Shift Your Perspective, Shift Your Workplace: How Choosing Respect Affects Your Bottom Line
Wednesday, March 9, 2022 - Joe Kiedinger
In the early days of my Servant Leadership journey, I discovered agape. Agape is one of the Greek words for love. Yes, only one of—the Greeks actually have eight!
Now, don’t run off on me because you read the word love. This does pertain to the workplace.
Agape is a love unlike any others because it’s not one of feeling. It’s a love of choice. It’s a decision to say, I don’t see eye-to-eye with you, but I choose to respect your thoughts, what you stand for and who you are.
Take a moment and think about one of your most stressful regular interactions at work. That person who most grates on your nerves? Imagine if you were to shift your perspective about them. If you paused before you reacted and you chose to respect what they’re saying, how different would that interaction be?
It takes real emotional intelligence to override our gut instinct to judge the words and choices of others. Practice the pause and decide to respect them. Be willing to ask questions and seek to understand them.
It’s through emotional intelligence, the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions and the emotions of others, that we can measurably affect our business’ bottom line. Emotional intelligence helps us express our emotions, develop and maintain relationships, cope with challenges and make effective decisions. It has also been proven to be a key driver of job performance, effective leadership and overall well-being.
The World Economic Forum ranked emotional intelligence as one of the top ten most important workplace skills for 2020. By increasing empathy and compassion through emotional intelligence, “widespread change can be ignited throughout organizations via leadership and company culture,” according to C.E. Ackerman, MA in How to Improve Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace.
“Having high emotional intelligence also increases a person’s decision-making capabilities, ability to build and sustain relationships, deal effectively with stress and cope more effectively with the inevitable constant change in the workplace,” according to Ottawa University Online’s Why Emotional Intelligence is Important in the Workplace. People with high EI have a greater chance of accomplishing goals and objectives both at work and in their personal lives.
JOE KIEDINGER
ACTION PLAN: Practice your self-awareness this week. How do you respond to others? How do your emotions play into your decision making? We can help you get there even faster with our world-class Organizational Health curriculum.