Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions and those of the people around you. People with a high degree of EI know what they’re feeling, what their emotions mean and how these emotions can affect others.
But what evidence and experience do we have that suggests EI is important for successful leadership? Hopefully we can all think of people that we have worked for who we respected, trusted and learned from. These leaders may often have tested and stretched us, but we could always understand why in terms of business needs or our own personal development.
According to Daniel Goleman, a psychologist who helped to popularize EI in the mid-1990s, there are five main elements of EI:
- Self-awareness
- Self-regulation
- Motivation
- Empathy
- Social skills
Successful leaders manage each of these areas and display high EI.
If you’re self-aware, you know how you feel and how your emotions and actions can affect the people around you. Being self-aware as a leader also means having a clear picture of your strengths and weaknesses which means showing humility.
Leaders who regulate themselves effectively rarely verbally attack others, make rushed or emotional decisions, stereotype people, or compromise their values. Self-regulation is all about staying in control and being true to ones values.
Self-motivated leaders work consistently towards their goals, and have high standards for the quality of their work and the work of their staff. They are naturally optimistic; looking for the good in situations, even when things sometimes go wrong.
Leaders with empathy have the ability to put themselves in someone else's situation. They work to develop the people on their team, challenge others who are acting unfairly, give constructive feedback and listen to people.
Those with high EI have well developed social skills and are great communicators. They’re just as open to hearing bad news as good news and are expert at getting their team to support them in new missions and projects. They are good at managing change and resolving conflicts diplomatically. Their own behaviour sets the standard for others.