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Having spent a career focusing on human behavior, it’s practically essential for anyone working with people to have an understanding of emotional intelligence, in Shimp’s opinion. First posited by Daniel Goleman in his book titled the same, Emotional Intelligence has embodied an intuitive skill set in understanding what people are saying without using words every day.
Jason Shimp says that those who tune into that language have found it essential in reading people, even when they may not even realize how they are sending off signals themselves.
Jason Shimp has had to focus repeatedly not just on what people say in his profession, but also on what they are not saying verbally. Those cues in body behavior such as movement of the eyes, hand positioning, arm, and leg placement, breathing and so much more tell volumes about what might be going on in a person’s head.
However, others have to be actively tuned in to looking for those signals, notes Jason Shimp. If not, the information is missed and lost.
Too often, Jason Shimp notes, people tend to rely on two verbal channels only to know what people are thinking: the direct communication route and gossip. However, both can be manipulated and misrepresented. It’s quite easy for someone to say a whole lot of nothing and actually be entirely in another frame of mind.
Jason Shimp has found, however, when someone’s body behavior is observed at the same time they are talking, they tend to give away clues as to what the person might really be thinking. This can be useful, especially when one is trying to get a real answer from someone versus just a distraction. Jason Shimp has seen far too many characters over the years who are very good at lying, but not so good at covering up their unconscious twitches and mannerisms.
Emotional intelligence isn’t an easy skill to just pick up in 10 minutes. Jason Shimp has spent a number of years developing his skillset with practice, nuances, different scenarios in real-time application, and a lot of mistakes. A good understanding of emotional intelligence, Jason Shimp believes, comes with experience, especially when working in a particular career channel per se. The first few times will be awkward, and error-prone.
This is part of the learning process. Jason Shimp still remembers going through it, just like everyone else. However, over time the patterns become visible and apparent, and that’s when people learn how to use emotional intelligence effectively, Jason Shimp believes.
Most people go through the world fairly blind to how people really signal their feelings. And that’s exacerbated today by spending so much time communicating online. However, there’s still room for emotional intelligence.
Jason Shimp believes, especially with how much people found themselves viewing each other one camera in 2020 forward. So the skill remains valuable, even as times change and modernize again and again.
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This content is brought to you by Brandon Purdum.
Photo provided by the author with written permission from owner Jason Shimp.
