Emotional Intelligence: Becoming Better Leaders Through Improved Lifestyles

Leadership • The art of motivating a group of people to act toward achieving a common goal. In a business setting, this can mean directing workers and colleagues with a strategy to meet the company's needs. • The ability of an individual or a group of individuals to influence and guide followers or other members of an organization "Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." -John F. Kennedy

Leadership • Involves making good and sometimes difficult decisions, creating and articulating a clear vision and establishing achievable goals • Leadership is influencing other people to follow. Therefore, anyone who can influence people to follow them has leadership qualities. • Leaders instill in their people a hope for success and a belief in themselves. Positive leaders empower people to accomplish their goals.

The Traits Approach to Leadership • Focuses on the personal attributes (or traits) of leaders, such as mental, physical and personality characteristics, competencies, and values • Views leadership solely from the perspective of the individual leader • Leadership traits are considered to be characteristics that people are born with and that remain relatively stable over time and across varying situations

Advantages of the Traits Theory of Leadership • It moved away from the Great Man Theory of Leadership which had no scientific backing • It is one of the first systematic attempts to study Leadership • It helped to identify leadership traits that can be improved upon

Disadvantages of the Traits Theory of Leadership • It can breed a toxic style of leadership within your organization • The trait theory of leadership fails to cover all situations and circumstances • No surveys to show how different degrees of the same trait affect the leader's behaviour and performance

The Behavioural Approach to Leadership • This focusses on the actual behaviours and actions of leaders as opposed to the personality traits of the leaders • The interpersonal relationship between the leader and his subordinates • Positive behaviour boosts the morale of the employees while negative behaviour results in employees who have a lack of motivation to work hard as they have little confidence in their leader

Analysing the Behavioural Approach to Leadership • Has its setbacks as this approach does not recognise that a certain behavioural style may work in one situation but not another • This approach also does not consider the factor of time and how a particular behaviour from a leader might work at one point in time but not another • Production-centered Leadership vs Employee-centered Leadership

Situational Approach to Leadership • The Situational Approach to Leadership is a practical, repeatable, process leaders can use to enhance their effectiveness when attempting to influence others • The process initiates with a clear understanding of the task or objective that needs to be accomplished • The task provides grounding for both the leader and the follower to align on the follower’s readiness to perform

• The leader considers the needs of the employees and adjusts his style to meet those needs Why is Situational Leadership effective? • It creates a common language of performance • Teaches leaders to accurately interpret and effectively respond to their environment • Utilizes task specificity as a measure of performance versus typecasting employees

The Four Quadrants of Situational Leadership Further Reading: “Leadership and the One Minute Manager“ By Kenneth Blanchard By Josh Stumbo

What is Intelligence Quotient (IQ)? A number meant to measure intelligence. Once the standard measure of human mental capacity; now widely considered to be neither accurate nor fair. Controversy exists today over the effect of race and class on scores and whether IQ tests really measure intelligence. Tests of special aptitudes and personality factors are now favoured over the pure intelligence test. -Dictionary.com A measure of someone’s intelligence found from special tests -Oxford Dictionary

What is Emotional Quotient (EQ)? EQ = Emotional Quotient • EQ is the measure of one’s Emotional Intelligence The ability to understand your emotions and those of other people and to behave appropriately in different situations -Oxford Dictionary

EQ vs IQ Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Intelligence Quotient (IQ) The ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself and of others Use emotions to facilitate thinking and understand emotional cues Ability to navigate through social settings effectively and work collaboratively for a common goal A score derived from one of several standardized tests designed to assess intelligence Ability to learn, understand and apply information to skills; logical thinking Ability to analyze and navigate one’s way through task-oriented challenges, individually

Emotional Intelligence • The ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions • Understanding and expressing emotions • Using empathy to understand others’ emotions • Part of our psychological makeup: EI, IQ and Personality. These determine how we interact with others. • These 3 work independently, so no matter what IQ you have, you have the ability to score high on EQ scale Further Reading on EI: Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman

What makes a leader emotionally intelligent? Employees prefer leaders that show their warmth first and their competence second -Study by Dr. Amy Buddy from Harvard Uni • High warmth opens up more possibilities and allows employees to want to listen to what you have to say • Likability and trustworthiness is what drives others’ partnership & willingness to vouch for you • After this, the strength of hard skills are a welcome gift and not a threat

