You may have heard the terms “book smart,” “street smart” or even “existential.” The distinctions among these types of intelligence ask us to self-evaluate and determine whether our intelligence is more academic or experiential. Yet, there are many other different types of intelligence that others are oblivious to.
Believe it or not, managing one’s emotions and understanding or empathizing with others’ emotions may be the most important type of intelligence. Known as emotional intelligence (EQ), it proves to be a crucial component of effective leadership, as it enables leaders to understand, manage, and leverage their own emotions and those of others. This requires a great deal of self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness and relationship management. Each plays a vital role in both our personal and interpersonal lives.
Components of EQ and Their Impact On Leadership
Self-awareness:
It all starts with self-awareness, which is the ability to recognize one’s attributes, especially regarding their emotions and how they influence how one acts. It delves into a person’s thoughts, feelings, opinions, strengths, weaknesses and triggers. A leader’s self-awareness has a major impact on their decision-making, authenticity and confidence.
Self-regulation:
Another aspect of EQ is self-regulation, which has more to do with managing one’s emotions and behaviors. Self-awareness still plays a significant part in self-regulation, as one cannot manage their negative thoughts and feelings without recognizing them first. A fitting example of this is stress management, or one’s way of identifying, dealing with or responding to stress.
Social awareness:
Social awareness, as opposed to self-awareness, is the ability to recognize, understand and manage others’ emotions. This includes their needs, desires, thoughts, and perspectives. For example, if a colleague is upset about an upcoming project deadline, it is easy to exert judgment and criticize their work ethic. However, an emotionally intelligent leader will empathize by acknowledging their feelings of stress and frustration, listening to them and offering a potential solution.
Relationship management:
Social awareness typically leads to better relationship management, or the ability to build and maintain positive relationships with others while also dealing with conflict as it comes. When leaders establish strong rapport with their colleagues, they tend to have greater influence due to the trust they have fostered. In turn, team members will collaborate more productively and resolve conflicts immediately and respectfully. Stronger relationships will facilitate a more sustainable work environment, instilling the values of honesty, integrity and dependability.
Developing EQ In Leaders
There is one important question to ask when considering a leader: How can we invoke EQ in them? As EQ fosters increased organization, leaders stand at the forefront of inspiring those who look up to them and value their guidance.
Self-reflection and mindfulness:
Awareness is just about the most durable foundation of EQ. But how can we teach or develop awareness in someone? It requires the practice of sitting with oneself and slowly experiencing the world around them while recognizing any thoughts and feelings that are associated. This can come in the form of self-reflection and mindfulness, which are excellent methods of increasing self-awareness.
Empathy training:
Going hand in hand with coaching are more experiential exercises and simulations that can enhance leaders’ ability to understand and connect with others. This is called empathy training, the fundamental idea of building stronger relationships and developing one’s compassion, authenticity and relatability.
Constructive feedback:
Constructive feedback is another component of coaching and empathy training, providing a way for leaders to communicate with team members about what they do well and how they can improve. The main focus of constructive feedback should be a balanced approach to delivering it. Leaders must provide valuable insights for growth. If the feedback is only ever positive, team members may become lazy, grow complacent or perform minimally. If the feedback is always negative, however, it can lower morale, which may lead to employees dreading their work or, more significantly, influence their decision to leave the company.
EQ assessments:
Lastly, there are emotional intelligence assessments out there that people can take individually to examine their own emotions and how they experience them. This includes self-awareness or understanding, usage and self-regulation.
They also specifically assess a person’s overall self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, personal relationships and motives or influences. These factors combine to help leaders know where they stand in terms of their own emotional intelligence and how they could improve it.
Case Studies of Emotionally Intelligent Leaders
Joaquin Duato, CEO of Johnson & Johnson:
The health care giant, Johnson & Johnson, led by Chairman and CEO Joaquin Duato, emphasizes EQ as a key leadership development and employee engagement strategy.
The company places a high value on those with strong emotional capabilities. Their training programs cultivate self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management skills, highlighting the importance of leaders who effectively handle their emotions and empathize with others.
Leaders and managers are not only judged on their business outcomes but also assessed on how they achieve them. This includes their capacity to exhibit empathy, communicate effectively, and establish meaningful connections. The recognition of the value of EQ has contributed significantly to their success.
Conclusion
In learning to become socially aware and self-regulated, leaders can build rapport among team members, improve morale, resolve conflict and remain open to others’ thoughts, feelings and opinions.
In other words, we are all people but have varying emotions and sometimes take different stances regarding certain issues. Nonetheless, if we seek to understand others, we stand to build more stable connections and learn more about ourselves. This is why leaders and organizations must prioritize the development of EQ as a means of being consistent, fair and empathetic.