Emotional intelligence is a crucial component of leadership. Your ability to manage your emotionsas well as recognize and influence others’has been considered one of the strongest indicators of workplace performance. Research shows that 90 percent of top performers are high in emotional intelligence.
Technical skills will only get you so far. If you’re an aspiring or current leaderyou need to build your emotional intelligence to bring out the best in others and cultivate high-performing teams.
“Leaders prime the emotional state of the organization,” said Travis Bradberrypresident of emotional intelligence provider TalentSmartto the Society for Human Resource Management. “When they’re ineffectivewhen they set poor examples of how they treat other peoplethat trickles down throughout the company.”
What Is Emotional Intelligence and Why Is It Important?
Emotional intelligencealso known as emotional quotient or EQis the ability to understand and manage your emotions and the emotions of others.
Similar to IQemotional intelligence can be measured through various assessmentsbut IQ represents cognitive abilities while EQ is a measure of one’s emotional capabilities.
While emotional intelligence is beneficial for everyoneit’s especially important for those in leadership positions. Emotionally intelligent leaders can empathize with otherscommunicate effectivelyand manage conflict. All of these abilities are qualities of effective leaders.
If you want to enhance your leadership capabilitieshere are five emotional intelligence skills you need and ways you can develop them.
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Emotional Intelligence Skills Leaders Need
1. Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is having a clear understanding of your strengthslimitationsemotionsbeliefsand motivations. It sounds simple enoughyet 79 percent of executives surveyed by organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry had at least one blind spot—or a skill they ranked among their strongest that others reported as a weakness.
Leaders who are adept at recognizing and managing their emotions are better equipped to perceive others’ feelings and know how to motivate employees. Those who don’t could see a slip in performance: Research in the Harvard Business Review found that teams with individuals who lack self-awareness make worse decisions and are less effective at conflict management.
By acknowledging your weaknessesyou can build trust and transparency among your team. You can also own your professional development by knowing the areas in which you need to improve in order to advance your career.
Self-awareness is the foundation for a larger arena of competence known as emotional intelligenceor EQwhich has become ever more important to success in leadership roles. Watch Harvard Business School Professors Joshua Margolis and Tony Mayo break down the major facets of EQ and how to build your own self-awareness.
2. Self-Regulation
Self-regulation refers to how you manage your emotionsbehaviorsand impulses. The more self-aware you arethe easier this becomes; if you can recognize what you’re feeling and whyyou can respond appropriately.
“In my experienceI’ve never seen the tendency toward radical outbursts to surface as an indicator of strong leadership,” writes Daniel Golemanthe psychologist who popularized emotional intelligenceon his website.
If prone to emotional outbursts or overreactingthere are tactics you can use to improve your self-regulationsuch as:
Pausing Before Responding: Give yourself time to stop and think before immediately replying. This could be as simple as taking a deep breath and allowing for a 20-second pause so that your feelings get out of the way of your thoughts.
Taking a Step Back: Sometimesyou might need to leave the roomand that’s OK. It’s often better to take a walkdrink some wateror call a friend than to make a snap judgmentsend a scathing emailor lash out at your team.
Recognizing Your Emotions: Try jotting down what it is you’re feeling and what caused the distress. You’ll likely start identifying patterns. If you know what triggers youthe next time a similar situation occursyou’ll be better positioned to handle it in a healthypositive way.
If you acknowledge your emotions and give yourself time to process themyou can carefully craft how you respond and avoid doing anything that could jeopardize the goodwill you’ve worked hard to build.
3. Empathy
Empathy is the capability of understanding another person’s experiences and emotionsand has been ranked as the top leadership skill needed today by global consulting firm DDI. According to DDI's researchleaders who excel at listening and responding with empathy perform more than 40 percent higher in coachingplanningand decision-making.
According to a separate survey by Businessolver96 percent of employees rank empathy as importantbut 92 percent say it’s undervalued. It shouldn’t bethough: Companies that prioritize empathy experience an increase in revenueretentionand productivity.
