The Importance of Emotional Intelligence

After working in many countries around the world in dozens of organisations with 1000’s of professionals from all walks of life, I’ve come across an interesting mix of managers and leaders. Some exhibit impressive displays of emotional intelligence (EI) which I have learned from and some cause me to shake my head in silence at their lack of basic EI skills.

EI doesn’t fit with “historical models of leadership” that tend to conjure up charismatic and sometimes despotic images. However, people often use the same language for leadership today – bold, brave and tough with a strong sense of purpose and resolve. However, this is not how successful leaders function today.

Why? – because today’s workforce does not accept the autocratic style often adopted by leaders following historical models of leadership. Leadership has had to evolve to match a growing sense of democracy and independence in the workforce. Employees now have far more options and choices than the foot soldiers of yesterday.

Daniel Goldman is well known in the EI arena and has recently established the four domain of EI;

Self-awareness
Emotional self-awareness – Accurate self-assessment – Self-confidence

Self-management
Emotional self-control – Transparency – Adaptability – Achievement orientation – Initiative – Optimism

Relationship-management
Inspirational leadership – Influence – Developing others – Change catalyst – Confict management – Building bonds – Teamwork & collaboration

Social-awareness
Empathy – Organisational awareness – Service orientation

The likes of PRINCE2, MSP, PMP, MBA and any amount of technical skills will be severely handicapped if there is a lack of emotional intelligence. Which makes EI a critical area of self-improvement for all of us.

You can find some further reading on EI at www.eiconsortium.org