Culture & Business Transformation
Emotionally Intelligent Leadership (And Why We Need It)
- Date:
- 15 September 2020
Undoubtedly, effective leadership is critical for achieving business goals and building a healthy and sustainable organisation. In the modern work environment, which is characterised by open communication and teamwork, leaders must understand their followers and teams throughout the organisation to know how to motivate them properly and what will then drive them to reach their full potential both for themselves and for the organisation.
A lack of emotional intelligence (EQ) among a senior management team can be devastating to the rest of the workforce. Leaders prime the emotional state of an organisation, so when they are ineffective, when they set poor examples of how to treat other people, that trickles down through the company. The result could often be low employee engagement, high attrition, or lack of psychological safety, because of the toxic interactions between people.
Lack of EQ is very hard on morale. When leadership lacks EQ, organisations start to lose that discretionary effort that they get from people who love their jobs and work in motivating, comfortable environments. One tell-tale sign of leaders who need to work on managing their emotions is that they frequently have challenging interactions with others. They find people very difficult, and often do not understand that they are part of the problem. On the flip side, leaders with high EQ tend to be uplifted by their interactions with people.
According to Daniel Goleman, author of the original research and work on “Emotional Intelligence”,
EQ is defined by the ability to understand and manage our emotions and those around us. This quality gives individuals a variety of skills, such as the ability to manage relationships and stakeholders, navigate social networks, influence, inspire others, and create followership. Today we find ourselves in a world of continuous uncertainty and it has become apparent that employees look to their leadership for inspiration and guidance, both inside and outside of the workplace.
For individuals to become truly effective and progressive leaders, they will need a high level of EQ. Here are some key points to consider:
