Female leaders are often accused of being ‘over emotional’ and ‘too people focused’, as if that is a bad thing. There is in fact a place for emotion in the work place.
The world of work needs both
task focused and people focused people to work together, both have emotions. I know when I was recruiting people I wanted to see
passion, excitement,
engagement. I wanted to know they cared and felt a
strong connection
with our work and the people we were serving. The same way I feel about the clients I work with now.
Now as I bring people onto my team as a
business owner, I look for the same
attributes even if they are the most tech savvy, data driven, detail focused people.
Emotional Intelligence is being aware of your emotions, their impact and how to manage them. Simply raising your awareness of Emotional Intelligence will directly impact on your effectiveness as a leader and this article will explore that.
According to Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist who helped to popularise EI in the mid 90s, there are 5 key elements to this:
1. Self -Awareness
2.Self - regulation
3. Motivation
4. Empathy
5. Social Skills
Understanding and applying these elements ensure that as a leader you have a high emotional intelligence and this can have an incredible impact on your performance and energy as a female with a vision.
Let’s look at each element and see how it will benefit you to improve your emotional intelligence as you lead in your field of expertise.
1.Self Awareness -
Being a leader who is self aware is an essential quality. It is essential to know how your
decisions, ideas and your
Vision
impact on you, your environment, your team members and the world at large. This can help you to take stock of how and understand
why you are about to take action.
It can also help you to reflect on mistakes and grow from them as well as accepting criticism in a way that is positive.
Understanding how and when you perform at your best, how to manage your energy and remain calm, in the face of negativity or challenges, will ensure you offer a transformational leadership style where people want to join and deliver on your vision. Your confidence and certainty in yourself and others will radiate into the work you do and those around you.
2. Self regulation -
Being able to manage your emotions effectively and thus control your energy and engagement in the most impactful areas of your life is a key to being a high performing leader.
Managing your energy and productivity, as well as being open to ideas and using the skill sets of those around you, without feeling like they are a threat to your position as ‘the leader’, will ensure you have a positive impact on those around you. Taking a Solution Focused approach will ensure you maintain a growth mindset, even when the chips are down.
SMARTHabits (the routines, habits and rituals which ensure you perform at your best) also support consistent energy and growth mindset enabling you as a leader to feel emotionally at the top of your game more often than not.
3. Motivation -
Let’s be honest motivation doesn’t always come naturally. In fact sometimes we have to ‘trick’ our brain into taking action before we feel the
momentum taking hold and enjoy the fruits of our labour. However, the ‘tricks’ we can use include feeling aligned to a Vision for our business (and our life). As well as, working with our energy rather than trying to
manage time. Plus, creating SMART with a
heart goals, (i.e. goals that are created with the passion and vision you have around the goal) that make us want to leap out of bed and get stuck in, even when that warm duvet is calling us to stay.
4. Empathy -
This is a key part of being a
leader
which is why I don’t believe being ‘people focused’ is a negative thing. Hearing and
understanding customers is key to building a
successful business; knowing how to bring the best out of teams and letting them
shine in their area of
genius benefits everyone; cultivating cultures which ensure diversity is celebrated and heralded as the ‘norm’ are a great way to adopt an
empathetic approach to leadership in any business.
5. Social Skills -
As a leader being able to manage
change effectively and bring teams along for the ride is an important part in a world that is experiencing rapid technological, social and political changes. It’s also important to have
social skills that enable you to
inspire others, communicate effectively and demonstrate the
integrity and
authenticity of your vision and mission.
Connection and collaboration can also be an essential part of business success so being able to negotiate with other leaders and their teams are critical to ensuring success in this area.
How will you use your Emotional Intelligence to be at your next level best?
Working with clients over the years I am seeing more and more that IQ, knowledge and skills will take you so far, but the biggest
impact
on your energy and performance is a high emotional intelligence that you mindfully navigate as a
Transformational Visionary Leader.
From my own experience as a leader in the workplace, I was able to be ‘emotional’ in a way that
radiated the passion I had for the projects I was leading. I am confident that I continue to do that as a self employed Performance Coach. The great news is if you aren’t sure about this yourself, this is a skill that can be
developed and managed.
If you’d
like to learn how to increase your Emotional Intelligence, create SMARTHabits and improve your energy management to ensure peak performance please book a FREE Clarity Call
now
