Carolyn Stern, Author at EI Experience

How To Get Out of a Rut

by Carolyn Stern | Apr 15, 2018 | Personal Development, Self-awareness

We have all had those humdrum periods—those times when we seem to be doing the same activities over and over, and we feel miserable and unfulfilled about it.

Perhaps you are bored with your life – there is nothing exciting on the horizon to look forward to, and you’re so immersed in your day-to-day grind that there is no time or space to bring some enthusiasm and spirit into your dull, monotonous life. In fact, you can’t even remember the last time you laughed and enjoyed yourself…you have even forgotten what makes you truly happy.

Or perhaps you are feeling burnt out on the job – you’re working your butt off, not seeing the results you want, and wondering if your hard work will ever pay off. That goal you have been stretching for seems insurmountable; you are starting to feel unmotivated, and are about to throw in the towel and say it’s not even worth trying to reach for it anymore. Then, we ask the million-dollar question: How can I move forward when I feel stuck?

The 3 tips for getting out of a rut?

Although, it’s not always easy, here are some to get you started:

1. Know What You Value

Walt Disney once said, “When your values become clear, making decisions becomes easier.” To avoid getting stuck in a mental rut, know what’s important to you. Until you know these guiding principles, you can’t live the life you were meant to. You need to determine what you truly believe in, what you would take a stand for, what you will say yes to whenever anyone is saying no…and once you do, you can then walk the talk, and live a life that’s in alignment with your core values.

2. Know What You Want

Sometimes we spend so much time going through the motions, we forget why we are even doing it all for. Then, we end up feeling mentally stuck. So, to snap yourself out of ‘auto-pilot’, remind yourself what are your future aspirations? What are your BHAGs – Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals? In their 1994 book, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, authors James Collins and Jerry Porras coined the term, ‘Big Hairy Audacious Goal’. A BHAG is a strategic statement used by businesses (similar to a vision statement) focusing on a medium- to long-term organization-wide goal. BHAG’s are generally audacious, and most likely questionable, to the outside world, but regarded as an aggressive target, but not impossible, to those within the company.

However, why can’t we use these gallant, strategic statements to shoot for the stars for our own personal goals, rather than just organizational goals? I believe we can and should. As an educator, I see all too often that our educational system focuses on learning techniques (the best ways to learn) or educational pathways (the right order to take courses in) on what works for, or is appropriate for, the ‘average’ student. This idea is the central premise of Todd Rose’s book, The End of Average: How to Succeed in a World that Values Sameness.

Do you remember the bell curve from school? The bell curve is the most common type of graph used to describe data distribution. The highest point on the curve describes the data’s most probable outcome, and all other occurrences fall equally on either side, creating two downward sloping lines from that top point, one line declining to the right and one to the left.

Once you know where you want to go, it’s a lot easier to decide the things you need to do, or don’t do, to get you closer to what you truly want. And why put limitations on your desires and goals? Dream big and then pedal hard. The only difference between ordinary and extraordinary is the extra. Are you willing to take the extra step that is going to make you achieve your wildest dreams?? If yes, sometimes only a little extra degree of effort can make a HUGE difference.

3. Know How to Have Fun

Sometimes we get so bogged down doing the wrong tasks, the things we have to do or don’t like doing, that we rarely have time for fun and play. So, think of activities you find fun – the things that truly make you happy. Not sure what fun looks like? Think back to your childhood. What did you love to do as a child? Inject some child-like playfulness into your daily activities. Studies show that learning and creativity are enhanced when we are having fun.

All too often we let what we do determine who we are. How many times do you find yourself in social settings, and once you move beyond the “Hi, my name is Carolyn”, the next phrase you say is “I am a ____________ (insert 9-to-5 job here)”. We, all too often, let our corporate roles define us, and/or allow people to make assessments of us based on what we do. Instead of saying “I am an accountant” for example, have you ever said “I am a parent of two wonderful kids” or “married to a fantastic spouse” or “an animal lover wanting to help those who can’t speak for themselves” or “a volunteer in the community”? No…we seldom, if ever, say those things. We invariably default to the title on our business cards, as if that is the defining label of who we are, and then act in that stereotypical manner within our social circles.

