Social Intelligence

Essential for inter-personal fluency

Social intelligence is the ability to understand, interpret, and effectively respond to the emotions, intentions, and behaviors of others in social situations.

It involves:

Reading social cues (body language, tone, facial expressions)
Showing empathy
Communicating clearly
Building and maintaining healthy relationships
Adapting your behavior to different social contexts

Competence in this area makes the most skilled negotiators, and the most successful salespeople. Understand this new critical competence and participate in practical applications such as role play simulations to enhance this vital skill.

Influencing Skills

Influencing Skills as part of social intelligence is the ability to positively affect the thoughts, behaviors, or decisions of others through communication, credibility, relationship-building, and strategic persuasion — without relying on authority or force. Effective influencing skills is essential to gain buy-in at work, build stronger relationships, lead more effectively and to resolve conflicts smoothly. At the IE Group, we will create role play simulations to record your style and provide you with repair strategies to refine your skills in this area.

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Listen with the intention to understand, not to reply

Real listening requires understanding. Avoid formulating your response in your mind while the other person is still speaking. Your non-verbal signals will not lie. If you have ‘checked-out’, it shows through your body language.

Understanding is a prerequisite to influencing

You need to understand where the other person is coming from in order to influence them. Different people are motivated by different things. Understand what their reason or motive is and speak to this when wanting to get buy in.

Pay attention to what isn’t said

Look for clues that provide insight into how the person is feeling. These clues could be in their facial expression or body language. If what they are saying and how they are displaying this is inconsistent, you may need to reflect, clarify and adjust your responses accordingly.

Show empathy

This is perhaps the most important factor in connecting with others. People want to feel understood. They want to know that you get where they are coming from and that you can relate.

Communicate

People are not mind readers, your empathy and concerns are lost if it is not felt. Use your words and your actions to show how you feel.

Through increased awareness and application of these principles you will be able to engage more effectively with others and improve your relational power.