Successful and effective leaders have more than just experience and technical skills under their belts. Particularly now, in a post-pandemic era, soft-skills like EQ (emotional intelligence) are necessary components of an effective leader’s toolkit.
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to recognize and understand our emotions and the way they can shape our behavior. It’s our ability to respond to situations as opposed to just reacting. Responding is thoughtful and deliberate. Reacting is emotion-driven, instinctive, and often impulsive.
As a leader, strong EQ skills also mean we can recognize the way emotions impact those around us. It’s understanding that sometimes emotions may manifest in a team member as over-confidence or insecurity. Sometimes an employee’s emotional state may present as impatience, forgetfulness, and…well, you get the idea.
For one thing, as much as we want to consider ourselves to be rational, calculating professionals, we are human and as such, these emotions play a role in everything we do. Fear or anxiety over the unknown may sway someone’s decision to uphold the status quo vs. dipping a toe into a new opportunity.
A lack of EQ can foster the negative aspects of groupthink. It can amplify stress. It can limit open lines of communications. It can lead to poor employee satisfaction – which in turn can result in higher turnover rates and less productivity.
Which means, on the other side of this coin, leaders with strong EQ skills are more apt to foster work environments that encourage team members to speak up, share new ideas, or safely express concern. It fosters an environment that welcomes experimentation and greets failed trials as an opportunity to learn and grow. It creates open lines of communication and inclusivity. It can help leaders more effectively motivate and inspire. It fosters a healthy workplace culture which can lead to improved employee satisfaction and retention, especially important in an era where employees are prioritizing their work-life balance and job satisfaction.
If EQ is going to be more than just the latest leadership buzzword, we need to understand exactly what it is (and what it’s not). For one thing, EQ can be a natural skillset for some, but that doesn’t mean that the rest of us can’t be intentional about developing these skills and applying them to our professional and personal lives. In fact, even those with a natural inclination should work to hone their EQ. There are four components to consider:
These may be skills you naturally excel at or it may be something you need to cultivate. Either way, there are steps you can take to hone your EQ as a leader. Seek feedback from trusted mentors, colleagues, and staff. Keep a journal to help you reflect on the internal and external forces that influence your daily actions and decisions. These steps will help you identify patterns in your behavior, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and improve your self-awareness.
If you want to improve how you manage your emotions, develop a practice of taking a deep breath before responding to a situation or conversation. Identifying positive outlets to release energy and stress – exercise, journaling, yoga, and others can be effective tools to deal with those feelings outside of your decision-making processes and interpersonal relationships.Develop empathy and social awareness by practicing active listening, and providing clear feedback, including affirmation and appreciation. Be attentive and get to know the people on your team beyond the job tasks that they perform. What makes them tick? What is going on in their lives outside of their workspaces that may influence their emotions and stress levels? EQ and relational leadership go hand-in-hand.
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