On part 1 of Emotional Intelligence for developers, I talked about self-awareness and self-management. Today, I will talk about the other two traits: Social Awareness and Relationship Management.
- Social Awareness: this trait refers to your ability to understand other’s context and emotions. This is composed of sub-traits like compassion, generosity, sympathy, etc. Needless to say, any professional should have social awareness. Period.
Signs that you do not have social-awareness:
- You cannot understand the emotional point of view of others
- You seem to be uncaring regardless the situation
- You dismiss emotional clues
What can you do to improve your social-awareness?
- Focus on understanding other’s emotions
- Pick up emotional clues
- Understand the emotional dynamic of an organization and its employees
- Relationship management: As developers, having good relationships is essential for our job. We often interact with stakeholders, SMEs, program managers, and business managers. Having relationship management allows you to communicate, interact, inspire and influence others. This is a win-win situation.
Signs that you do not have relationship management
- You can’t get along with most of your team or coworkers
- You always work alone and get annoyed if you get a partner
- You don’t manage conflict well
- Interpersonal relationships are awkward for you
What can you do to improve your relationship management skills?
- Communicate clearly
- Lead by example
- Stand firm on your ethics and principles
- Manage conflict in a healthy way
- Inspire change and initiatives
Here’s an e-learning module that will explain these topics in detail https://www.arturoaguilera.net/portfolio-items/emotional-intelligence-module/
Happy Learning!
The views expressed in post are solely of Arturo Aguilera and do not represent the views of any organization or individual.
Emotional Intelligence – Part 2