Leading in today’s dynamic business environment is incredibly challenging, even for the strongest leaders. New challenges confront leaders daily. These challenges may include dealing with a supply chain challenge, managing the impact of inflation, adjusting to leading in a hybrid work environment, and working to minimize the economic impact of political unrest. While most leaders have the technical expertise to adjust to the challenges they face, they often under-utilize emotional intelligence when it could improve their performance. According to Psychology Today, 90% of high performers in the workplace possess high emotional intelligence.
What is Emotional Intelligence?
Simply put, it is the ability to:
- Accurately be aware of, understand and manage your emotions.
- Accurately be aware of, understand, and influence the emotions of others.
The Four Domains of Emotional Intelligence
The four domains of emotional intelligence are 1) Self Awareness, 2) Self Management, 3) Social Awareness, and 4) Relationship Management. Each of the four domains is a critical element to one’s overall level of emotional intelligence and a leader’s ability to leverage emotional intelligence in maximizing their effectiveness. Self Awareness is one’s ability to accurately identify their emotions and maintain awareness of them as they happen in real-time. This includes managing how one responds to specific situations, new information, and people.
Self Management is one’s ability to use the awareness of their emotions to influence their behaviors positively. This is especially true as they manage their reactions to specific situations, new information, and people. Social Awareness is one’s ability to accurately assess the emotions of others and understand what they are thinking and feeling. It also includes the ability to see and navigate the organizational culture. Relationship Management is one’s ability to use the awareness of both their emotions and the emotions of others to manage interactions and relationships successfully.
Why Emotional Intelligence Matters
Leaders with high emotional intelligence benefit in several ways and understand its contribution to their overall success. Emotional intelligence helps leaders:
- Manage stress and core feelings
- Hold themselves in higher regard
- Better express themselves
- Build deeper relationships
- Improve decision making
- Effectively manage conflict
- Navigate difficult conversations
- Create a stronger team culture
Building Emotional Intelligence
The good news is that with focus, emotional intelligence can be developed. Building it is a matter of mindset and creating a state of mind where you are in control of your emotions, thoughts, and actions. As a leader, you can begin to grow your emotional intelligence by:
- Recognizing what you are really feeling
- Accepting and appreciating your emotions
- Loving, trusting, and believing in yourself
- Strengthening your awareness of others’ emotions
- Developing emotional management skills
In developing the awareness and understanding of your emotions and the techniques to utilize this deeper knowledge, you will position yourself to continue to grow as a leader.
Next Steps
We are here to help! At Block Performance Solutions, we would be happy to support you on your leadership journey. We work with clients to assess their current level of emotional intelligence. We also help identify the specific areas of emotional intelligence that are most important for them to focus on for achieving their specific goals. We work with our clients through coaching engagements to identify goals, create an action plan, develop emotional intelligence and leadership capabilities, and support their growth as a leader. Contact us today if you are interested in taking your leadership to the next level or sponsoring one of your leaders on their leadership journey. Let’s start the conversation!
Andrew Block