Emotional Intelligence is the ability to make your emotions work for you instead of against you

“In order to have anything like a complete theory of human rationality, we have to understand what role emotion plays in it.” – (Herbert Simon, American Nobel Laureate scientist) At the point of decision, emotions are very important for choosing. In fact, even with what we believe are logical decisions, the very point of choice is arguably always based on emotion. As Dr. Simon and others have pointed out, emotions influence, skew or sometimes completely determine the outcome of a large number of decisions we are confronted within a day. 

Therefore, it is important for all of us who want to make the best, most objective decisions to know all we can about emotions and their effect on our decision-making. People, who are emotionally intelligent, don’t remove all emotions from their decision-making. They remove emotions that have nothing to do with the decision. The secret to making smarter decisions that aren’t swayed by your current emotions, particularly when your emotions are unrelated to the decision at hand, could lie in emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is a term used in psychology to signal the ability to identify and control both your and others’ emotions, and to apply that ability to certain tasks. 

Decisions, especially decisions involving risk, are often guided by emotions, such as anxiety, that in fact emerge from completely unrelated events. Emotionally intelligent leaders are less likely to make a mistake with “incidental” anxiety because they recognize the irrelevant source of their emotions. Leaders can also help others reduce the impact of incidental anxiety by simply pointing out the true source of their emotions. Leaders who perceive and relate to the emotions of those they direct are going to be seen as more caring and understanding leaders. Leaders who can better manage their own emotions will also develop more positive relationships with subordinates and superiors. 

Finally, emotionally intelligent negotiators have been proven to be more effective. Only when we see this final result can we effectively utilize knowledge of emotions and feelings in the decisionmaking process. Instead, if we try to understand that any particular emotion, say, disgust, will result in a feeling of, say, “loathing” or “judgemental” or “detestable,” then we can better evaluate the matter and take the better action. Leaders must not allow incidental emotions to colour their decisionmaking, especially involving risks. Leaders are often warned to pay attention to assumptions and biases. 

Ways to make emotions work for you in decision-making process: 

•Name what you are deciding. 

•Recognize and name all feelings you are experiencing in connection with the decision. 

•Bring your feelings inward to identify its root cause (an emotion). 

•Process that emotion, not one of its symptoms (a feeling). 

•Be aware of whether you want to make a decision from this specific emotion or if you want to adjust the course. 

Of course, you also need to do all the usual things you frequently hear about as conducive to objective decisionmaking, such as avoiding making decisions when you are tired, stressed or being influenced by non-objective actors. Nevertheless, identifying the root or emotional basis of your feelings will go a long way toward improving your decisionmaking.