Emotional Intelligence – Social Awareness Strategies 4/12/17

Emotional Intelligence – Social Awareness Strategies* Unlike looking inward, social awareness is looking outward to learn about and appreciate others; it is your ability to recognize and appreciate the emotions of others. The skill has many components including: listening, reading body language (particularly facial expressions) tone of voice and many other less tangible cues. To do this you will use your five senses and your “sixth” sense, your own emotions. The seventeen social awareness strategies are: Greet People by Name, Watch Body Language, Make Timing Everything, Develop a Back-pocket Question, Don’t Take notes at Meetings, Plan Ahead for Social Gatherings, Clear Away the Clutter, Live in the Moment, Go on a 15-minute tour, Watch EQ at the Movies, Practice the Art of Listening, Go People Watching, Understand the Rules of the Culture Game, Test for Accuracy, Step into Their Shoes, Seek the Whole Picture and Catch the Mood in the Room. Of course most of these are not new, indeed Dale Carnegie and Emily Post both made careers out of teaching these principals. The book Emotional Intelligence 2.0 since it covers each of these in detail. ** Army Leadership Doctrine: From George Washington’s Rules of Civility to FM 7-21-13. DA PAM 600-60 and JPM-1 all these manuals are designed to guide leaders in the art of social awareness. These disciplines should be practiced (lived) at the lowest level so that they are not foreign to leaders when they reach senior levels. Please let me know if you have further ideas/comments on this subject. *This is a personal reflection on chapter 7 of the book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves – I heard Bradberry speak at an event called the Global Leadership Summit held in late summer each year. The next summit will be Aug 10-11 at 600 locations nationwide. ** For a religious thought on this reflection you may consider Proverbs 11:17 or for a spiritual one consult www.belief.net (search the term kindness). Thanks to all for thoughts and prayers during my emergency leave. My Mother-in-Law was promoted to heaven...Amen.