LEADERSHIP AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

You might imagine a person who, no matter what issues he faces, never loses control of his fury. Alternatively, consider someone who has the total trust of her team, who listens to them, is approachable, and always makes well-informed decisions. 

These are the characteristics of someone who is emotionally intelligent to a high degree.

Emotional intelligence, often known as EI, is the capacity to recognize and manage your own and others’ emotions. People with high emotional intelligence are aware of how they feel, what their emotions mean, and how their feelings affect others. 

Emotional intelligence is critical for leaders to succeed. After all, who is more likely to succeed: a leader who yells at his staff when he’s stressed, or a leader who keeps his cool and analyses the issue calmly?

There are five main parts to emotional intelligence, according to Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist who helped popularize it:

Self-awareness. 

Self-regulation. 

Motivation.

Empathy. 

Social abilities. 

The more you manage each of these areas as a leader, the greater your emotional intelligence. So, let’s take a closer look at each component and see how you may improve as a leader. 

Self Awareness

If you’re self-conscious, you’ll always be aware of how you’re feeling and how your emotions and actions may affect those around you. When you’re in a leadership position, being self-aware also entails having a clear view of your talents and flaws, as well as behaving with humour.

Empathy 

Empathy is essential for leaders to manage a successful team or business. Empathic leaders have the ability to put themselves in the shoes of others. They assist in the development of their team members, criticize unfair behavior, provide constructive comments, and listen to those who require it. 

If you want to win your team’s respect and loyalty, show them that you care by being empathic.

Self-regulation:

Effective leaders rarely verbally attack others, make hurried or emotional judgments, stereotype individuals, or compromise their principles. It’s all about maintaining control when it comes to self-regulation. 

According to Goleman, this aspect of emotional intelligence also includes a leader’s flexibility and dedication to personal accountability. 

Great communicators are leaders who excel at the social skills component of emotional intelligence. They’re just as receptive to receiving terrible news as they are to receiving good news, and they’re masters at rallying their team behind them and getting them enthused about a new mission or project. 

Leaders with strong social skills are also adept at managing change and politely settling problems. They’re rarely satisfied with things as they are, but they don’t sit back and let others do the work for them; instead, they lead by example.

Motivation 

Leaders that are self-motivated work persistently toward their objectives and hold themselves to exceptionally high standards for the quality of their work.

Leaders must have a solid awareness of how their emotions and actions affect those around them in order to be effective. The more successful a leader is at relating to and working with others, the better. 

Spend time developing self-awareness, self-control, motivation, empathy, and social skills. Working on these areas now will help you achieve future success!