As a leader, your ability to manage your emotions and connect with those around you, on an emotional level can significantly impact the success of your organization. Leading with Emotional Intelligence is a crucial skill and mindset, to equip your team for outperformance.
Growth Series
In this series, I pause to consider the qualities of leadership that are essential for senior managers to hone their skills and become top-performing enterprise leaders.
Emotions and Leadership
Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to recognize, understand and manage emotions effectively in yourself and others. Leaders who can harness the power of EQ can create a positive work environment, build stronger relationships, and improve team performance.
Here I will explore the importance of EQ in enterprise leadership and how you can develop and leverage your emotional intelligence for better results.
Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Enterprise Leadership
Leaders with high emotional intelligence are more effective in their roles. They can inspire, motivate and engage their teams better, leading to higher levels of productivity, employee satisfaction, and retention. Leaders with high EQ can also navigate challenging situations with ease, handle conflicts, and create a more harmonious work environment. When leaders can recognize their own emotions and those of their team members, they can adapt their leadership style to suit the situation and build a more cohesive team.
Is it possible to develop Emotional Intelligence?
Developing emotional intelligence is an ongoing process that requires self-reflection, practice, and feedback. Here are some tips for developing your emotional intelligence for improved leadership:
- Self-Awareness: Start by becoming more self-aware of your own emotions and how they impact your thoughts, behaviors, and decisions. Identify triggers that cause negative emotions and reflect on how you respond to them.
- Empathy: Develop empathy by putting yourself in your team member’s shoes and trying to understand their perspectives. Listen actively to their concerns and try to see things from their point of view.
- Emotional Regulation: Practice regulating your own emotions, especially in stressful situations. Take a moment to breathe deeply, reflect on the situation, and choose a response that aligns with your values and goals.
- Social Skills: Build social skills by improving your communication, active listening, and conflict resolution skills. Work on building stronger relationships with your team members and creating a positive work environment.
Examples of Emotional Intelligence in Action
Great leaders exhibit emotional intelligence in a variety of ways. I thought I to share a couple of key examples I have observed from afar:
- Steve Jobs was known for his passion and intense drive to create innovative products that customers would love. He was also known for his ability to inspire and motivate his team members to achieve their best work.
- Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, is known for his ability to listen actively and empathize with his team members. He uses his emotional intelligence to build stronger relationships with his employees, improve teamwork and collaboration, and drive business success.
- Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors, is known for her ability to remain calm and focused in challenging situations. She uses her emotional intelligence to navigate crises, handle conflicts, and build a more positive work environment.
Body of knowledge: Reflections
Several of the notable thinkers and their works that I have reflected on, in building and managing high-performing teams, comes from time invested in learning emotional intelligence and leadership from:
- Daniel Goleman
- Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves
- “Emotional Intelligence 2.0”
- Richard Boyatzis
- “Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence”
- Annie McKee
- “Becoming a Resonant Leader: Develop Your Emotional Intelligence, Renew Your Relationships, Sustain Your Effectiveness”
Great, Exceptional vs. Average Leaders
The difference between great, exceptional and average team leaders lies in their ability to:
Exceptional
Exceptional leaders, when it comes to emotional intelligence:
- Invest time in deeply understanding and regulating your own emotions. thoughtfully and mindfully investing time in meditation (I recommend the app headspace), managing their emotional journey over long periods, forging strong relationships with their own mentors, and being highly vulnerable.
- Effectively managing relationships with others. Exceptional leaders emanate profound personal humility and indomitable will. They think, commit and do, the culture of the firm, inspiring and motivating their teams through their own emotional intelligence, creating and fostering a positive ‘affect’ and galvanising work environment.
- Navigate difficult situations with empathy and tact! openly and outwardly reflecting on key points as:
- ‘how I could have don’t better on that”, inspiring others to consider their own self-reflection, and
- “I wonder how ______ person would feel about _______ ” openly displaying empathy, modelling what managing with empathy looks like.
Great
Great leaders, when it comes to emotional intelligence:
- Recognize and regulate one’s own emotions. Recognising that it is not about YOU, but rather about the team’s performance and YOUR part in facilitating great performance. As a great mentor of mine put it ‘equip and empower your team to shine, and be content with a reflected glow’.
- Effectively managing relationships with others. Great leaders are able to inspire and motivate their teams through their own emotional intelligence, creating a positive and productive work environment.
- Navigate difficult situations with empathy and tact, rather than reacting impulsively or emotionally.
Average
Average leaders, when it comes to emotional intelligence:
- Reflect on their own behaviour and actions, and regret the impact of their emotions. Focused on their own self-importance/performance and lack of their team’s performance or adherence.
- Wrestle with managing relationships with others. Average leaders can inspire and motivate their teams through their own emotional intelligence, however a complicated mix of positive ‘affect’ and negative ‘affect’ pervades the team culture.
- Navigate difficult situations with emotion and impulse rather than tact.
Key Takeaways
Emotional intelligence is a critical component of enterprise leadership. Developing and leveraging your emotional intelligence can help you build high-performing teams, improve employee satisfaction and retention, and create a positive work environment. By becoming more self-aware, empathetic, and socially skilled, you can take your leadership to the next level and achieve greater success for your organization.
