Harnessing Emotional Intelligence for Leadership Success
Many people don’t realize how emotions affect their minds, physical state, and social lives. But these folks just can’t make it as leaders. Knowing how to speak the language of emotions — that is, having emotional intelligence — helps you communicate, build relationships, manage teams, and run business processes. It might surprise you to learn that leaders with a high EQ aren’t born that way. They become the kind of people who learn to accept their emotions, manage them, and express them in the most effective way. Read this article to learn how to get a handle on your emotional intelligence.
- What Is Emotional Intelligence?
- Why is Emotional Intelligence Important in Leadership?
- How to Identify a Lack of Emotional Intelligence
- The Four Components of Emotional Intelligence
- What Are the Benefits of Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace?
- Leading With Emotional Intelligence
- How to Increase Your Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Effectiveness
What Is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is about being able to understand and manage your own feelings, as well as recognize and influence the emotions of others. This term was first used by psychologists Peter Salovey and John Mayer in 1990 and later popularized by psychologist Daniel Goleman. Since then, emotional intelligence has been seen as a key quality for leaders.
Over a decade ago, Goleman highlighted the significance of emotional intelligence for those in leadership roles. In an interview with Harvard Business Review, he said, “The most effective leaders have one thing in common: they all have a high degree of emotional intelligence. It’s not that IQ and technical skills are useless. They matter, but they’re just the entry-level requirements for executive positions. Emotional intelligence is one of the latest trends in the business world.
Why is Emotional Intelligence Important in Leadership?
Management sets the tone for the whole company. If the leaders don’t have a lot of emotional intelligence, it can lead to some pretty serious consequences, like decreased employee engagement and high staff turnover.
A 2020 study by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that 84% of American workers believe poorly trained managers create unnecessary stress and assign meaningless tasks. Half of the respondents said that team productivity could be improved if managers took additional courses in skills like communication and building corporate culture.
If management is ineffective, it can lead to significant business losses, including high employee turnover. If these issues aren’t fixed, it could also make it harder for the company to attract and keep good workers in the future.
If managers can learn to be more emotionally intelligent, it’ll help the team to work better together and be more engaged. This will have a positive effect on employee productivity. So the company makes more money and is better able to handle any problems that come up.
How to Identify a Lack of Emotional Intelligence
Not having the right social and emotional skills can cause problems at work, like misunderstandings because you don’t know how to read other people’s emotions.
The most common sign of low emotional intelligence is having trouble managing and expressing feelings. One example is when you find it hard to acknowledge your colleagues’ concerns or refuse to actively listen. Take a look at how you relate to your team. Do you ever feel tense in conversations? Do you often point the finger at others when things don’t go as planned? Do you find yourself losing your cool and lashing out at others? These are all signs that you could do with more emotional intelligence.
It’s important to develop social skills, understand and practice empathy, and embrace all the key components of emotional intelligence.
The Four Components of Emotional Intelligence
Salovey, Mayer, and Goleman say that emotional intelligence is made up of four key parts that you can learn over time.
Self-Awareness
It’s about listening to your feelings, recognizing your emotions, understanding your strengths and weaknesses, knowing your limits and capabilities, and understanding how emotions affect productivity — both your own and others.
Leaders with a good sense of self-awareness are open to learning new skills, can laugh at themselves, welcome constructive criticism, and value feedback about their work. They know how to use their strengths and make up for their weaknesses, which means they can work effectively and confidently. The easiest way to assess your level of self-awareness is to get feedback about your work from different people, like your boss and colleagues. Then compare their opinions with your own and see if you can come up with a more or less objective assessment of your role in the team.
Self-Regulation
As a leader, it’s important to remember not to act on emotions but to take a moment to make a considered decision. At the same time, our reaction is just our body’s way of dealing with stress. The higher your emotional intelligence, the easier it is to manage overwhelming emotions and respond to stressful situations in a conscious way, rather than reacting impulsively.
Self-regulation is all about:
— Keeping your emotions in check, especially when things get stressful.
— Staying positive even when things get tough.
Leaders with low self-regulation act on the spur of the moment and their management style is unpredictable, which causes extra stress for the team. The ability to regulate your own emotions helps a leader adapt to challenges and see opportunities even in difficult situations.
Social Awareness
Sometimes it seems like to get things done, a leader needs to be able to read minds. One way to develop social awareness is to get closer to this ability. It means being really aware of what’s going on around you and understanding even non-verbal cues. Social awareness, which is a form of empathy, includes:
— Knowing what you’re feeling and what others are feeling,
— Knowing how different team members relate to each other,
— Trying to understand what your colleagues are thinking,
— Communicating and working with different team members,
— Being able to empathize with and show compassion towards others,
— Being able to pick up on unspoken feelings and respond appropriately.
This skill is useful in any environment, especially in multicultural settings, as it helps a leader connect with people from different social backgrounds, cultures, and mindsets.
Relationship Management
This component helps you to influence others around you, be a good mentor, and resolve conflicts in a fair and thoughtful way.
No matter what, conflicts are going to come up in the work process. Instead of avoiding them, it’s important to be able to interact and resolve the issues causing the conflict if you want your team to stay stable. Studies show that if you don’t deal with conflict, it can really hurt productivity. Each unresolved conflict can lead to employees spending hours on gossip and other unproductive activities.
Good relationship management helps a lot:
— know how to have tough conversations,
— choose the right tone for discussions,
— get support from stakeholders,
— get backing for your viewpoint,
— be honest and respectful towards the conversation partner,
— understand and work with others’ emotions as if they were your own,
— build effective, long-term relationships,
— keep the team happy and secure,
— keep your own well-being and security in check.
