Leading Top-Notch Teams: How Engineers Benefit from EQ

Engineering is one of the most challenging and technical professions out there.

People who pursue engineering as a career are tasked with looking critically and analytically at the world around them, and need to take multiple factors such as cost, safety, regulation, and practicality into consideration when planning and executing a project.

As a result, engineering is often considered to be a profession which lacks the need for emotional awareness, often to the detriment of the engineers and the teams they lead.

Engineers may be successful in completing their tasks and delivering projects that are on-time and on-budget, but often elements like giving constructive feedback, navigating interpersonal issues, and identifying when staff need assistance and guidance are often areas where engineers at a managerial level fall flat.

The solution? Investing in more Emotional Intelligence training.

By learning how to identify their own emotions and to heighten their awareness of how their staff feel and behave, engineers can learn to build and manage teams that are more adaptable and successful than ever before.
 

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is learning to be aware not only of your own emotions, but also of the emotions of those around you.

By developing a better understanding of your own motivations, needs, and challenges and how they impact how you behave and respond to challenges and conflicts, you can learn to manage how you react to stressful situations.

Learning how to harness the power of your emotions also enables you to become more sensitive to those around you. Managers who spend the time developing their EQ lead more successful teams who work more effectively together because they know how to guide, manage, and support those around them.
 

How does EQ Help Engineers Do Their Work?
 

The biggest benefit that many engineers see after developing their EQ is that they are able to manage and complete projects with significantly less stress and conflict than ever before.

By developing a deeper understanding of their own emotions and emotional triggers, engineers can become more empathetic to those around them. This, in turn, helps them be better managers by developing an understanding of what their staff need, and when they need it.

Engineering requires a high level of problem solving and technical thought, and often team members may feel as though they aren’t being listened to, or that another group member’s ideas are being chosen over theirs.

Engineering managers who develop their EQ can identify these sorts of issues at the outset, and can take proactive steps to guide the team in a positive and collaborative direction from the start. They also know how to respond to team members who may feel slighted or challenged without making them feel small, or unheard.

If a team member is holding the group back or acting as a source of drama or conflict, engineers who develop their EQ have the tools and skills to remedy the issue by working with the team member to keep them on track and from further negatively impacting the team.

By creating collaborative and positive team atmospheres using their EQ, engineers can build teams of individuals who work efficiently together.

Want to learn more about how Emotional Intelligence applies to technical professions such as engineering, and how you and your team may benefit from developing your EQ? Get in touch and ask about our 1-on-1 and group training opportunities.