Kazeli News and Events: Emotional Intelligence

Goleman’s study found that EQ was more important than cognitive and technical combined, and at the highest hierarchical levels 90% of the difference between star performers and average ones was attributable to EQ. IQ and technical skills do matter, but they are mostly threshold capabilities (entry requirements) for executive positions; without EQ one cannot become a great leader. Moreover, different to IQ, the author supports that EQ can be learned; it increases with age, it has a genetic component and can be learned through motivation, practice and feedback.

THE FIVE COMPONENTS OF EQ

Self-awareness - “to know thyself”

Self-awareness means having a deep understanding of one’s emotions, strengths, weaknesses, needs and drives. People with strong self-awareness are neither overly critical nor unrealistically hopeful. Rather, they are honest with themselves and with others. People who have a high degree of self-awareness recognise how their feelings affect them, other people and their job performance. Self-awareness extends to a person’s understanding of his or her values and goals. Someone who is highly self-aware knows where he is headed and why.

Self-awareness can be recognised as candor and an ability to assess one-self realistically. People with such a characteristic are frank in admitting failure, are comfortable talking about their limitations and strengths, and demonstrate a thirst for constructive criticism. Moreover, they are self-confident, aware of their capabilities and thus less likely to set themselves up for failure and know when to ask for help.

Self-regulation – “to think before acting”

Self-regulation, which is like an ongoing inner conversation, is the component of emotional intelligence that frees us from being prisoners of our feelings. People engaged in such a conversation feel bad moods and emotional impulses just as everyone else does, but they find ways to control them and even to channel them in useful ways. Self-regulation matters so much because it allows the creation of an environment of trust and fairness, where politics and infighting are sharply reduced and productivity is high. Moreover, it is important because it allows people to adapt to ambiguity and the pace of change inherent in the contemporary business era. Additionally it leads to integrity and rationalisation through the control of people’s impulsive behaviour.

The signs of emotional self-regulation, therefore, are easy to see: a propensity for reflection and thoughtfulness, comfort with ambiguity and change, and integrity.

Motivation – “a propensity to pursue goals”

Motivation is a trait that all effective leaders possess. They are driven to achieve beyond their own and everyone else’s expectations.

The first sign is a passion for the work itself; such people seek out creative challenges, love to learn, take great pride in a job well done and display an unflagging energy to do things better. They are persistent with their questions about why things are done one way rather than another and they are eager to explore new approaches to their work. Interestingly, people with high motivation remain optimistic even when the score is against them. Especially when combined with self-regulation it allows them to overcome depression and frustration which come after a set-back or failure.

Social skill – “friendliness with a purpose”

The first three components of emotional intelligence are self-management skills, whereas empathy and social skill concern a person’s ability to manage relationships with others. Social skill involves the ability to move people in the direction you desire, whether that’s agreement on a new marketing strategy or enthusiasm about a new product and are capable of finding common ground with all kinds of people and thus an ability to build rapport. They work with the assumption that nothing important gets done alone. Such people have a network in place when the time for action comes.

People with social skill build bonds widely because they know that in these fluid times, they may need help someday from people they are just getting to know today. No leader is an island. After all, the leader’s task is to get work done through other people and social skill makes that possible.

Empathy – “understanding others”

Empathy means thoughtfully considering employees feelings along with other factors in the process of making intelligent decisions. Empathy is particularly important today as a component of leadership because of the increasing use of teams, the rapid pace of globalisation and the growing need to retain talent. When good people leave they take the company’s knowledge with them and thus that is where coaching and mentoring come in. It has been repeatedly shown that coaching and mentoring pay off not just in better performance but also in increased job satisfaction and decreased turnover. It is no surprise then that empathetic leaders effectively manage relationships with employees through coaching and mentoring.

Conclusion

It was once thought that the components of emotional intelligence were ‘nice to have’ in business leaders. But now we know that for the sake of performance, these are ingredients that leaders ‘need to have’. It is fortunate then, that emotional intelligence can be learned. The process is not easy. It takes time and most of all commitment. But the benefits that come from having a well-developed emotional intelligence, both for the individual and for the organization, make it worth the effort.