Emotional Intelligence – The New Normal

We have learnt a lot about leadership over the last year, whether that be from leading ourselves to enable us to work effectively remotely or leading our teams through a crisis and continual change. Compassion and collaboration have been key in supporting and leading through this last year and have been evident in social solidarity, scientific expertise, innovation and businesses that have adapted and thrived.

We’ve seen examples of poor leadership and outstanding leadership, often judged by us as individuals, from our own opinions and unique perspectives. This makes sense; as Stogdill noted, “there are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept”.

Despite our varying perceptions of leadership, we can agree on the core concepts inherent in strong leadership, which have been further emphasised through the pandemic, paired with vulnerability, dependence, and uncertainty. How can the way we have dealt with the crisis continue to be applied as we hopefully move beyond?

We’re all human beings, and our emotions belong to the same spectrum.

Leaders that have excelled during this time are the ones who have connected to the human aspect of leadership. At a time when every one of us has been connected by the common enemy of COVID-19, we have had a window into one another’s homes, met pets, children, partners, and learned probably more than ever before about our colleagues’ wider lives.

This lens into life beyond the walls of the office has given us as leaders a unique opportunity to engage more with our people as “whole people” rather than just in the role they play in the workplace – a subject in itself deserving of another blog!

This approach has been easier to engage with for some leaders and has shone a light on the need for all of us leaders to further build on our emotional intelligence and skills, as well as our practical skills. For those leaders already embracing and honing these skills - this transition has been more natural and easy, whilst for others, this has been an opening and a window into an area where they have traditionally been less comfortable.

It is likely, however, that these skills will continue to grow in importance and be called upon more frequently as we adapt to a life beyond the pandemic and understand the different impacts this has had on our teams. We are likely to be again changing our ways of working with hybrid models being more likely initially as we assess and understand how best to build our new working models of the future. We thought it could be helpful to reflect on our emotional intelligence and how we can strengthen this over the coming months: -

According to Goleman, an emotionally intelligent leader embodies the following traits:

• Gain an independent and objective sounding board
• Enhance clarity of vision and articulation of Purpose, Vision and Values
• Improve strategic leadership skills
• Improve confidence, impact, and performance
• Delegate well
• Manage Change, Conflict and Stress
• Transition effectively to a Senior or New Role
• Improve the effectiveness and performance of your team
• Prioritise, time manage and a improve work/life balance
• Effectively challenge and support your team
• Make difficult conversations easier and more effective
• Build an effective Board and engage them

This approach has been easier to engage with for some leaders and has shone a light on the need for all of us leaders to further build on our emotional intelligence and skills, as well as our practical skills. For those leaders already embracing and honing these skills - this transition has been more natural and easy, whilst for others, this has been an opening and a window into an area where they have traditionally been less comfortable.

It is likely, however, that these skills will continue to grow in importance and be called upon more frequently as we adapt to a life beyond the pandemic and understand the different impacts this has had on our teams. We are likely to be again changing our ways of working with hybrid models being more likely initially as we assess and understand how best to build our new working models of the future. We thought it could be helpful to reflect on our emotional intelligence and how we can strengthen this over the coming months:

• Grow to understand your strengths and weaknesses – a good way to start to build an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses can be to ask for feedback from your team members, starting to build self-reflection into your diary to make space to reflect regularly - see our blog on self-reflection
• You can also take a strengths assessment – if you’d like us to help with strengths assessments and coaching sessions on this, let us know
• When you experience a situation that generates a strong emotion, slow down your reaction and examine why you feel the way you do, and learn to make your reaction a choice instead of an impulse.

• Having become more self-aware, it’s important to then take the next step and take cognisance of what it takes to work at you’re your best and take steps to plan for this. This could be ensuring you regularly have enough sleep or planning in regular breaks and exercise in the day, particularly when working from home. Do you ensure that you have a 15-minute window between zoom calls, for example, to be able to set your context and be in the right frame of mind for your next meeting?
• Take accountability for errors, admit to mistakes (remember, we are all human), be up-front if a target is off track and engage with your team and line manager to take remedial action. People know these things, and you’re setting the example by being honest and upfront.

• We often mistake empathy and sympathy. None of us really knows what is going on for another person unless we have the exact same set of circumstances and life - which is unlikely. We can, however, make sure we enquire about what is going on for our team and imagine what it might be like to stand in their shoes. Being able to take another’s perspective is being able to show empathy.
• Recognise your body language – if your arms are crossed whilst someone is talking or if you’re fidgeting, what message could you be sending?
• Be human and respond to feelings, if you can sense frustration or disappointment, acknowledge it in a thoughtful manner.

• Great leaders know that they don’t know everything – and they enjoy the learning process, set some goals and refer back to them when you’re feeling lacklustre.
• Whether you’ve been in a role for 20 years or 20 days, check in with the elements of your career that motivate you to be your best and work out how you can spend more time doing what motivates you the most. We all have other areas within our work that are less motivating; these become less tedious when we focus on and build time in for our strengths and what does motivate us.

• If you think you’ve communicated enough, the chances are, you still have some more to do. Generally speaking, we can never communicate enough, and we need to continue to reiterate our message to ensure that it is heard. Check-in on what others are hearing from your communication, and that will help you to avoid misunderstandings and create more clarity.
• Praise your teams! When they have done a great job, tell them. It will make them feel appreciated and inspire them to strive for success.

By adopting the above behaviours, we can create an environment that has a positive work culture, where employees feel respected and valued. It takes work, supportive challenge and some discomfort to be a great leader, we believe it is a wonderful ongoing journey that we never complete as there is always something new to learn around the corner.

If you’ve enjoyed this article, you might enjoy joining one of our leadership learning programmes where we work on building our emotional intelligence, leading “whole people”, understanding and using our strengths and working on making sure our businesses are “Future Fit” to be ready to take up new opportunities and actively engage in innovating our new future.

Get in touch to find out more.