This is a lovely blog from the HBR web-site: A Simple Communication Mistake.

Whilst the author writes about his ‘communication mistake’, what is interesting for me is how he then becomes aware of what he is doing as well as the anxiety he is feeling and then alters his behaviour.

I have to admit to a similar experience in teaching one of my kids to cycle in recent days. I had to manage my anxiety so I wouldn’t transfer it onto her and impact her confidence. We might not think this matters, but at one point I was holding her shoulders going around a bend and I was smiling. She could not see me as I was behind her, but she asked ‘why are you smiling?’ I was smiling with a sense of pride and she picked up on this – likewise she would have picked up on my anxiety.

Emotional Intelligence matters in every day life. Improving it can enhance working relationships and consequently improve performance. The great thing is that it can be improved and the first step is becoming aware of those emotions and checking them before we take action.

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