We need to find our fun, silly side. It’s ok to relax and let go and do the things that put a smile on our faces and those around us. It’s also ok to lighten up at work and smile in our job, as we go forward. Once we remember how to have fun and enjoy ourselves, then we can let who we are determine what we do and even how we are going to do it. In The Levity Effect: Why it Pays to Lighten Up, Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher share that humor in the workplace has many benefits, including employee satisfaction and loyalty, increased productivity, and innovation for a better workplace and higher profits. For other tips and tricks on how to better your wellbeing, click here for our free emotional intelligence tools!

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How to Avoid Decision Paralysis

by Carolyn Stern | Apr 1, 2018 | Corporate Culture, Decision Making

Have you ever found yourself lost for an answer when your friend simply asks you, “Where do you want to go for dinner?” There are just so many places to choose from. So, how do you make a better decision?

You could invite your friend to come over to your house, as your fridge is stocked full of fresh vegetables and all the toppings needed to make a great salad; but you also love the triple cheese, deluxe pizza from the pizza place down the street. Sometimes, you may even find yourself shrugging off the decision with no idea where or what to suggest. If this situation sounds like something you would find yourself in, don’t worry, you are not alone.

Simply defined, decision paralysis is the act of over-analyzing and overthinking situations to the point where no decision is made, and thus, no action is taken. And the fact of the matter is decision paralysis is more common than you think.

In today’s society, we are bombarded with choices upon choices, ultimately overwhelming us rather than simplifying our daily lives. Stepping into a coffee shop alone can inundate some people with countless choices to select from for a simple cup of Joe.

Alternatively, many of us have an incessant need to always make the ‘right’ decision. Our perfectionist society has not made this gnawing necessity any easier to overcome, as we have become conditioned to fear making a mistake and worse yet, fail.

Regardless of the reason, there are many causes of decision paralysis. Therefore, not only is it important to focus on what causes it, but also on how to manage it, and eventually prevent ‘decision-making stagnation.’

Almost everyone will experience a form of analysis paralysis in their career and/or personal life. Therefore, here are a few productivity tips that will help you get started on the path of making a concrete decision, and make whatever conclusion you choose, the right one.

Strategies for Overcoming Decision Paralysis

1. Prioritize The Importance of The Decision

Many decisions you have to make on a daily basis are not actually that important. For example, deciding where you want to go for dinner is probably not the most pressing decision you will have had to make in your day. Ever heard the saying ‘pick your battles’? Now relate that to your decision-making process. It is important to prioritize your decisions. Can you imagine a life where all your daily decisions required you to do extensive research? You would be exhausted by your first waking hour! That is why identifying and analyzing how important any given situation is, is critical when prioritizing decisions.

Decision Matrix

One way to do this is by creating a decision matrix. Developing a decision matrix, will help you evaluate and prioritize a list of options. “The matrix is useful for looking at large masses of decision factors and assessing each factor’s relative significance.” It forces you to brainstorm the criteria needed to make a good decision and then asks you to assign a relative weight to each criterion. Once you have weighed the criterion, it asks you to assess each alternative against the criterion and then multiply each option’s ranking by its criterion weight. The last step involves adding up the points for each option, and “the option with the highest score will not necessarily be the one to choose, but the relative scores can generate meaningful discussion and lead the team toward consensus.”

2. Set Goals

Setting goals is a major step in our decision-making process. Knowing what results you want is a powerful tool, and should be used when making a decision. One of the main reasons why some are so indecisive is because they don’t know what their end goals are.

Imagine someone waking up in the morning, getting ready, heading out the door, and aimlessly walking about – they don’t know where they are going, so they just walk for hours-on-end trying to figure out where to be and what to do.

Setting goals help us to narrow our thinking so we have a clear direction of where to go and what to do when we arrive. Remember to set S.M.A.R.T goals – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.

When our goals are unclear, analysis paralysis may occur because we have to overthink everything we have to do, rather than concentrating on the main objectives. Setting goals help clear our minds of external clutter, and instead, focus our energy on getting stuff done.

3. Set a Deadline

Setting deadlines, much like setting goals, is critical for preventing decision and analysis paralysis. Every day we are presented with decisions that need to be made. Some of these decisions are pressing, and some can be put on the back burner.

To make life a little bit less complicated, consider setting deadlines for matters that definitely require your final ruling. Setting deadlines that are closer in present-time, and have a definitive end-date, help accomplish tasks more efficiently because they take away any ambiguity.

In turn, this helps minimize the possibility of over-analysis and maximize productivity by urging you to come to a conclusion versus overthinking your choices.

