Five to Thrive 11/4/2019

UMD’s Thriving Workplace Initiative is making the University of Maryland a great place to work by providing tools and support to foster engaged, inclusive and empowered faculty and staff across campus. 

Each Monday, its Five to Thrive list offers five strategies crowdsourced from research, experts and our own UMD community to help your workplace thrive. 

How’s your EQ? Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to recognize and understand emotions, then use that information to guide thinking and workplace decisions. Here are some tips to boost your EQ at work: 

• Watch your “emotional wake.” How people feel after they interact with you can make or break your impact in an organization. Manage negative emotions by understanding what fuels those emotions and regrouping before they take hold. If you’ve already taken casualties, circle back and be transparent. An explanation and apology can go a long way. 
• Don’t personalize it. A negative interaction with a colleague can smart, but chances are, it has nothing to do with you. Considering a different perspective before you react can help you view the situation more objectively. While you may be tempted to think a colleague is snubbing you if they don’t say hello in the hallway, think about what might be going on behind the scenes (even better, check in with them later).
• Pay attention to how you’re feeling. It’s easy to lose sight of our emotions when we’re busy, but then we risk missing critical information. Take the time to recognize your emotions, how they manifest and how they impact your behavior. Doing so will make you more adept in managing them.
• Learn from adversity. When experiencing a challenge or disappointment, frame your emotions by asking what can you learn from it, what’s important right now and what’s the next step. The perspective (and planning) can be the difference between hope and despair.   
• Manage your stress. If you feel overwhelmed, discouraged or just stressed out, get some air or take a walk. Make sure you’re getting regular exercise and downtime outside of work. Most importantly, don’t keep it to yourself—ask for help when you need it. 

Want more tips? Visit the Thriving Workplace Resource Library here or sign up for Food for Thought Friday, which delivers strategies to your inbox each week. Send an email to thrivingworkplace@umd.edu with the subject listserv to subscribe.