Benefits of a Leader's High Emotional Intelligence
A lot has been written about emotional intelligence. In fact, a quick search on Google for the term brings up almost 40 million results! It's clear that this idea has gained a lot of support, and it's becoming more and more important in leadership situations. This article will explain what emotional intelligence is and why it's important for leaders to be empathetic.
What does the term "emotional intelligence" mean?
Psychology Today says that emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and handle one's own emotions and the emotions of others. Wikipedia says that emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, use, understand, manage, and control your feelings.
People who are emotionally intelligent think about themselves and take the time to figure out what they are feeling and why. They don't just react instinctively when they feel something. When a coworker has let them down, someone with emotional intelligence doesn't automatically blame that person. Instead, they stop to think about the other person's point of view and find out why they did what they did.
In the 1960s, psychologists came up with the term, which is often shortened to "EQ." It was based on the idea of "emotional strength" that Abraham Maslow had in the 1950s. Even though some parts of emotional intelligence come naturally, almost everyone can learn this skill (some people find it simpler to be empathic than others).
There are five parts that make up emotional intelligence.
There are five main parts to emotional intelligence. Which are all:
1. Self-Awareness
2. Self-Regulation
3. Motivation
4. Empathy
5. Social Skills
When talking about EQ, people often talk about the last two things on this list. Let's examine these five components in detail.
Self-Awareness
To be able to do this, you need to know how you feel and what makes you feel that way.
This is a type of "meta-awareness," or knowing that you know. A good leader knows themselves well enough to be able to read and respond to the world around them. They are also becoming aware of their own thought patterns and learning to figure out why they do what they do. People who have a healthy understanding of their own emotions are confident in their own skills but also able to be honest about their own flaws. They can laugh at themselves when they make a mistake. They can look at how others see them without letting it take over their lives.
A manager who knows himself or herself is not easily hurt and can handle criticism.
Mindfulness can help people become more self-aware because it tells them to sit with their own feelings, let them come to mind, name them, and then let them go. If you take the time to figure out how you feel while you're awake, it might be easier to understand how you feel in the future.
Motivation
It is the natural desire to grow and get better.
In this area of emotional intelligence, wealth and social status are not the only things that matter. Getting better at being a leader is an accomplishment in and of itself. A leader with real emotional intelligence is always looking for ways to improve their work, knows what's new in their field, and is willing to teach their team what they've learned.
Inspiration is very important to success when you look at it in a different way. Every successful business owner has learned the hard way how important it is to keep going even when things don't go as planned. Every successful business owner has learned the hard way how important it is to keep going even when things don't go as planned.
It's important to realize that mistakes are inevitable learning opportunities. It also makes it easier for you to get back up after a setback.
A desire to learn is also important because it helps leaders keep up with changes and trends in their field. Self-improvement leaders tend to be the most inspiring because their followers want to be just like them.
Empathy
It is the ability to understand how other people feel.
Once upon a time, not having empathy was seen as a weakness. When leaders told workers to "pull their socks up" and get to work, they didn't care about them. Some company cultures still have this way of thinking, which is sad, but thankfully they are becoming less common.
Empathy is a trait that can only grow after a person has learned to understand themselves. Since it's hard enough to figure out what we're thinking, it makes sense that we wouldn't be able to figure out what someone else is thinking either. Empathy is the opposite of solipsism because it looks at how other people feel and act in the same way we look at how we feel and act.
Leadership that shows empathy is good for both the boss and the employee. By making it easier for managers to spot the first signs of discontent among their staff, this method not only reduces conflict, but it also boosts morale, makes the workplace healthier, and can make burnout much less likely.
It's not hard to imagine that when employees feel like their boss listens to them and values them, they will feel better about their job. It has been shown that compassionate leadership increases productivity and even cuts down on people not coming to work. Over the past few years, there has been a big rise in the number of companies that offer wellness programs to their employees. This shows that companies want to be more caring employers.
Social Skills
Being able to connect with other people on a deep level.
Lastly, this part of emotional intelligence has nothing to do with how popular a leader is. That depends on how well they can read nonverbal signals in social situations. For example, a manager with good people skills would know not to take a joke about them personally. They would be self-aware enough to politely refuse to go to a company party they were invited to.
Leaders who can feel what their followers are going through are better able to meet their needs and calm down tense situations. Even if the food wasn't good, a waiter with good people skills could make you want to tell others about the restaurant.
If you liked this blog, you might like some of our others as well.