Are You Emotionally Intelligent?
Are You Emotionally Intelligent?
December 6, 2010 by Taylor Studios
Emotional intelligence is the ability, capacity or skill to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. Besides the traditional characteristics associated with leadership like intelligence, toughness, determination, perseverance and vision; emotional intelligence is key to effective leadership. Truly effective leaders have a high degree of emotional intelligence which includes self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skill. It is generally accepted that these skills can be learned if you are willing to put in the effort – motivation, extended practice and get feedback.
Taylor Studios Inc. has a core value of improvement. With this in mind, I put a lot of effort in attempting to improve my leadership skills. This includes having a coach, spending much time on self-reflection and getting feedback. I recently took the BarOn EQ-I inventory assessment and compared it to my score from two years ago. I have improved!
After taking the test in 2008, I realized that one of the most important things I could do to lead this company was to create connectedness and to build the right team. I started doing things like walk around the company to chat with people. I write an internal newsletter. I keep everyone informed and share what was going on. I make my assignments to my staff more clear. I concentrate on listening and putting myself in their shoes. I ask a lot of questions. I attempt to be less reactionary and to pause before I respond to a heated topic. I utilize the six C’s () when trying to figure out why someone stumbles. I worked on being a leader instead of doing things.
If I want to effectively lead this company to become the number one sought after firm in the industry, I have to be able to rally my troops around a common vision. This is a number one priority of a leader or for anyone attempting to achieve. A lack of emotional intelligence is a number one derailer in achieving success in many realms of life. I’m sure you have all seen people that are highly intelligent, motivated, articulate, yet they rub people the wrong way therefore tend to stagnate.
The five components of Emotional Intelligence as defined by Daniel Goleman and published in the Harvard Business Review can be found on the Harvard Business Review’s . What areas do you need to work on to improve your relationships?
“True freedom lies in the ability to pause between stimulus and response and in that pause, choose.” Rollo May