UpSkill: The Need For Emotional Intelligence In Leadership
By Upskillers
Published On April 3, 2019
With self-awareness comes freedom — freedom from personal bias, an ego-centric self and negative patterns.
Emotional Intelligence is that self-awareness, which shapes leaders who not only become a force of nature and fierce forward-thinkers but also who are radically empathetic, perceptive and downright humble. It’s a fact that in today’s world, leaders need to have a high level of Emotional Intelligence or EQ to identify with their team under stressful situations.
With cameras turned off, absence of body language, and distance from energy, it is impossible to understand what mind frame a team member is in.
And with remote work, YouTube Academy being prevalent and the workforce developing multi-functional skills, everyone has a platter of job options available at their fingertips. In a company, if a team member feels unvalued, unheard, or unseen, s/he will not overlook the situation. Employees like to be treated as humans and not machines.
The process mentioned in the picture above happens within a month, and for some in less than 2 weeks.
This was not true for the generation of our fathers. Let me talk about my father.
His bond with the company’s CEO was phenomenal. And it was the same depth of connection and companionship that made him stay in the same company for over 3 decades. After a certain title, my father never fought his fate, aimed for more or thought about moving, he was very happy with his 9-5 job.
To expect this level of kinship in today’s world is unimaginable, yet achievable. To date, I draw inspiration from his thoughts and his loyalty. And when I think about what made him stick to the same company for years? I realize it’s nothing but the strong emotional and spiritual bond they shared and continue to share.
And it’s for this reason, leaders need to pause, reflect and realign their thoughts. They need to remove ‘I’ from the equation and put in place an intention of developing the intuition of reading non-verbal cues, gestures, and tone of someone’s voice. In a survey conducted by CareerBuilder, 75% of people said they will likely promote individuals who have more EQ.
Let’s take a look at a few important reasons why EQ is a foundation for a stronger bond:
- Leaders with high EQ can identify the tension brewing in their team and can help them resolve the conflict much before it reaches a saturation point
- With a high EQ in leaders, a quality employee retention rate can significantly improve
- It can help leaders manage their own thoughts, moods and emotions which leads to a peaceful team environment at all times
- It can help identify the resistance amongst their team
- If the leaders are in better control of their emotions, they can be empathetic, think about the teams’ betterment, growth and development
Developing Emotional Intelligence is a journey that passes through the self until it becomes selfless. It’s a journey every organization must undertake.
It’s the 6th sense, which helps get a bird’s-eye view of things, removes blind spots, gives space to foster relationships beyond titles and duties.
UpSkill Blogger
Tithi Soni