You’re having a bad day. That could affect the interactions you have with your colleagues.

But if you understand your emotions and how they impact you, it might allow you to turn unpleasant interactions with others into something positive.

“Emotional intelligence is a critical component to leadership development. It’s about self-awareness and self-management,” says Brandi Stankovic, chief marketing officer at CU Solutions Group. “Strong leaders recognize the impact emotional intelligence has on their own communication and social capacity. And our ability to manage and recognize our own emotions helps us better facilitate and empower the emotions of other people.”

Knowing your emotions, the triggers that activate those emotions, and how those emotions affect your communication with others and decision-making process is key.

“I like to look at all of these pieces as awareness and an opportunity to make decisions and move forward,” Stankovic says. “If we can move our emotions from the unconscious to the conscious, we can do something about them or choose to have them be a part of who we are.”

Stankovic talks about emotional and gender intelligence, how to improve your emotional intelligence, the benefits of being aware of your emotions, and more in this episode of the CUNA News Podcast.

You can listen and subscribe to the CUNA News Podcast in Apple’s iTunes Store, Spotify, Google Play, and Stitcher Radio.