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The Skill That All Good Leaders Have In Common

curranrecruit
Jun 17, 2015
4 min read

Have you ever noticed those leaders and managers that everyone looks up to and who just seem to have a knack at being excellent leaders? What is this elusive quality that good leaders have that sets them apart?

According to Goleman (1995) it is the emotional intelligence that these leaders possess. The primary responsibilities of leadership are setting direction and enrolling people. Emotions are central to both these activities: Emotions MOVE people.

There are many examples of what bad leadership looks like, which can occur at any level within an organisation and the attributes of poor leadership can mostly be easily identified in the workplace. In this week’s blog post we discuss the importance of developing emotional intelligence (EQ) and how being more adept in your EQ can impact your professional work life.

What is EQ?

The concept of “Emotional Intelligence” was initially established in 1990 by Peter Salovey and John Mayer. They defined this as “the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and use this information to guide one’s thinking and action”. Daniel Goleman expanded this concept by identifying the importance of EQ for better leadership in the workplace since it is comprised of people with different strengths, personalities and emotions, which can impacts the way they work – emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and manage your emotions as well as the emotions of others.

Impact on Work-life

Candidates that have been previously rejected for a position may re-apply either for the same position or if another opening becomes available, for a different role within the company – would you consider them this second time around? Recent researchers now point to emotional intelligence as the critical factor that sets top talent apart from the rest of the workers because its principles provide a way to understand and assess people’s behaviours, management styles, attitudes, interpersonal skills and potential.

“Leadership’s First Commandment: Know Thyself.”

– Harvard Business Review

Mastering emotional intelligence can assist in the following areas:

The art of social relationships

-Managing emotions in others

- To excel at people skills means having and using the competencies to be an effective friend, negotiator, and leader. One should be able to guide an interaction, inspire others, make others comfortable in social situations, influence and persuade others.

Social skills

- The subtle and complex abilities which underlie people skills

- Being attuned to others’ emotions

- Promoting comfort in others through the proper use of display rules

- Using own emotional display to establish a sense of rapport

One notable resource that comes highly recommended by leaders and consultants alike is the “EQ Fitness Handbook: You In Relationship,” published by Learning In Action Technologies. A few of their controversial and thought-provoking descriptions of character traits of good and bad bosses are listed below:

Good Boss - Bad Boss

great listener vs self-centred

encourager vs arrogant

empathetic vs bad temper

humble vs not trusting

shares authority vs intimidates

How to Develop EQ

Numerous research suggests that managers with low EQs; cannot handle stress; are unaware of their own emotions; lack the ability to understand others; or erupt into anger easily, are viewed as likely to derail due to problems dealing with other people. Here are some brief tips to help develop EQ in you and your senior leadership teams –

1. Self-awareness

If you're self-aware, you always know how you feel and you know how your emotions and your actions can affect the people around you. Being self-aware when you're in a leadership position also means having a clear picture of your strengths and weaknesses and it means behaving with humility.

Practice this by taking notice of your emotions, thoughts, and behaviours as a situation unfolds. The goal is to slow yourself down and try to see the bigger picture, so that you can understand how your emotions influence your behaviour and alter your perception of reality.

2. Motivation

Self-motivated leaders work consistently toward their goals and they have extremely high standards for the quality of their work. Motivated leaders are usually optimistic, no matter what problems they face. Every time when faced with a challenge, or even a failure, try to find at least one good thing about the situation. It might be something small, like a new contact, or something with long-term effects, like an important lesson learned. There's almost always something positive, if you look for it.

3. Empathy

Empathy is the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and understand how they may feel or react to a certain situation. Empathic leaders help develop the people on their team, challenge others who are acting unfairly, give constructive feedback, and listen to those who need it. If you want to earn the respect and loyalty of your team, then show them you care by being empathic.