By actively listening to your employees and taking the time to understand their wants and needsyou can boost engagementbuild trustand more effectively coach them through challenges. The more your team feels appreciatedthe more invested they’ll bewhichin turnleads to higher morale and stronger company culture.
4. Motivation
Motivation refers to your ability to inspire both yourself and others to action. Hereit’s essential to lead by example. Self-motivated leaders care more about hitting organizational milestones than monetary awards. They set goalstake initiativerise to the challengeand stay optimistic during turbulent times.
The more positive you arethe more confident your team will feel. Your intrinsic motivation will permeate the organizationand you’ll have a better understanding of how to empower employees.
5. Social Skills
Social skills are all about how you perceive emotions and interact and communicate with others. For exampleemotionally intelligent leaders can walk into a room of employees with pursed lips and clenched fists and not only sense the tensionbut know how to address and resolve the conflict before it escalates.
The more in tune you are with your emotionsthe easier it will be to assess others’. And if you can assess others’ feelingsyou can more easily build and maintain relationships. Leaders with strong social skills know they can’t achieve success alone. Surpassing goals and reaching milestones requires collaborationcommunicationand a shared vision.
Related: How to Give Feedback Effectively
How to Develop Emotional Intelligence Skills
If you have gaps in your current skill setthere are actions you can take to boost your emotional intelligence. Methods include:
1. Try Journaling
At the end of the workdayreflect on how your meetingsprojectsand interactions went—whether positive or negative. By writing your thoughts downyou can spot specific patterns about your behaviors and reactionsas well as others’.
Where did you excel? How are your employees feeling? Are there certain people or situations that frustrated you andif sowhy? The more introspective you arethe better. For exampleyou’ll become more aware of what upsets youso that you can avoid a future outburstor mimic actions that have proven to boost employee morale.
2. Undergo a 360-Degree Assessment
In a 360-degree assessmentyou solicit feedback from your managercolleaguesand peerswhile also undergoing an individual self-assessment. Through the processyou can gain valuable insights into what your co-workers perceive as your strengths and weaknessesas well as uncover any blind spots you might have.
According to Jack ZengerCEO of leadership development firm Zenger Folkmanmore than 85 percent of all Fortune 500 companies use 360-degree feedback. It can help improve leaders’ self-awarenesswhichin turncan result in improved workplace effectivenessless stressand stronger relationships.
3. Practice Active Listening
According to Psychology Todayonly about 10 percent of people listen effectively. It’s easy to get distracted by technologybackground noiseand your own thoughts. Yetto be an effective communicator and emotionally intelligent leaderyou need to be a good listener.
To become more emotionally intelligentpractice active listening. Try to focus on what the speaker is saying and show that you’re engaged by paraphrasing and using other non-verbal cues like nodding. By actively listening at workit will be easier to connect with others and truly understand their thoughts and feelings.
4. Pay Attention to Your Emotions
To understand the emotions of othersyou need to understand your own first.
When you catch yourself feeling a particularly strong emotionwhether it’s a positive or negative onemake a conscious effort to think about what you’re feeling. Take a second and consider why you’re feeling this way and what might have triggered such a strong emotional response.
This will help you become more aware of your own emotions and better understand your colleagues’. As an empathetic leaderyou’ll be able to cultivate a high-performing team.
5. Take an Online Course or Training
If you’re interested in diving deeper into emotional intelligence and enhancing your leadership capabilitiestaking an online leadership course or training could be the best next step.
Online courses offer working professionals the flexibility to complete coursework on their schedule and connect with a global community of like-minded peersall while gaining new skills and knowledge.
One program to consider is Harvard Business School Online’s Leadership Principles coursewhich provides a 360-degree assessment to help you better understand who you are as a leader and how others perceive you.
Improving Your Emotional Intelligence
Building your emotional intelligence skills can not only help you grow as a leader but enable you to motivate and coach teams more effectively. In turnyou can make a greater impact on your organization by boosting moraleproductivityand communication—enabling you to advance your business and career simultaneously.
Do you want to improve your emotional intelligence? Explore our online course Leadership Principles and discover how you can unleash the potential in yourself and others to create high-performing teams.
This post was updated on May 132021. It was originally published on October 232019.