- Self-awareness
- Self-management
- Social awareness (or empathy)
- Relationship management
Self-awareness means having realistic self-confidence and knowing when to rely on yourself versus the team, as well as knowing what kinds of things set you off.
Self-management requires you to keep those emotions in check and let others know what's wrong and provide a solution. When you're truly listening and can pick up on visual cues others are giving, you have the tools to act with empathy. Effective communication and being a team-oriented individual will help you with relationship management.
The link between emotional intelligence and leadership
What does emotional intelligence have to do with leadership?
Everything.
Ultimately leadership is about getting along with other people. The business world functions because people - colleagues, employees, customers, suppliers - work together. Negotiation, haggling, sales, setting vision, strategy and goals, and other key business functions require us to collaborate and interact with others in a constructive way.
Leaders that exhibit emotional intelligence have an easier time accomplishing goals than those that don't. A leader without emotional intelligence is a boss - and there are
stark differences between bosses and leaders:
- A boss drives others; a leader coaches them toward their best performance.
- A boss instills fear; a leader inspires enthusiasm.
- A boss blames others; a leader works to help repair the damage and understand what happened so it won't occur again.
- A boss thinks in terms of him or herself; a leader thinks in terms of we.
- A boss knows how it's done; a leader shows how it's done.
- A boss depends on his or her own authority; a leader depends, along with the entire team, on mutual accountability and trust.
- A boss uses people; a leader is interested in helping them grow and develop.
- A boss takes the credit; a leader gives credit to others.
- A boss is a commander; a leader is more concerned with asking and listening.
- The boss says "Go!"; the leader says "Let's go!"
Digital cues for leaders
Even if you're not off the charts with your EQ score, there are ways to improve your emotional intelligence. If you notice the elements of emotional intelligence above,
listening is a key aspect of three out of the four.
If your role requires you to be in the public eye in any way - and that also includes in front of your employees - you can get feedback pretty quickly. Anonymous surveys from employees and public reaction on social media - including tweets, comments on your company's Facebook page or commentary on a video - can call indicate how people are feeling about you, your statements or your position.
In short, if you're intent on becoming an emotionally intelligent leader, there's no excuse to be ignorant of your surroundings.
While the access to more information and instant feedback (not to mention the presence of Internet trolls) can give us more insights about where we need to make changes as business leaders, it won't fundamentally change your personality. You've got to want that.
That is, if you value how you're perceived as a leader.