Misconception of emotions can many times be the cause of an inability to perceive other’s outward expression of feelings. Although some will, many people will not outwardly tell you what they are thinking. Emotional Intelligence is the ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions. Not only will it help you perceive other’s thoughts, but it will help you to control your own emotions so that you can respond properly to the situation at hand. In IT Support, you will have to deal with many problems and people. With many different issues and people comes a variety of emotions and situations that will come into play. Emotional Intelligence is one of the key features to meet another person’s needs both emotionally and with the problem they have with whatever they may be coming to you for. Being aggressive when someone is upset is an example of a wrong interpretation of emotion. There are four key branches of emotional intelligence for one to follow in order to deal with a problem properly.
Perceiving Emotion
Reasoning with Emotions
Understanding Emotions
Managing Emotions
Perceiving emotion is the first step in understanding emotions. This may involve understanding body language and facial expresses as well as how people are wording themselves and expressing their concerns with their situation.
Reasoning with emotions is the second step. Certain emotions garner our attention and change how we react to them based on that. Aggression or crying must be reasoned with properly and in a mature fashion. We cannot outwardly act on the emotion, especially if it will cause even more problems.
Understanding emotions is the third step. Emotions can carry more then one meaning. For example, your significant other crying may be because they are upset over something you did; They can also be crying in a overjoyed manner because you did something amazing. An observer must observe ones behavior and attempt to figure out why they are acting this way. Assessing the situation properly will help in choosing your response and gestures wisely.
Managing Emotions is the last step in Emotional Intelligence. Regulating emotions, responding appropriately and responding to the emotions of others are all important aspect of emotional management.
Cherry, Kendra. “Emotional Intelligence | What It Is and Why It Matters.” About.com, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
With knowledge on what Emotional Intelligence entails, we are able to understand the basics of understanding someone’s emotions to a problem. IT Support Specialists are not only there to fix the problem, but to provide quality customer service as well so that the people calling will feel as if they can rely on the service that you are providing them. If you come off as rude or unsympathetic of the person’s situation, they may ignore your service and possibly report you. This could lead to disciplinary actions and you could possibly get fired all because you did not want to give up some of your time to properly respond to someone’s need for your help. Communication is of the the key features to becoming an IT Support Specialist, you must be able to respond properly and helpfully to anyone in need. Emotions are used constantly for people to express themselves, many people can stay composed while others can become overemotional when a problem stems. It is your job to calm them and try your best to solve their problems. Not only is this present in IT but in many other jobs as well, and managing your own emotions as well as perceiving others emotions correctly can give you the headway to handling these situations.