4. Decisions are Often Not Permanent

No one is perfect; we all make mistakes. More times than not, decisions aren’t clear-cut with a right or wrong answer.

Comedian Louis CK puts an end to nagging decision-making obstacles by stating, “If you’re 70% happy with a decision, just go for it.”

Are you someone who overthinks certain matters that should only require a quick decision? If so, you are in good company.

It is important to remember, though, that sometimes, making a decision and having a final verdict is simply good enough. Spending more time on deciphering between choices can be a time sucker, and as Elizabeth Gilbert said “done is better than good.”

5. Take Action

There is no doubting the importance of mentally sifting through ideas and thoughts prior to taking action. Some, however, get stuck in this process. If you think of your mind as a power tool, imagine the countless possibilities that you could tackle once you find your mind’s additional source of power and potential!

When people get stuck in rehearsing their ideas in their minds, decision paralysis, inhibiting action, often occurs because ideas sit longer and longer, becoming stagnant.

Take action. Call up a friend, tell them your ideas – the more people that know about your ideas, the more you will feel accountable for actually taking action. The more you articulate your positions, the more energy you give them, and the more alive they will become. Making the decision to take action creates momentum for even more actions to follow. If you want to learn more about how to take action, we have a customized experience for you!

If you need help leading your organization to success, book a call with us here; we’d love to listen and provide support in any way we can.

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3 Strategies to Find Your True Calling

by Carolyn Stern | Mar 15, 2018 | Personal Development, Personal Growth

Have you ever felt stuck working the grind every day, going through the motions, checking off your mundane daily tasks from your to-do list, just to make it to your weekend? You know in your heart that the only way to get unstuck is to make changes in your everyday life for the things you’re passionate about, but you don’t know where to begin. You have been living one way for so long, but what is it all for?

Why are you working so hard? To retire? To travel the world? To make a difference? What’s your calling?

Often, people are willing to stick to what ‘society’ tells us we should be doing, because we have all bought into the idea of keeping up with the Joneses. We settle for what is easy, convenient, or popular. And although this makes our life simpler and a lot more predictable because others have followed this path before us, it has the dangerous potential to make us lose sight of what is truly important and unique to us.

Perhaps you are getting that paycheck at the job you don’t love, but the money is decent so you compromise yourself. You know your personal values don’t line up with the values of the company, and you sure as hell don’t love what you do, but you stay, because finding something else sounds irresponsible.

Now take a moment, take a deep breath, and think about it. What were you meant to do in your life? What is your true calling?

Taking the time to listen to and embrace what your inner voice is telling you is crucial. Give yourself the chance to find your true calling, before you come up with millions of excuses why doing so is a bad idea.

3 Strategies to Find Your True Calling

Commit to Making a Change

You know you need to make some changes in your life, and the good news is self-awareness is the first step. Once you know better, you do better.

After that awareness, comes commitment. “Commitment is the recipe for change.” Essentially, making a commitment to change any aspect of your life so that you can leave space and time for something better – to find your true calling – is the second step.

Once you make that commitment, the third step is you need a plan. It means making a promise to yourself to set a goal or a vision; to identify what your ideal you look like. Then, step four is to work your plan…work hard at it every day to close the gap between your current reality and your vision. It’s crucial to recognize that you may relapse into old habits and patterns, but remember to be kind to yourself if you do. You are human, and not perfect “Keep your eye on the prize”, realign yourself again, and keep working at your plan.

Don’t worry if your vision is not crystal clear. It does not need to be; but what you do need to start to think about are the things in your life that are going against or deconstructing what you truly desire, and then, quite simply, stop doing those things.

Remember To Do The Things You Loved To Before Getting Stuck

Before you landed the job that is now a co-dependent relationship that consumes your life and makes you drop all of your personal hobbies, what did you enjoy doing? What kind of activities did you participate in? What kind of hobbies did you have? What did you love to do before feeling lost and getting stuck?

Today, we put enormous pressure on ourselves to be better; whether that means to be better than our colleagues, our friends, and/or our family members. Constantly trying to outdo others eventually leaves us lost.

We forget about our personal hobbies because our significant other does not have the same passions as we do. We let go of our extracurricular activities so that we have more time to get ahead at work. No matter what the case, many of us compromise ourselves because we feel the pressure to please or surpass others – we forget about our needs, our desires, and our dreams.

