To state it wisely, there is a hierarchy in emotional intelligence, and it always begins with “know thyself,”and that’s an ancient concept, first introduced to civilized consciousness by Socrates over 2000 years ago. The full maxim, deemed important enough to be inscribed on the temple of Apollo at Delphi, is “to know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.” However, Management Training of yesteryear focused on getting the task done and it was all based around a transaction of work. Today, effective Management Development Programs focus on soft skills. The following are some key pointers to how can leaders optimize their latent emotional intelligence and these are:
1. Emotional Intelligence in Leadership
Good leadership requires you to motivate those around you likewise:
It’s impossible, however, to motivate others if you don’t understand what makes them tick.
Also, as we’ve seen, empathy follows on from self-awareness.
Although the five components of emotional intelligence are often rendered as a wheel, they are more hierarchical than that.
Good leaders start by understanding their own emotional drivers (self-awareness, self- regulation, and motivation), then extend that understanding out to their team (empathy),and beyond into the wider world (social skills).
2. Optimize Latent Emotional Intelligence
Leaders can optimize their latent emotional intelligence likewise:
Many of the main disciplines within any successful business rely on empathy and social skills.
Whether it’s engaging stakeholders, winning new business, or addressing a customer complaint.
Since leaders need to understand these processes, maximizing emotional intelligence will always improve their performance in these and other key disciplines.
To that end, let’s end with some key pointers (two for each of the five components).
The following are 5 tips as recommendations on what you need to improve in yourself for improving your emotional intelligence as leader:
Respond Don’t React.
Perhaps the negative comment hit home? Accordingly:
o If you feel an urge to push back against something challenging said to you, take a moment to enquire exactly why it hits a nerve.
o There’s a big difference between responding and reacting.
o Ever sent that email and regretted it?
Keep a Journal.
Keeping a journal is like writing a diary as a teenager for:
o Keeping a work journal can help you understand your own responses and choices.
o Particularly if this process of self-enquiry isn’t second nature.
o Take a few moments at the end of each day or week to reflect on how things went, and what you felt as a result.
Learn to Meditate.
Meditation can be as simple as breathing exercises, or:
o As involved as mindfulness.
o If you choose, however, to practice this calming skill,
o You’ll find loads of support in the form of groups, books or meditation and mindfulness apps.
Stand by your Values.
It can be worth writing down the values you believe in, and then:
o Holding yourself accountable to them.
o Place a reminder somewhere where you’ll always be able to see it.
o Move its location from time to time so you don’t edit it out of your visual field.
Regularly Reevaluate your Reasons.
Regularly reevaluate your reasons likewise:
o Exactly why are you in this role?
o Exactly why are you in this company?
o Exactly why are you in this sector?
o Reminding this from time to time can help re-set those all-important motivations.
The following are 5 tips as recommendations on what you need to improve toward others for improving your emotional intelligence as leader:
Keep a Gratitude Journal.
This is a common strategy employed by addicts and others trying to regulate behavior for:
o It can also be a great motivator.
o It reminds you just how fortunate you are.
o It reminds you how much you stand to lose.
Consider a Role Swap.
If you literally spend a day or two doing someone else’s role, according:
o You’ll gain clear insight into their concerns and challenges.
o You’ll also be helping an employee get a taste of a more senior role.
o Provided the swap is two-way.
A sincere “How are You?”
Begin every one-to-one with this approach for:
o You make sure your employee feels the sincerity of such a request
o You make sure your employee knows that they can respond honestly.
o It may seem like a small thing, but it is easily overlooked.
Take a conflict resolution course.
For defusing challenging situations:
o There’s a lot to be said for learning some practical techniques.
o There are many such courses,
o There are a growing body of literature in this field too.
Give praise where it is due.
Give praise where it is due likewise:
o Make sure you remember to thank employees regularly and sincerely for their contribution.
o Make it personal, individual and ensure that it doesn’t come off as rote.
o Too many employers believe a paycheck is all the thanks their employees need – not so!
5. Emotional Intelligence Skills Developed
How well are your emotional intelligence skills developed is assessed by the fact that we are all a work in progress, accordingly:
Emotional Intelligence is a hard-won skill that is properly a combination of five different abilities.
It’s no wonder, therefore, that we all fall short in this area from time to time.
You should forgive yourself when this happens.
So long as you’re sincere about trying to improve.
Training is not luxury; it is believing in making things better through investing in people’s intellectual capital and people without training are like plants without water. To that end, the aim of Level Up is to provide people with specialized and hands-on business training & consulting and assist them using their own capabilities and developing their personal skills in the workplace, until Level Up presence is no longer required.Level Up provides consultative business training solutions in the fields of management, sales, marketing, retail, negotiation skills, purchasing and human resources.
Source: https://www.mtdtraining.com/blog/emotional-intelligence-leadership.htm