What makes a leader emotionally intelligent? They: Ø meet people where they are and notice people’s energies and reactions Ø do not make assumptions, but they ask questions to learn more Øgive clear, specific and timely recognition to boost the morale of their subordinates Ø ask employees for innovative ideas and improvements

Measuring Emotional Intelligence • Being aware of emotions • Expressing emotions • Controlling emotions • Relationship management

The four factors of Emotional Intelligence • Self-awareness • Self-management • Social awareness • Relationship management

Self-awareness • Very important to recognise your emotions, as that will guide your behaviour thereafter • Event Thoughts and emotions Behaviour • Reflection is crucial in understanding your emotions and subsequently building upon your EQ

Self-assessment 1: The Personal Reflection Tool Event —- Thoughts and emotions —- Behaviour v Consider a challenge you have faced at work in the last 6 months 1. What was the event? 2. How did you feel about the event? (ie. Emotions you had) 3. What were you thinking when the event occurred?

4. How did you respond? 5. Why do you think you reacted this way? 6. How did it affect others? 7. Were you considering others’ points of view? 8. Would you react in the same way again? Self-assessment: The Personal Reflection Tool

Self-management Challenging your thoughts… • Try to change the way you think about challenges • Include a Disrupting Thought to change the way you would usually view a particular situation • This will allow you to open your mind to a different perspective on a similar situation Self-assessment: Disruptive Thinking Tool

Some tips to manage your emotions more effectively… Self-management 1. Identify the emotional reaction that stems from an event 2. Take a step away from the event 3. Give yourself time to recover and feel more composed 4. Challenge your thoughts / shift your perspective 5. Make a conscious decision on how you want to respond

• According to Daniel Goleman, a leader’s flexibility and commitment to personal accountability, is closely linked to self-management Improving your ability to manage yourself: Self-management Ø Know your values Ø Hold yourself accountable Ø Practice being calm

Social awareness • The ability to understand others and respond to their needs • Being aware of what is going on around you and being sensitive to others’ feelings • Shift the focus from internal awareness to an external observation • Consciously focus on people’s expressions, tone and emotions • Try to understand the interactions between people better

EMPATHY • The ability to put yourself in others’ shoes to understand their emotions • You get a better insight and ultimately build better relationships Social awareness DO’s DON’Ts Ask questions to understand someone / situation better Offer support and understanding Use exploratory language (eg. Could, possibly, maybe) Assume that you know exactly what they are going through Agree with everything the person says Make relations to everything the person tells you

Communication • It has to be two-way • Be aware of your body-language Social awareness • Tone plays a big part in effective communication • Non-verbal cues are sometimes much stronger than verbal cues • Improves with listening to others intently • Respond to feelings

Relationship management • Having good social skills allows one to manage conflicts successfully • Crucial to be a good communicator • Giving praise when its due • Making real connections with others • Being in-tuned with group dynamics • Using your strengths to build relationships

Be open with receiving feedback • Ask others feedback on how they feel about you • Review how you manage relationships Relationship management • Refine your approach to relationships • Repeat the process as we are a work in progress

• We focus too much on what the right thing to say is and fail to build real relationships in the moment • Make your intentions clear Relationship management • Allows you to be flexible • Being real and honest • Effective communication is about the message perceived by the other person and not about the message you want to deliver

Case Study Scenario: A colleague of yours says something that makes you feel uncomfortable. Ø Many people would react back immediately in an offended / angry way ØBut STOP, think before you react ØLet yourself feel the emotions and accept it (eg. Anger) ØDo not accuse the person

Case Study Ø Explain your reaction to their comment ØAsk a question or more to clarify ØShare information, to educate ØGive the person a chance to apologize ØYou may choose to take it up to higher authority if necessary

Some Takeaways… • Being calm during any event is crucial to help us think before we react • Doing frequent self-reflection allows us to build on self-awareness • Adopting an open-minded attitude allows us to receive feedback positively • Consciously observing others’ allows us to be more intuitive • Developing our Emotional Intelligence allows us to build upon our professional and personal relationships alike

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