Remembering the things you loved to do before getting stuck is an incredibly powerful step in finding your true calling. When you are mindful of the things that bring you enjoyment and self-fulfillment, it becomes clear what it is you truly want to do. Let yourself have fun doing those things, and stop feeling guilty about trying to find happiness.

Guilt should not creep in when we make time to do the things we love. When we let go of the guilt and give ourselves permission to be us, we find inner peace. When we take less time to think about whether or not we should or should not do something, and just do it, we make the time and space for ourselves to explore our endless possibilities. And when we allow ourselves that flexibility and freedom, we’ll be surprised at how happy we can become.

Learn to Say No

Often, people regard saying no as being inconsiderate or selfish. This is not the case. When you say no to others, it means that you are putting your best interests first, and there is nothing selfish about that. This is vital when trying to gain an understanding of who we are and what we want.

Airline crews always preach to passengers if there is an emergency on board, we need to put the oxygen mask on ourselves first before putting one on anyone else. When you learn to say no, you are respecting yourself by putting your needs first. When you don’t say no to others, their priorities get ahead of yours, and “you won’t be able to say yes to the really important things.” You need to invest in you, to figure out what it is you want and need to be to become the best version of yourself.

Setting boundaries and saying no to things gives you time and space to say yes to the things you love, and will lessen the chance of burnout. When you say no, you prioritize yourself – you have more energy to put into your personal and unique journey to self-actualization. And you are no good to anyone if you are not good to yourself; so be truly you.

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Why Emotional Intelligence is Needed in Leadership

by Carolyn Stern | Mar 1, 2018 | Emotional Intelligence, Leadership

From a very young age, we are taught how to read and write, we are taught about sciences, mathematics, languages, fine arts, and social studies. Unfortunately, though, we are not taught the fundamental skills of emotional intelligence (EI) – the ability to use the information provided by our emotions in an effective and meaningful way; to act appropriately in the face of daily challenges.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotionally intelligent individuals are self-aware, better able to regulate their actions, and have more empathy for others. An increased level of emotional intelligence can also help individuals manage stress better, build healthier relationships, be more effective at work, and be more fulfilled in general. Effective elements of leadership skills include these qualities and soft skills.

Increasing your emotional intelligence means increasing your emotional awareness of both yourself and others. People with high emotional intelligence are able to recognize and manage their own emotions while also being aware of and considering others’ feelings. Being in tune with how you are projecting yourself and how others perceive your energy is a good indicator of your EI.

Human Resources professionals insist that while a high IQ might get someone hired, a high EQ will get them promoted! Emotional intelligence skills are critical for career success – your attitude, your work ethic, your communication, conflict management, and stress management.

Consequently, why aren’t schools emphasizing these emotional intelligence skills in the classroom?

As a university professor, I see it almost every day. We, instructors, cause a lot of stress for our students, but we never think to teach them how to manage it. We put students in teams; but rarely teach them exactly how to work within those teams – or give them any guidelines on how to collaborate with others who have different personalities, communication styles, or cultures.

The same holds true in the corporate world. Corporations seem to expect people to know how to behave on the job. They assume employees innately know the importance of being on time, taking initiative, being friendly, thinking clearly under pressure, and producing high-quality work.

Why is emotional intelligence important in leadership? Not only is it an important skill to have if you want to be an effective and efficient leader because a “high EI is a [strong] predictor of success,” but EI has the ability to affect various aspects of your leadership role. “Being able to relate behaviors and challenges of emotional intelligence on workplace performance is an immense advantage in building an exceptional team.”

Leadership in today’s environment is all about inspiring, motivating, and igniting passion in others. This helps attract and retain top talent, in addition to increasing productivity. So, how do we coach people to inspire, motivate, and ignite passion? This is done through developing the skills of leading with emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence is important in being a successful leader because it helps defeat communication deficiencies that are detrimental to any group and team. When leadership roles are filled with individuals who are not yet emotionally intelligent, communication difficulties arise – team members are not heard, leaders are not able to adapt to individual needs, and messages are lost in the midst of the chaos.

Effective leaders are able to lead their fellow people by understanding their needs and reacting to those needs, not from raw emotions, rather, from self-awareness – “How are my verbal and nonverbal communication styles affecting my team?”

The following are the four key emotional intelligence skills you need to build and enhance to be an effective leader.

