E 2 - EI Team Tip #1

The podcast episode discusses the importance of building trust and emotional awareness within a team. Emotional awareness helps team members understand and manage their own emotions as well as those of others. Lack of empathy can lead to conflicts and mistrust. Developing empathy muscle through active listening, seeking feedback, and role-playing can help improve emotional awareness. Engaging in volunteer work can also foster empathy and understanding. Stepping out of one's comfort zone and embracing humility can contribute to empathy. I'm your host, Laura Perez-Earhart. Welcome to Coachonomics Presents Podcasts, a part of the ECS Network. This is our Mini Bites series. So tip number one is building trust and emotional awareness. So emotional awareness is the ability to understand and manage one's emotions and those of others. So when team members possess emotional awareness, they're better able to build trust within the team. And to build a foundation for emotional intelligence, a group must be aware of and constructively regulate the emotions of individual team members, the group as a whole, including other key groups with whom it interacts. So let's unpack this. Building a highly emotional, intelligent, and effective team begins by developing the empathy muscle. But let's begin with the barriers around the lack of empathy. In my years of executive coaching, I've heard and seen poor behavioral conduct, inexcusable rudeness, and explosive outbursts. This is where I've observed a major lack of empathy. Even if an individual or a team may deem themselves highly emotionally intelligent, there are those who have blinders on to their own behavioral issues and lack the emotional and social awareness that wreak havoc within their relationships with individual colleagues and their team. So when empathy is missing, it creates conflict, communication barriers, misunderstanding, mistrust, and even fear. So by increasing or developing that empathy muscle, emotional awareness helps team members understand the emotions of perspective of their colleagues. They see an experience through a different lens. And when team members are empathetic towards each other, they're more likely to build trust and rapport. And this is a great time where you as a leader can encourage your team to listen actively, for example, and attentively to others. This means paying attention to what another person is saying by maybe asking questions and show genuine interest in their thoughts and their feelings. So listeners, this means putting your distractions aside, including devices, and not being tempted to work or chat while somebody else is presenting or talking. This also demonstrates a mutual respect. So also, I know I'm asking you to go out on a limb and become a little more vulnerable here, but ask family and friends and colleagues for feedback regarding your active listening and relationship skills. And you might ask yourself, how can I improve? What opportunities did I miss? Also, additional ways to develop empathy is by role playing. Take the time to walk in each other's shoes. Engage in this exercise where the person has to take a perspective of another to understand their emotional awareness or perspective or how they might be feeling in given situations. There are so many different empathy exercises out there to help you and your team develop the empathy muscle, if you will. So also, if your organization is socially responsible and active in community work, volunteer work is a great way to encourage your team to engage in volunteering in their community. This provides opportunities to interact with other folks from diverse backgrounds and experiences, leading to greater empathy and understanding. So go ahead. I encourage you. Step out of your comfort zone and accept how helpless you may feel at a given time. Let it humble you. After all, humility can be a useful path to empathy. Thank you.