Why is Emotional Intelligence key in Coaching?

Coaching is a discipline created to develop strategies that allow us to face challenges with personal and professional development, and a good part of this has to do with being able to manage our emotions and modulate them appropriately when relating to others. the rest.

This area of ​​life is one that is dominated by a set of skills known as emotional intelligence; Let's see why it is fundamental in the work of coaches.

The importance of managing emotions

Blaise Pascal, French mathematician and philosopher, said that “the heart has reasons that reason ignores” almost four hundred years ago. The sometimes conflictive relationship between our cognition and feelings has been the subject of interest of different disciplines throughout history.

Today, we know that Our emotions are adaptive and universal internal experiences that have helped the human species survive the natural and social environment.. Without anxiety, there would be no one to alert us that we should devise a future strategy to obtain food; Without love, we would have no warning about the need to reproduce. Over time, as a result of the evolutionary developments of our brain and the increase in complexity of our language, the possibility of developing conceptual relationships increasingly more abstract. This allowed great advantages, such as the fact that from our thoughts we could anticipate hypothetical events, but it also allowed us led to erroneous interpretations and triggering emotional responses even in circumstances that do not pose a literal risk to our lives.

On the other hand, in our daily lives, in a world permeated by communication massmedia, hyperconnection and consumption norms, the stimuli to which we must adapt have changed drastically. So much so that it is not strange that, suddenly, we feel that we are being deceived by them and we lose sight of what is happening inside us, specifically on an emotional level. The psychological construct of emotional intelligence is one that states the value of being able to perceive our emotions and thus act accordingly. And, despite being an abstract concept, having greater emotional intelligence has concrete repercussions in our daily lives; as we will develop in this article.

• Related article: "Emotional management: 10 keys to master your emotions"

What do we understand by emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence is a psychological concept that has acquired unexpected popularity in recent years. Emotional intelligence is talked about in the media, magazines, social networks and by word of mouth as well. This does not have to be problematic in itself, since through these channels there are many professionals who spread their knowledge to share it with the community. However, the information density can be overwhelming and, at the end of the day, many people could end up not knowing what emotional intelligence is.

The concept of emotional intelligence was popularized with the best-selling book by Goleman, emotional intelligence, but the expression had previously been used by many other authors such as Payne, Beldoch and Leuner. Among them, Meyer proposes a definition for precise emotional intelligence, conceiving it as the ability to perceive, assimilate, understand and regulate one's own emotions and those of others, promoting emotional growth and intellectual. Therefore, according to this definition, information from our emotions can be used to guide our thinking and behavior.

• You may be interested: "What is Coaching and what is it for?"

Emotional intelligence allows us to articulate thoughts and emotions

Emotions have immeasurable power over our thoughts; also vice versa. Being emotionally intelligent gives us the virtue of being able to reflect on our feelings. emotional states, interpreting them, and acting accordingly when we consider it necessary. In turn, some processes used in some psychotherapies, such as cognitive restructuring in cognitive-behavioral therapy, seek the modification of biased thoughts and beliefs in order to change the way we feel and behave, giving proof of this articulation between thoughts and emotions. This reciprocal relationship is possible, at a neurobiological level, due to the neuronal connections between our amygdala - responsible for providing responses rapid emotional reactions to information from the environment and to assign an emotional component to the information we store in our memory—and prefrontal cortex—which functionally houses thought activity, and manages, controls, and inhibits the behaviors carried out in consequence-.

Blaise Pascal's phrase with which we introduced the article does not have to apply in every situation. In truth, the fact that our reason is permanently opposed to the emotional states we experience (and even opposed to feeling them) can cause high levels of discomfort.

Emotional intelligence operates like a magnifying glass, since it allows us to expand our vision towards what we we carry within us and that, as much as it may feel unpleasant, it can bring a valuable message to us. Ultimately, being emotionally intelligent allows us to take charge and be the ones We decide what to do with what happens to us, instead of being guided by automatism and ignorance.

The effects of the importance of emotional intelligence in everyday life

Daniel Goleman proposed some areas of daily life in which the implementation of emotional intelligence is key. For example, at work, emotional intelligence would allow us to fully feel the pressures and frustrations we endure during work hours. In the short term, approaching emotions can be very unpleasant. However, it is an attitude typical of an intelligent person on an emotional level, since only by feeling what we happens, we can determine whether it is convenient for us to tolerate that pressure or take a different course in the future. labor. Again, here it is possible to notice the swing that exists between thought and emotion when there is high emotional intelligence.

Another area of ​​daily life in which emotional intelligence is key is the area of ​​interpersonal relationships.. This ability allows us to understand the feelings of those around us, empathize with them and their pain. Adopting this attitude will give us greater possibilities of living with others in a harmonious environment; also to accentuate our ability to work as a team. This is essential for work, but also academically and in family, friend or partner relationships.

Finally, the area that shines most when we develop high emotional intelligence is intrapersonal, since it allows us to make wiser decisions. Emotional intelligence gives us the ability to discriminate when it is necessary to act based on an intense emotion that we feel and, conversely, when it is better not to do so. There is a mythical phrase that states that “we are the sum of our decisions that we make every day,” and although it is possible to argue that we are much more That, without a doubt, being in contact with our inner world will fill us with experiences much more in line with the life we ​​want. undertake.

Do you want to know more about Emotional Intelligence?

As we have seen, emotional intelligence has become an important point in the field of behavioral psychology and more and more people are interested in knowing this topic in depth. concept.

Due to the high demand it presents, training courses have emerged in recent years that include Emotional Intelligence as the Postgraduate in emotional intelligence and self-knowledge for leadership or the Higher emotional intelligence course to combat stress of Mediterranean School of Psychology.

In addition, the Master in Coaching, NLP, Team Leadership and Decision Making has recently been updated. Decisions, one of the most complete of the Mediterranean School of Psychology, with a new module of Emotional Intelligence. Mediterranean School of Psychology has more than 50 online training programs for master's degrees, postgraduate degrees and courses and a wide catalog specialized in coaching. Become a professional in Coaching and Emotional Intelligence with the Mediterranean School of Psychology training.