WHY EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IS A VITAL COMPONENT TO HEIGHTEN AWARENESS
Posted on March 07, 2023 by mary jeanette cua, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
The article is about the importance of emotional intelligence to create awareness during the coaching process
“Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.” –Thich Nhat Hanh
Being aware is being able to know and understand one’s self. If a person is in a state of awareness, he gains a better understanding of himself, his values/beliefs, motivations, emotional triggers and responses. He is able to acknowledge and understand his emotions, how it affects him and his approach to life, situations and people. With these, he can manage stress and emotions better and make better decisions.
Awareness is directly related to emotional intelligence in the sense that an emotionally intelligent person is highly conscious of his own emotional states. Psychologists Peter Salovey and John Mayer defined emotional intelligence as the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions. Without emotional intelligence, it will just be difficult to experience awareness.
How does emotional intelligence affect awareness? Emotional intelligence affects awareness in such a way that a person who possesses a good degree of emotional intelligence becomes aware of his own moods, emotions and why he is experiencing such and in so doing, he is able to manage his behavior. He becomes fully aware and attuned to his emotional states making him able to manage himself better when faced with challenging circumstances and helps him develop intrapersonal skills which makes him flexible and open to change. He also becomes aware of other’s moods and behavior making him gain a better understanding of people and this helps improves his interpersonal relationships.
When it comes to coaching, especially in Transformational Coaching, raising the awareness of the client is very important in order for him to be able to have a clear understanding not only of himself and his emotions but also gain a deeper understanding of his issue, discover what lies underneath it and be able to process his situation in a deeply reflective manner. It is at this point when a transformative shift occurs and when it does, the client learns how to approach the situation in a way that brings about positive outcomes. When a client experiences a transformation, real and sustainable change can happen because it comes from within.
During a coaching process, emotional intelligence is a vital component to heighten awareness because both the coach and client should have a high degree of awareness in order for a coaching conversation to flow smoothly and for the coaching to be facilitated successfully. An emotionally intelligent coach is able to inspire reflection by asking the right questions and facilitating an open and safe space for the client. On the other hand, a client who possess emotional intelligence is more receptive, mindful and reflective thereby making it easier to create or heighten his awareness.
One of the important aspect in transformational coaching is the Awareness Conversation which aims to help the client determine the purpose and desired outcome of the conversation. This aspect expands the mind for significance, understanding and positive impact. It sets the tone for the whole coaching process so it is important for a coach to be able not only to create but to heighten the awareness of the client in order for the client to think clearly and reflect deeply which help him discover any underlying issues such as values and beliefs as well as possibilities which the client may not be initially aware of. For a coach to facilitate an effective coaching conversation, he must be fully present, build rapport and establish trust with the client. During the coaching process, he must be able to explore in order to discover any underlying factors that is holding a client back and to gain an understanding of how to move the client forward. All these are means to create or heighten the client’ awareness. This is why it is important for a coach to have emotional intelligence because in order to be fully present he must be aware and be able to manage his own emotions. To build rapport, he must be able to keenly observe a client’s body language so he can communicate better with his client. This allows him to have a clear understanding of a client’s experience, what he is going through and what is the core of an issue. With this knowledge, he is able to connect and efficiently guide his client in the coaching process. He is able to ask the right questions that will help expand or heighten the awareness of the client. On the part of the client, being emotionally intelligent will help him trust the coach and be open to the process. He will be able to connect with his feelings, creating an awareness and a clear understanding of his emotions and situation. He will have learning agility which will allow him to be flexible and open to change which in effect turn intention to action and enables him to make decisions that matters most and create a positive impact in his life which will then generate a transformation.
