Following on from our previous blog introducing Emotional Intelligence to the workplace, we will now explore the ways that EQ can make you a better leader. As we mentioned, Emotional Intelligence is the ability to perceive and understand your emotions and the emotions of others. By mastering Emotional Intelligence, and having a high EQ, you can manage your staff and working relationships more effectively. This will help you lead for success, and to create an effective team environment within your organisation. You will create a desirable environment to work in, and this will improve employee morale.
In this article, we will explore how EQ makes you a better leader, and we will give you some important reasons why EQ will make you a better leader in your role. This is ultimately a skill that everyone in a leadership role and everyone aspiring to become a leader should seek to develop. By developing and mastering this skill, you will consolidate your place as a leader within your organisation, and you will create effective working relationships.
The fundamentals of Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and to manage your emotions. Emotional Intelligence also enables you to relieve stress, empathize with staff and colleagues, communicate more effectively, problem solve and manage conflict more effectively. You will also become more self-aware, and become more aware of your colleagues and staff. This will help you create a positive working environment within your team.
How can Emotional Intelligence make you a better leader?
As we explored in our previous article, Five important benefits of Emotional Intelligence in the workplace, Emotional Intelligence is the ability to understand, use and manage your emotions in positive ways. This is a very beneficial skill to have as a leader, as it will be important to control your emotions and to present a calm exterior to your staff when handling situations in the workplace. EQ will also allow you to understand the emotions of your staff and your colleagues, allowing you to also manage their emotions. You will be able to manage your staff more effectively, and you will be able to manage your working relationships to be more beneficial and productive. In turn, this results in a more productive workplace.
Emotional Intelligence is useful for stress management
Emotional Intelligence will also help you to relieve stress. As a leader, this is a vital skill to hold. You will likely be under more pressure than other team members, as it is your job to lead a department. You likely thrive under this kind of pressure, but it is also important to manage that pressure effectively, rather than letting it run unchecked and cause harm. Therefore utilising Emotional Intelligence to understand when you are stressed, and to manage that effectively to relieve stress is essential. Emotional Intelligence allows you to identify when you are stressed, and you can continue to think objectively, rather than being overcome with emotion.
Emotional Intelligence allows you to understand other people better
As a leader of people within a workplace, being able to understand your staff is important. By having an insight into what they are feeling, you can manage them more effectively. Morale is important within a workplace and within a team. If morale is low, productivity will be low, and so will staff retention. By letting this go unchecked, it will cause further productivity issues, and further instances where staff leave the business prematurely and more staff need to be hired. Therefore, by using Emotional Intelligence, you can realise if your staff aren’t happy early on and you can talk to them to resolve their problems, ensuring that they feel comfortable within the team and within their role, and also ensuring they stay in the organisation.
Emotional Intelligence improves your self-awareness
By becoming more self-aware, you can bring the best out of yourself and your work. You become more aware of the role that you play within your organisation, and the importance of the work that you do. You become more aware of your strengths and your weaknesses, learning what areas you need to improve. You can also take on board feedback, without it triggering a naturally defensive response. By becoming more self-aware and assessing yourself for improvement, you can do the same with your team. You become more aware of their strengths and their weaknesses, and you can help them and offer feedback so that they can improve collectively as a team. In short, self-awareness is the key to self-improvement and the improvement of the team. By becoming more self-aware, you can also lead by example and encourage your staff and colleagues to do the same. A more self-aware workforce is much more productive.
Emotional Intelligence allows you to communicate effectively
As a leader, understanding your colleagues is essential. By having high Emotional Intelligence, a leader can understand the atmosphere of the workplace and respond appropriately. They can also read situations well, particularly those of conflict, and speak honestly and with effect to resolve any issues. In turn, this will improve your social skills as a leader. This will open up opportunities within your organisation for promotions, and it will have a positive impact on your reputation within your organisation. In short, higher Emotional Intelligence allows you to build effective relationships with the people you speak to.
Emotional Intelligence gives you better self-control
By having higher Emotional Intelligence, you gain better self-regulation. You are more able to regulate your emotions and have better self-control. Having self-control is important as a leader. There are many times when your immediate reaction will not be the appropriate response. By having high Emotional Intelligence you can self-regulate your responses. Instead of hiding your emotions, by exercising self-control you recognize them and you can control them effectively. It helps if you reflect on how you reacted to previous situations, and what you would do differently to handle the situation more effectively in the future. This allows you to handle situations more effectively and respond more appropriately in the future.
Book a course with us
Emotional Intelligence is a skill that builds better working relationships, creates value in your role, and gives you confidence to work with others, resolve issues, pioneer new ideas, and drive you and your organisation towards success.
We offer a variety of courses, such as coaching courses, in which you can learn about emotional intelligence and other vital skills to improve your own leadership skills. To find out more about our courses, visit our Courses page and click on the relevant course. Alternatively, or if you’d like more information before booking, email us at enquiries@inpd.co.uk, send us a message using the form on our Contact page or call us on 0161 826 3139. We look forward to hearing from you and advising you on the right course for you.
