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Dr. Shadé ZahraiDr. Shadé Zahrai

How to Improve your Emotional Intelligence (for career success) | Shadé Zahrai

Do you have this one skill that’s guaranteed to make you more successful, more productive, earn a higher salary and even make you a better leader? Emotional Intelligence is widely recognised as the most important indicator of performance and 90% of top performers score high in emotional intelligence (according to research from Talent Smart). In this video I share 3 strategies to hone your emotional intelligence skills to be able to position yourself for career advancement and leadership opportunities. 1 Become better at identifying your own emotional states. 2 Seek to Understand. 3 Focus on relationships. Let me know in the comments which was your favorite and which you found most relevant. 👇 ======================== Free training for professional women: https://www.shadezahrai.com/audio-training Find out more about Shadé, visit the website: https://www.shadezahrai.com Follow her on • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shadezahrai/ • TikTok:  https://www.tiktok.com/@shadezahrai • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shadezahraispeaker • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shadezahrai/   Join her private FB group for professional women: https://www.facebook.com/groups/neurofemina/

Dr. Shadé Zahraihost
Sep 3, 20209mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Three practical emotional intelligence strategies to advance your career faster

  1. Emotional intelligence (EI) is framed as a key predictor of performance and leadership potential, involving awareness, use, and management of emotions in yourself and others.
  2. The first strategy builds self-awareness by identifying your emotional “energy state” (positive/negative and high/low intensity) to create distance from triggers and choose better responses.
  3. The second strategy focuses on understanding others through non-verbal cues and curious, probing questions that uncover motivations and emotional drivers.
  4. The third strategy strengthens workplace relationships by managing your own non-verbal signals, using humor to reduce stress, and reframing conflict as a growth opportunity.
  5. The overall aim is to increase visibility as a strong contributor with leadership potential by making interactions more productive, empathic, and effective.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Emotional intelligence is a skill set, not a vague personality trait.

EI is presented as the ability to understand, use, and manage emotions—your own and others’—through emotional awareness, harnessing emotions for tasks, and regulation/repair.

Name and locate your emotion before you react.

In high-pressure or triggering moments, noticing what happens in your mind and body helps you move from automatic reaction to deliberate response.

Use the “energy plot” to quickly classify what you’re feeling.

Plot emotions by intensity (high/low) and valence (positive/negative or “empowered/not empowered”) to clarify your current state and decide how to shift it productively.

Ask “What triggered this?” to create distance from negativity.

Intentional self-coaching questions help you identify the source of anger/anxiety/sadness and reduce its control over your next behavior.

Understanding others requires listening beyond words.

Tone, facial expression, and other non-verbal cues can reveal emotional state changes, improving how you respond moment-to-moment in workplace interactions.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

What's the one skill that's guaranteed to make you more successful, more productive, earn a higher salary, and even make you a better leader? Yep, you guessed it. It's in the title. Emotional intelligence.

— Dr. Shadé Zahrai

The reality is that we're actually not particularly good at articulating what emotion we're feeling at any given time, which is a problem.

— Dr. Shadé Zahrai

Learning how to first identify your energy states allow you to then self-coach and ask yourself intentional and thoughtful questions like, "What made me feel this way? What was I triggered by?"

— Dr. Shadé Zahrai

And remember, there is no such thing as good or bad emotion. There are only good or bad reactions to your emotions.

— Dr. Shadé Zahrai

Separate yourself from the situation emotionally by taking a step back and realize that any conflict is an opportunity for you to grow as a person.

— Dr. Shadé Zahrai

Definition and components of emotional intelligenceEI and workplace performance/leadershipEmotional self-awareness and self-identificationEnergy plot (valence and intensity) for emotionsReading non-verbal cues and active listeningCurious questioning to uncover motivationsRelationship management: humor, stress, conflict reframing

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