How Emotional Intelligence Affects Your Leadership Skills

SELF AWARENESS

Self-awareness is your ability to recognize, understand, and regulate your own emotions, strengths, and weaknesses. Being self-aware allows you to fully understand your personal values, beliefs, motivations, strengths, fears, and limitations. When you know what is important to you, and the external factors which challenge you, you will be able to react in a controlled manner, rather than blowing up without first assessing the situation. This, of course, is an integral characteristic of being a strong leader. There is nothing worse than being in a leadership position and projecting your insecurities to those who you are trying to lead; when you don’t truly know who you are and what you need to work on, the people who are following you will feel just as lost as you appear.

SELF-MANAGEMENT

As one of your major duties in a leadership role, you need to be able to foster a positive work environment. Being able to practice self-management means staying focused and composed when times are difficult and trying. This is another important characteristic that leaders need to have.

If you lose your calm and controlled demeanor when situations turn challenging and chaotic, your team members may feel and internalize your energy, and they can project the same disordered dynamic. Inevitably, a lack of self-management will affect your work environment in a significant way – remember, when people look at you as the leader of the pack, they turn to you for cues on how to react and how to respond.

SOCIAL AWARENESS

Being socially aware is having the ability to practice compassion. Though closely related, compassion and empathy show differences in their nature. Compassion is the ability to show concern with one’s suffering or needs, whereas, empathy is the capability to understand those feelings and appreciate them as if they were yours – putting yourself in others’ shoes.

Practicing compassion and empathy is imperative in any leadership role. It nurtures a sense of trust between you, the leader, and the individuals you are trying to lead; trust in a group strengthens your personal and collaborative relationships, positioning you in a role of strength.

HAVE WELL MAINTAINED RELATIONSHIPS

Emotionally intelligent leaders have well-maintained relationships. They are able to develop and maintain relationships both outside and inside their positions. Conflicts are inevitable. But how are you managing them? Are you a person who blows up and makes the situation worse? Or are you a person who acknowledges the situation and tries to mend the problem, turning it into something productive? If you are the latter of the two, then you are on the right track for exhibiting emotional intelligence. Leaders who are adept at this skill know that conflicts will arise undoubtedly. However, these leaders are able to push through the superficial issues and turn them around into a productive experience from which the entire team can benefit.

There it is, the four personal skills you will need to develop if you want to grow into the kind of powerful, yet personable leader you want to become.

Remember, as an organizational leader, you are leading people, and people have feelings. Ultimately, this means that you are also managing people’s feelings so they are able to produce quality work. By improving your emotional intelligence through the use of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and maintaining relationships, you are en route to honing your leadership skills. If you want more tips on how to Learn More. Be Better, check out our services!

If you need help leading your organization to success, book a call with us here; we’d love to listen and provide support in any way we can.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and Instagram to keep up with our latest blogs!

Emotional Intelligence Interview Questions

by Carolyn Stern | Feb 15, 2018 | Emotional Intelligence, Hiring and Recruiting, Interview Questions

Are you tired of having to constantly recruit fresh new talent? We spend significant resources of time and money in creating emotional intelligence interview questions for leaders because we all know that people can make or break our business.

Are you sure you are hiring the best people into your organization? Will these individuals stay for their entire careers? Will they be a catalyst that pushes your company past all of its competitors?

The answers to all of these questions are YES…if you are hiring emotionally intelligent candidates.

Recruiting Emotionally Intelligent People

We all know that the higher up the proverbial corporate ladder you go, the more important your emotional intelligence skills are. Unfortunately, when you are entering the job market hiring managers tend to stick to more traditional interviewing methods (such as one-on-one job interviews) and hiring techniques (such as ubiquitous series of interview questions).

As an HR professional, your goal is to improve the candidate pool and hire the best. You want the cream of the crop to pick your organization as their employer of choice to continue their career. However, during the traditional one-hour interview you do not always wean out the best of the best. So, why is that?

Well, potential candidates are often asked more interview questions relating to their IQ and technical skills, and very few, if any, EQ interview questions.

Although you might be hiring a recent graduate who was top of his/her class, you do not know if they have the emotional intelligence skills needed to lead teams in the future.

According to Daniel Goleman, “as a leader moves up in an organization, up to 90 percent of their success lies in emotional intelligence.” It’s an essential skill that in the past has been undervalued as a ‘soft skill’, but now these skills are at the forefront of great leadership. “The rules for work are changing. We’re being judged by a new yardstick: not just by how smart we are, or by our training and expertise, but also by how well we handle ourselves and each other.”

