Relationship Management
Relationship management. Relationship management refers to our ability to communicate
clearly, maintain good relationships with others, work well in teams, and manage conflict.
Relationship management relies on your ability to use the other three areas of EQ to manage
relationships effectively. Take Caroline, for example. Caroline is good at reading people’s emotions
and showing empathy for them, even if she doesn’t agree. As a manager, her door is always open and
she makes it clear to colleagues and staff that they are welcome to speak with her anytime. If Caroline
has low EQ in the area of relationship management, she may belittle people and have a difficult time
being positive. She may not be what is considered a good team player, which shows her lack of ability
to manage relationships.
To increase our self-awareness skills, we should spend time thinking about our emotions to
understand why we experience a specific emotion. We should look at those things that cause a strong
reaction, such as anger to help us understand the underlying reasons for that reaction. By doing this,
we can begin to see a pattern within ourselves that helps explain how we behave and how we feel in
certain situations. This allows us to handle those situations when they arise.
To increase our self-management skills, we can focus on the positive instead of the negative. Taking
deep breaths increases blood flow, which helps us handle difficult situations.
