Emotional intelligence tips to be a better leader

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People often ask me, “What did it take me to be a better leader”? Well, a lot of things are connected with being a better leader. All kinds of great stuff like communication skills, vision, motivations, and one of the key things being ‘emotional intelligence’.

What is emotional intelligence?

We all have an IQ - a good one or a bad one, and we cannot do much about the bad one. But we can all get better at our emotional intelligence. And specifically, the leaders. Emotional intelligence is something that is related to the success in our life.

Psychology Today says it’s:

- The ability to accurately identify your own emotions

- The ability to utilize emotions and apply them to tasks

- The ability to manage emotions

- The ability to recognize the influence of other emotions

“If your emotional abilities are not in hand if you do not have self-awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can’t have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.” -Daniel Goleman

Author and psychologist Daniel Goleman, says that emotional intelligence serves as an important factor in finding a difference in those who will grow in an organization.

This is what drives a person to excellence.

What does emotional intelligence (EQ) brings an impact on your professional success? The Harvard Business Review found that emotional intelligence makes up 90% of the factors driving professional upward mobility. And of the high-performing leaders, 90% of them high EQs.

Emotional intelligence and leadership

For any kind of leadership position, emotional intelligence is vital to be a better leader.

Not all leaders can work productively with people and therefore they fail to succeed. Leading effectively in a workplace demands emotional intelligence where each person feels motivated to succeed. Leaders with high emotional intelligence work productively at the workplace to develop trust with their employees.

Effective leaders always look forward to connecting emotionally with teams to build mutual trust and respect for keeping the teams working efficiently.

How can you help yourself up with developing emotional intelligence?

Show empathy

Empathy means to understand the need for others, willing to appreciate it. What makes an empathetic leader as the best leader?

This in itself makes it essential in the workplace. For leaders to get through the tough times easily they will have to understand what co-workers are going through. Without empathy, you can never nurture a team.

Listen twice as much as you talk

Epictetus — 'We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.'

There is a lot of truth hidden in this quote. When we listen, we show people that they are valued.

Good reasons to be a good listener:

- You will be appreciated as a leader

- People will contribute more to you

- Promotes awareness for a present moment

- Some new lessons to learn

- Helps in fostering tolerance

Enjoy the presence of other people and learn to develop a listening attitude.

Quick decision maker

Our emotional awareness will decide how we make decisions in our life - be it professional or personal. As a leader, decision making is a hallmark of your greatness. And the most important component to decision making is self-confidence. How you envision the world around you decide how confident you are, and how you make a decision for better or worse.

One must be able to take responsibility of whatever is happening in the workplace and be able to think critically to make decisions. Do not be afraid to make decisions, as it can make people against you.

Self-awareness

How do your emotions affect your behavior and leadership role? Self-awareness goes hand in hand with emotional intelligence giving you a better view of how you discover the things. People respect the leader who stays calm when the issues may arise. Identify your own bad habits to develop a foundation for self-improvement. It is on you how to choose to behave with yourself and others.

Bringing it all together

As you start practicing with emotionally intelligent behaviors, gradually you will make these your habits. You will enter an environment surrounded by emotional intelligence without even struggling with adopting the same to your actions. And old disastrous behaviors will die off.

These are some of the things that motivate me to be a better leader. It simply starts with working on your emotional intelligence, and that’s really the key to success in life. It’s vital for business leaders to lead in emotionally intelligent ways to build a meaningful relationship and a healthy productive workplace.