Leaders who are good at relationship management are often seen as persuasive and charming people to talk to.
What Are the Benefits of Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace?
The emotional intelligence of leaders affects the entire team. Here are the top benefits of high emotional intelligence in leadership for all employees.
More satisfied employees
Empathetic leaders know how to make their employees feel heard and valued. These managers aren’t afraid to ask for advice from their employees and are open to new ideas.
Improved Communication
Knowing how to read other people’s emotions makes it easier to connect with employees at all levels. For instance, if an employee is uncomfortable speaking up during group calls or meetings, an empathetic leader will schedule a one-on-one meeting to stay connected. This helps both the leader and the employee stay on the same page.
Great Productivity
When employees feel safe sharing their ideas with the boss, they’re more likely to contribute new and unusual ideas, address urgent issues, and find solutions more effectively. If the team can give feedback and have difficult conversations, it creates space for innovation in the workplace.
Fewer Conflicts
When a leader has emotional intelligence, they understand their own and others’ character traits and potentially sensitive topics better. This understanding helps to avoid situations where conflicts might arise.
Leading With Emotional Intelligence
When someone is just starting out in their career, their main job is to do a good job at their actual job. If they keep up the good work, they’ll usually get promoted to a managerial position. At this point, their main job is to make sure the team is successful and happy.
This shift isn’t always easy. The skills that make someone a good worker often differ a lot from the skills needed to be a good manager. It can help an employee to navigate this transitional phase more smoothly if they keep on developing and practising their emotional intelligence. Leaders with a high level of emotional intelligence are important because they help teams work together well. Even the toughest conversations become more honest, productive, and respectful. Everyone feels like they belong. Empathy and cohesion are the building blocks for a successful diversity program.
How to Increase Your Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Effectiveness
Each of the main components of emotional intelligence is a skill that can be improved through practice, rather than a character trait. Here are some of the best ways to practice.
How to enhance your self-awareness:
Keep a personal journal
This really helps you understand your own thoughts and feelings better. Practicing gratitude and keeping a gratitude journal, where you jot down moments you feel thankful for, helps you recognize, reflect on, and genuinely appreciate what happens in life.
Take a deep breath
When you feel anger or other strong emotions, take a moment to analyze the cause. Remember, no matter what, you always have a choice in how to react. One simple way to pause is to do a quick physical or breathing exercise, or just count to ten.
Take a moment to reflect
Ask yourself about your goals, what helps you achieve them, and what hinders you. Keep track of your progress and figure out what led to your results.
How to Improve Self-Regulation
Keep Your Values in Mind
Know what you’re willing to compromise on and what values are most important to you. If you know your core values, you can make the right decisions quickly and without hesitation.
Take Responsibility
If you tend to blame others when things go wrong, stop. Make a promise to yourself to own up to your mistakes and face the consequences, no matter how big or small they are. This not only earns you respect but also helps you sleep better at night.
Practice staying calm in challenging situations
Do you find that you relieve stress by yelling? Why not try some calming breathing exercises? Also, write down all the negative things you want to say to someone on paper, then tear it up and throw it away. It’s better to express your emotions on paper than to voice them to your team. It helps you figure out if your reactions are fair.
How to Develop Empathy
Put Yourself in Others’ Shoes
It’s easiest to support your own point of view since it’s clearest to you. To get a more objective view, try to see the world through someone else’s eyes.
Keep an Eye on Your Body Language
While someone’s talking to you, you might cross your arms, shift your feet, or bite your lips. These actions can show how you really feel about the situation. It’s good to be able to control your body language and read other people’s signals, so you can understand their feelings and react in the right way.
Respond to Feelings
Imagine asking an employee to work overtime. They agree, but you can hear a hint of disappointment in their voice. Let them know you appreciate their willingness to stay and acknowledge their feelings. If you can, offer them some time off later.
How to Improve Your Social Skills
Learn How to Resolve Conflicts
As a leader, you need to know how to resolve conflicts with colleagues, clients, and suppliers. Remember, the main goal of a conflict is to find a solution that works for everyone.
Improve Your Social Skills
How good are you at communicating? Do you speak up and make sure everyone’s on the same page? Based on what you’ve seen and heard, think about where misunderstandings often occur and what you can do to prevent them.
Learn to Praise
As a leader, you can inspire your team by recognizing their positive traits. Give your team members a pat on the back when they deserve it. Praising is something you can learn to do.
Learn What Motivates You and Others
If you want to create a quality corporate culture and get better results from your employees, you need to focus on increasing your emotional intelligence. Leaders with high emotional intelligence are super motivated, always working towards their goals, and have high standards for work quality. Here are some quick ways to boost motivation:
Take a moment to think about why you do your job. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget what you love about your role. Think back to why you wanted this role. If you’re feeling dissatisfied and can’t remember why you wanted this position, try using the “five whys” method to uncover the core problem. Knowing the foundation helps you see the situation from a different angle. Make sure your goals give you a boost and get you excited.
Stay positive and look for the good in things. Motivated leaders stay optimistic even when things get tough. It takes time, but it’s worth it to develop this outlook. When you hit a roadblock or fail, try to find at least one positive outcome. It could be something small, like making a new connection, or long-term, like learning a valuable lesson. There’s always something positive to be found if you look for it.
Developing emotional intelligence is something you work on throughout your life. It’s a process of constant growth and learning. You can build your emotional intelligence by reading books and articles on the subject, going to workshops, and getting feedback from those around you. If you want to be a better leader, you need to work on your emotional intelligence. It’ll help you build strong relationships with your team and colleagues.
