Realistic, investigative, analytical skills and vision are some qualities often associated with the best managers and organizational leaders. Nevertheless, the overlooked element contained in the most effective leaders is perhaps the most critical: Emotional Quotient.
What is the emotional quotient?
Emotional Quotient (sometimes referred to as EI or EQ) is the ability to understand, manage, and establish your feelings, while at the same time being able to understand and manipulate the feelings of others. Emotional intelligence goes beyond the administrative nuts and bolts of becoming a successful leader and explores how your feelings influence others and how you can use that information to create positive outcomes.
For leaders, possessing emotional intelligence is essential for success. Think about it: who is more likely to succeed in taking the company forward–a leader who cries out to his team when under stress, or someone who remains in control of their feelings and those of others, and calmly assesses the situation?
In other words, a leader who can develop goals that people are excited about, get others excited about their work, generate confidence and positivity in the workplace, implement flexibility and a "go with the flow" attitude, and share a meaningful organizational identity with the organization members is likely to be a very successful leader.
Emotional intelligence quotient
According to Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist who helped popularize emotional intelligence, there are five key elements to it:
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is at the root of everything. It defines your ability not only to consider your strengths and weaknesses but also to identify your emotions and the effect they have on you and your team s success.
Self-regulation
Self-regulation prevents you from exploiting your leadership position by criticizing and/or stereotyping others and making hasty or whimsical decisions that undermine your beliefs. This calls on you to keep control of your feelings and how they affect others and to remain committed to personal responsibility.
Social Awareness
Although it is necessary to understand and control your own emotions, you do need to know how to read a room. Social knowledge defines the ability to understand other people s feelings and dynamics in action within the organization.
Empathy
Empathy is what allows you to put yourself in other people’s shoes and consider their unique perspectives. This is very important when it comes to successfully leading a team or organization. Empathy is exercised by those who excel in social consciousness. We seek to consider the thoughts and experiences of colleagues, allowing them to interact and collaborate more effectively with their peers.
Leaders with empathy actively support the career and personal growth of their team members, offer criticism without crushing the recipient, and solicit regular feedback from their employees. Such leaders are what it takes to motivate employees to perform above expectations.
Motivation
Leaders are motivated and formulate a goal that they consistently work towards. They hold themselves to a high standard and take the initiative when needed.
Emotional quotient chart
An emotional quotient chart is a tool used to measure and evaluate the emotional intelligence of leaders. It provides an insight into the leader’s ability to recognize, understand and manage their own emotions as well as those of others. The chart is based on five key components: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. By understanding these components and assessing their levels of development in a leader, organizations can better understand the effectiveness of their leadership team. Additionally, this chart can be used to train leaders on how to improve their emotional intelligence to become more effective in their roles.