Which Is More Important In Being A Successful Business Leader?

Thursday, 18^th May 2017

By, GBS Corporate Training

#EmotionalIntelligence #IntelligenceQuotient #SituationalLeadership

Have you worked with colleagues who turn everything into a joke or those who never seem to laugh at anything? How about those people who want to win just for the sake of winning?

All these people are seriously lacking in their levels of Emotional Intelligence.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the measure of an individual’s ability to recognise, understand and manage their emotions, and the emotions of other people. In this blog, we explore why emotional intelligence is critical to successful leadership.

Managing emotions in the workplace is more important than ever, since leaders are experiencing disruptive technologies, increasing customer demands or new competitors at a much greater speed than ever before.

What we used to think of as crises, are today becoming routine occurrences, which means that it’s critical for Leaders to manage their emotions as well as those of other people, and be able to take charge of the situation and not panic.

Why is Emotional Intelligence Important for Business Leaders?

Leaders with high emotional intelligence are aware that emotions can drive their behaviour and impact other people (positively and negatively), and understand how to manage those emotions – both their own and others – especially when under pressure.

“Emotional competence is the single most important personal quality that each of us must develop and access to experience a breakthrough. Only through managing our emotions can we access our intellect and our technical competence. An emotionally competent person performs better under pressure.” Dave Lennick, Executive VP, American Express Financial Advisers

People with higher emotional intelligence find it easier to form and maintain interpersonal relationships and to ‘fit in’ to group situations. They are likely to become more charismatic, interesting and attractive to others, and have teams with high energy and high performance.

“The most effective Leaders are all alike in one crucial way: they all have a high degree of what has come to be known as 'emotional intelligence'. Without it, a person can have the best training in the world, an incisive, analytical mind, and an endless supply of smart ideas, but he still won’t make a great Leader”. Daniel Goleman

Emotionally intelligent (EQ) Leaders are flexible in adapting their leadership style to those they choose to lead. They will influence and engage employees by being socially savvy regarding which leadership style would be the most appropriate with certain personalities and in specific situations.

Emotionally intelligent people are easy to spot because they tend to:

Successfully manage difficult situations
Express themselves clearly
Gain respect from others
Influence other people
Keep cool under pressure
Know how to say the “right” thing to get the right result
Motivate themselves to get things done
Know how to be positive, even during difficult situations

In answer to the question we pose in this blog, both IQ and EI are important to Leaders. In CIO Magazine, Goleman says that Leaders need a certain amount of IQ to understand the complexity of what they are doing, but the higher up Leaders rise within an organisation, emotional intelligence becomes a more important factor in determining their effectiveness.

“In the last decade or so, science has discovered a tremendous amount about the role emotions play in our lives. Researchers have found that even more than IQ, your emotional awareness and abilities to handle feelings will determine our success and happiness in all walks of life, including family relationships”. Professor John Gottman

How Can I Learn to be More Emotionally Intelligent?

Unlike IQ which remains at relatively the same level over the course of your life, EI always has the potential to improve. If you are looking to improve your EI GBS will help you to build on your existing skills with a one-day workshop: ‘Leading with Emotional Intelligence’.

You will gain an in-depth understanding of the impact emotions have on thoughts and actions. By harnessing the power of EI Leaders are able to effectively motivate, engage and strengthen cooperation within teams, which will naturally drive performance.

GBS Corporate Training is the sole UK provider of Situational Leadership® training courses complemented by ‘Leading with Emotional Intelligence’.