The Core EI Workplace Competencies

Richard Boyatzis has identified 14 core competencies that differentiate “outstanding leaders, managers, advanced professionals and people in key jobs” from average performers. Only two of these competencies are cognitive – the remaining twelve are emotional and social intelligence competencies.

So, ask yourself:

Are you tired of gambling to see if the up and comers you hired for their technical skills will have the talent and skills to provoke and ignite passion in others?
Will these candidates have the leadership you will be looking for later on in their careers?
How will you know if these individuals, as smart as they are, will have the skills to energize and inspire employees to make their best contribution to the organization?
Do they have the ability to motivate other great employees to stay?
Will they be able to keep all the best talent within your four walls?

Testing for Emotional Intelligence

Many hiring managers have a hard time constructing interview questions to test emotional intelligence and emotional self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Therefore many HR professionals fall back on trusting their gut instincts and subjective first impressions.

The secret to enhancing your HR techniques and practices and ensuring you are screening out the best of the best is to utilize a few emotionally intelligent questions throughout your interview process.

People who have low emotional intelligence do not understand or know how to manage their own emotions. Additionally, they also don’t know how to read emotions in others. This much is evident when we see employees struggling to deal with stress, overcome obstacles, or resolve conflict. We see people who struggle with emotional intelligence when they are negative, blame the system/process, are excessively entitled, point fingers at others, resist change, procrastinate, and/or are overly sensitive or critical.

Nowadays every smart or experienced candidate has figured out how to answer the basic interview skills questions. While they may be technically competent, it is your job as a hiring manager to move away from the traditional interview model.

The traditional interview model consists of probing individuals about their past experience, and/or coming up with hypothetical and situational questions about similar circumstances. To move forward, the interviewer needs to delve into the candidate’s views and awareness of themselves, particularly in relation to others. These questions need to be non-leading and open-ended behavioral questions…which can reveal a lot about a person’s emotional intelligence level in how they answer them.

This will allow a candidate to open up and offer their own candid perspective versus the scripted one they practiced to land the job back at home role-playing when facing the mirror in their bathroom.

Emotional Intelligence Interview Questions

Here are a few questions you can use throughout your interview process to gain a better sense of the candidate’s emotional intelligence level.

1) Can you tell me about a time when you made a mistake in the workplace?

An emotionally intelligent person takes responsibility for their mistake; the non-emotionally intelligent candidate blames others for the mistake. Someone who has a high EQ would know it is okay to make mistakes; sometimes that is where the most profound learning comes from. They would also acknowledge the error, learn the lesson, make adjustments, and share with others how to avoid making similar errors.

2) Share a time when you received negative feedback about your performance

The emotionally intelligent person is open to feedback, appreciates him or herself, and is self-aware. They would use this feedback as an opportunity to grow and develop. Someone who has low emotional intelligence would become defensive, offended, and perhaps shut down.

3) Can you tell me about a time when you accomplished something you were proud of, but required help to do it?

An emotionally intelligent individual would share his or her success. Watch carefully the word choices the candidate uses. If they use words like ‘I’, ‘me’ or ‘my’…they may be self-centered and ego-focused. If they acknowledge the team for their help in achieving the success the team had, they take into consideration the feelings and efforts of others.

However, be careful – it’s a fine balance of using ‘I did…’ to show leadership, versus ‘I did…’ to take all of the glory. Traditionally behavioral-based questions are intended to lead into the ‘I did….’, or ‘my involvement was…’ answers, but you want to see if the candidate can answer these types of questions in that fashion while including and appreciating the rest of the team.

4) Describe a time when you had to share some bad news with a colleague.

People with high emotional intelligence will display empathy in their delivery of the bad news. They would be able to share the news while staying composed and not getting enmeshed in the other person’s stuff. They can respect and appreciate the feelings of the other person, but they can separate themselves from that person.

These four interview questions on emotional intelligence are just a starting point; so use them as a springboard for coming up with more, or adapting these to better fit your needs. Either way, with a few good emotional intelligence questions spread into your interviews, you can start to identify the level of emotional intelligence the candidate holds.

If you are meeting with someone who can demonstrate self-awareness about their own emotions, positive or not, and those of others, then you are heading down the right path. Chances are these candidates can move past anger, doubt, and anxiety; and they are flexible, empathetic, and confident when working with others.

If you need help attracting and recruiting the right people for your organization, book a call with us here; we’d love to listen and provide support in any way we can.

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