PERSONAL GROWTH by Anne Descalzo Workplace well-being begins with you Using emotional intelligence to cultivate wellness How are you? Think about your answer. Think about what you’d tell the person who knows you best – your spouse, partner, parent, best friend. In other words, be honest with yourself. How are you? Are you aware of how you’re showing up? Entrepreneurship can be overwhelming. The unique pressures mean many of us are constantly gunning, leaving little time to pause and take care of our mental and physical health. But we are whole people, and how we are present for ourselves has a real impact not only on our own wellbeing but also on the people who power our businesses. It’s no secret that showing up as whole people has grown increasingly difficult over the last few years, as countless headlines about workplace stress and burnout have shown. One recent study by Small Biz Silver Lining found that 75 percent of small business owners are concerned about their mental health, and 56 percent have been diagnosed with anxiety, depression or stress-related problems. Another study by Capital One Business found that nearly half of small-business owners reported experiencing burnout, characterized by feelings such as overwhelming exhaustion and negative attitudes. How business owners personally deal with the effects of these has a real impact on their workforce. If your schedule is overloaded you may be too busy to connect with those who need you for vital decision-making or sign-off, which can hamper business operations. Your inaccessibility may also create feelings of unease, lack of control and even fear in your employees as they try to make sense of your unavailability. If you appear consistently exhausted and overloaded, your employees might shrink back to avoid adding to your perceived stress, which leaves them feeling isolated and also hinders operations. Your stress can also affect your clients and customers. These consequences are why checking how you’re showing up is so important. Emotional intelligence and holistic well-being The path to a work culture of wellbeing starts with you as a business owner. It manifests through emotional intelligence – a critical interpersonal skill for leadership defined as the ability to understand and manage your emotions, as well as recognize and influence the emotions of those around you. While most of us have taken the requisite leadership and interpersonal assessments like StrengthsFinder and Myers-Briggs to determine our strengths and weaknesses as professionals, assessments about how we manage our emotions – how we effectively manage our selves – is considered less frequently. One reason is because we have long been conditioned to separate our professional selves from our personal selves. But when we compartmentalize the two – prioritizing the business self, because that’s what pays the bills, gets us ahead – then our humanness suffers. Bringing emotional intelligence to your entrepreneurship and leadership is key to cultivating a culture in which employees feel seen, appreciated and cared for as whole human beings. It also helps you develop a deeper connection to your own needs and growth areas so you can elevate your best self and foster your own well-being. Emotional intelligence comprises four core competencies: 1Self-awareness, which describes the ability to recognize your emotions. Do you tend to react impulsively versus respond thoughtfully? Or do you clam up and leave others confused about how to move forward with you? Honestly evaluate your emotions and ask trusted advisors to provide constructive feedback to help you gain clarity around how you are showing up. If you are able, hire an executive coach to provide a neutral assessment. Rawpixel.com / Shutterstock.com 62 enterprising Women
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