Managing a team is certainly not easy, however, some individuals make it tougher on themselves by ignoring a few principles of emotional intelligence.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to focus an exorbitant amount of time and effort on your emotional intelligence.
Rather, simply following a few basic principles can help you improve your emotional intelligence, which leads to improvement in other areas, including organizational performance and employee experience.
Excel in Emotional Intelligence
For almost any business application, IQ and technical skills are crucial. That said, these skills won’t get you as far as your emotional intelligence can. While IQ and technical skills matter, think of them as the entry-level requirements for executive or leadership roles.
An individual who excels in emotional intelligence will possess the primary skill sets that a job of this caliber requires. Aside from this, they have a more profound understanding of themselves and their team.
Furthermore, they know exactly how their mindset and actions can impact their success. In total, there are five basic traits individuals with stronger emotional intelligence have, and they can vastly improve their leadership skills.
1. Motivation
Within every manager or leader, they must have a genuine passion for the work they do. Individuals with strong emotional intelligence truly understand their own motivations and how those motivations correlate with those of their organization.
Strong intrinsic motivation is an advantage in any business context, and the ability to utilize that motivation to instigate success. Highly motivated individuals know the role others play in fulfilling those motivations.
This knowledge helps them to make constructive decisions that lead to better, more productive outcomes.
2. Self-awareness
Self-awareness can be defined as the ability to recognize and understand one’s moods, emotions, and drives, as well as their effect on other people. That said, why exactly is this so significant? Self-awareness serves as the foundation of emotional intelligence.
In drastic situations, your team needs a leader with enough self-awareness to avoid inappropriate outbursts that cause everyone else to go into panic mode. A person who’s self-aware will stop and think before making any decisions.
Most individuals appreciate a leader who remains calm and collected when challenges arise and still treats their colleagues with respect.
3. Self-regulation
Self-awareness is important, however, it’s just the first step. The next step is practicing self-regulation and taking accountability when necessary. Think of it as something to accept, rather than something to hold yourself to.
Acting without any consideration for the impact it may have on others reflects poorly on the person in more ways than one, especially if they’re in a leadership position. Moving forward, consider an approach that embraces accountability.
4. Empathy
The ability to understand and share the feelings of another person is powerful and beneficial to your team. Putting yourself in other’s shoes exhibits strong emotional intelligence and a willingness to forgive instead of holding unhealthy grudges.
An empathetic leader will work to find a solution to a problem with one of their employees, rather than simply placing the blame on a member of their team. Without empathy, it’s difficult to reflect not just on your actions, but the actions of others.
Empathy helps a leader to understand the circumstances plaguing those around them, and how those circumstances could be affecting their work. On a side note, empathy plays a big role in the employee experience.
Demonstrating empathy is not only positive, but healthy for building productive relationships with your team.
5. Social Skills
In an increasingly digital climate, advanced social skills aren’t exactly a dime a dozen. With that said, social skills are needed to be knowledgeable, empathetic, and insightful. They help you manage challenging situations and formulate beneficial relationships.
Without good social skills, you’ll struggle to navigate awkward or uncomfortable situations, strengthen communication, and resolve disputes. As a leader, part of your job is to develop emotional intelligence for the sake of your position and your team.
The Value of EQ Traits
EQ traits are extremely valuable to develop on their own, however, they work best altogether. Individuals who showcase all five of these EQ traits are often led to high levels of success, and so are their colleagues.
FRIDAY’s blog always encourages small business owners to improve their organization from the inside out, and it begins with them. Take charge of your business by strengthening your emotional intelligence.
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