained through different models of emotional intelligence and comes with a lot of benefits. They include:
- Building trust and strong relationships
- Achieving career goals
- Making informed decisions
- Helping you connect with your feelings
- Succeeding at school and work
Studies also show that emotional intelligence accounts for nearly 58% of success in all types of jobs. This makes it a stronger predictor of performance than technical skills alone.
What are ways to enhance emotional intelligence?
Ways to improve and develop emotional intelligence
The good news is that emotional intelligence can be learnt. Gaining certain skills will increase your emotional intelligence.
Continue reading to discover what components of emotional intelligence are.
Self-awareness
Self-awareness in easy language means knowing yourself well. Some self-awareness skills include:
- Understanding your feelings (knowing when you’re happy, sad, angry, or stressed).
- Noticing your thoughts and how they affect your behaviour.
- Being aware of your strengths and weaknesses.
- Understanding how your actions affect other people.
To become self-aware, you must learn how to identify the emotions you experience.
Self-aware people recognise the link between their feelings and actions. They tend to be confident, have a good sense of humour, and are aware of how others view them.
How can you build your self-awareness? Try to:
- Learn new skills on your own or through training
- Meditate and practise mindfulness
- Focus on your passions
- Keep a journal
- Find healthy ways to manage stress
- Pay attention to your thoughts and emotions
- Reflect
- Set goals and build a growth mindset
Social skills
Having developed social skills is a great step to improve your emotional intelligence.
Having a high EI is not just understanding and managing your emotions. It also involves using it in your everyday interactions with other people.
Communication and active listening skills will help you interact with others and build relationships with them.
They are also important in the workplace, where strong social skills help teams succeed. At work, leaders with high EI use social skills to build good relationships with their teams. According to Forbes, 90% of top performers have above-average emotional intelligence. This shows how emotionally intelligent leaders pave the way to success.
Employees also benefit by getting along well with their leaders and co-workers.
👉 Interested in how emotional intelligence affects leadership? Read our guide on emotional intelligence in leadership to see how these skills shape effective leaders.
Tips for improving your social skills include:
- Show interest in others
- Listen to others and ask follow-up questions
- Improve your eye contact
- Ask open-ended questions
- Practise your social skills
Self-regulation
Highly emotionally intelligent people know how to manage and regulate their emotions.
Bottling up emotions is not effective. Instead, you should wait for the right place and time to express your feelings.
When you master this skill, you will see that your flexibility will improve. You will also get better at resolving conflicts and tough situations.
Ways to strengthen your self-regulation include:
- Improving your communication skills
- Learning healthy ways to manage difficult emotions
- Thinking before you make an emotional response
- Practising taking deep breaths
- Viewing challenges as opportunities
- Working on accepting your emotions
- Learning to speak about your emotions
Empathy
Those who want to develop their emotional intelligence need to focus on empathy. It means understanding how someone else feels and taking an interest in their feelings.
People with high empathy can sense who has the power in a relationship. They can also interpret situations.
Practical ways to strengthen empathy are:
- Listen to others
- Talk to new people
- Try to imagine yourself in somebody else’s shoes
- Volunteer
- Share your feelings
Motivation
Those who are emotionally intelligent are motivated by achieving their goals.
They feel a sense of fulfilment when they achieve the goals they set for themselves.
Those who are highly motivated are always looking for ways to do better and they are good at taking initiative.
How can you boost your motivation? Try to:
- Challenge yourself
- Set realistic goals
- Start with small goals
- Try to achieve goals with another person to help you stick with it
- Celebrate achievements
Self-reflection
Self-reflection means looking closely at your own thoughts, opinions, and actions.
Imagine stepping back and seeing yourself from the outside to understand why you think or react a certain way.
Those who practise self-reflection can spot their own biases and make better decisions. They can also understand how their opinions may affect others.
Self-reflection also helps you understand how your emotions affect your choices.
For a structured approach, explore our guide on measuring emotional intelligence.
What are ways to enhance your self-reflection?
- Consider other viewpoints before deciding
- Make a note of your thoughts in a journal
- Ask for feedback from people you trust
- Be open to changing your mind
How ISM can help you build emotional intelligence in Dubai
If you are looking to improve emotional intelligence in Dubai, our experts can help.
At ISM Dubai, we offer dedicated emotional intelligence training programmes designed to:
- Strengthen self-awareness and self-control
- Improve effective communication and teamwork
- Build empathy and stronger workplace relationships between team members
- Enhance leadership and decision-making skills
With years of experience training Dubai’s workforce, we understand the importance of EI in today’s business world.
According to research, companies that invest in emotional intelligence training see numerous benefits. They include up to 50% more productivity, a 29% rise in profits and better teamwork.
Contact ISM Dubai today to learn about our emotional intelligence training programmes. Start building a stronger, high-performing workforce.
FAQs
Yes, emotional intelligence can improve with age. Remember to keep learning from experiences and paying attention to your emotions and relationships.
You can strengthen them by listening carefully and noticing how others feel. Reflect on your own emotions, practise kindness, ask questions, and stay open to different perspectives.
Set personal goals and focus on your values. Remind yourself why growth matters and celebrate small wins to stay motivated.
Emotional intelligence helps you understand and manage your feelings. This makes it easier to learn from experiences and improve yourself. This self-awareness and control support personal growth in both life and work.
Yes. Become more self-aware, practise empathy, and work on your social and communication skills.
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