What makes a leader?
The Harvard Business Review regards Daniel Goleman's paper
on what makes a leader as one of its 10 must-read articles of all time.
Daniel Goleman's pioneering research with 200 global companies
showed that certain qualities that sound soft
and un-businesslike are absolutely crucial
for stellar work performance, outstanding leadership and creating happiness.
In this video, we will discuss Goleman's ideas on emotional intelligence and leadership.
We've all been recruited into our organizations, largely on the basis of our IQ.
This refers to our quantitative, language, analytical and other such abilities.
IQ is required to deal with the cognitive complexity we confront in our jobs.
While IQ is important, it is considered a social capability.
It is a door opener.
The people who are selected into a profession may have an IQ that is about
one standard deviation above the normal,
say, IQ of 115.
When everyone is about as smart as everyone else, in terms of IQ,
it is how people manage themselves
and their relationships that gives the best performers their competitive edge.
In other words, you have to be smart in a different way.
That is where emotional intelligence, or EQ, comes in.
EQ is the ability to manage ourselves and our relationships effectively.
Goleman's research showed that EQ is twice as important
as domain skills and IQ for middle-level managers.
The importance of EQ increases as you move up the organization.
At senior and top levels, as high as 90 percent of your success flows from EQ.
There are four components of emotional intelligence at work.
Two of these are intrapersonal components and two are interpersonal.
Then you have dimensions of awareness and actions.
Thus, the four components are self-awareness,
self-management, empathy and social skills.
First, self-awareness is the capacity of individuals to do self-reflection
and monitor themselves.It is the ability to do self-observation,
even as we are functioning.
When we are self-reflective, we are aware of what we are feeling
or experiencing while we are actually doing it.
This is crucial for making good decisions.
Key decisions have a number of elements that are somewhat intangible.
So you need a felt, or gut-sense.
Does it feel right?
This ability of discernment
and making informed choices is critical for good decision-making.
When self-reflection is missing.
People have difficulty learning from their experience, particularly
in a conflict or a stressful situation.
They blame others or feel like a victim.
On the other hand, when self-reflection is highly developed, individuals are able
to focus on themselves, observe themselves
and take a third person perspective on their feelings and thought processes.
This contributes to realistic self-assessment.
As a result, they feel confident to change direction in mid-course by
assessing and observing themselves in mid-flight.
Second, self-management deals with how we manage our emotions.
How do we deal with distressing our crippling emotions?
Are we able to think well even when things are not going our way?
Can we stay focused and motivated?
The ability to remain adaptable
and stay flexible is a function of internal self-management.
In today's fast changing environment, we are often taken out of our comfort zones
and into a state of disequilibrium.
We may experience disappointment, anxiety, fear, anger or distrust.
We need to regulate these difficult feelings
and find a way to calm the waters and reestablish our sense of equilibrium.
When self-regulation is missing, individuals are unable to accept negative information.
They deny it, discount others or feel undervalued.
When self-regulation is highly developed, people allow others to be free and frank.
They are not unduly upset when disturbing information is surfaced.
This contributes to tolerance of ambiguity, trustworthiness and openness to change.
Third, empathy refers to the ability to understand how other people are thinking
about the situation.
Do we know how they feel?
Do we care?
Are we concerned?
Do we want to help?
In a highly interdependent environment, empathy is an important capacity.
When empathy is missing,
managers don't listen and are not able to get in touch with people anymore.
They don't recognize or appreciate differences and diversity of opinion.
On the other hand, star performers with highly developed empathy are
able to get into other's shoes; relate to people who are different,
as well as to those people who are similar.
Since they value differences, seek to learn from others
and communicate well, they build
and retain talent, exhibit cross-cultural sensitivity and provide superior client service.
Finally, social skills refers to the proficiency in managing relationships
and building networks.
It is an ability to find common ground and build rapport.
Can we inspire people, motivate them to pursue shared mission?
Can we build strong team bonds?
Can we maintain personal friendships amongst work associates?
Articulate and arouse enthusiasm for shared goals?
For employees, how a leader makes them feel plays a large role
in their level of motivation and commitment.
With high EQ leaders, employees are in the optimal internal state for working
at their best in terms of cognitive abilities and skills they bring to the job.
Emotional intelligence competencies are not innate talents; they are learned abilities.
The keys to learning are: number one, strong self-motivation.
You have to undo at the brain level certain
or rehearsed habits which are our habitual ways of reacting.
This requires strong intention, motivation and commitment to growth.
Number two, you should recognize where you need to make improvements
and be focused on that improvement area.
You will build on feedback and your priorities to choose the improvement area.
Number three, you will need to practice new behavior
'til it becomes more strongly embedded in your brain structure than the old behavior.
Then you will do it naturally.
So you need the real effort and real motivation.
Number four, you should give time, attention
and focus, as this involves unlearning and relearning.
Some of the learning strategies for development include seeking new challenges
or projects to gain exposure to new leadership paths, developing
ongoing feedback with close work associates, identifying role models
and coaches for help and monitoring your leadership growth
and development on a regular and periodic basis.
To conclude, EQ is the bedrock of successful leadership and it can be learned.
It is the combination of EQ
and domain knowledge that separates star performers from average ones.
Ramnarayan SubramaniamClinical Professor
