EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Excerpts from 'Effective CEO' published by ICFAI press. Price INR 95.00

Emotional Intelligence is an imperative behaviourial attribute expected in great leaders. Great leaders invariably score high on emotional intelligence.

Without Emotional Intelligence, a person can have the best training in the world, an incisive, analytical mind and an endless supply of smart ideas but he still won't make a great leader.

Emotional Intelligence has a genetic component but it can definitely be learnt.

The five components of Emotional Intelligence are: (1) Self-awareness, (2) Self-regulation, (3) Motivation, (4) Empathy and (5) Social Skills.

(1) Self-awareness means having a deep understanding of one's emotions, strengths, weaknesses, needs, and drives. People with strong self-awareness are neither unduly critical nor unrealistically optimistic. They are honest with themselves and with others. They have the ability to assess themselves realistically. They speak accurately and openly about their emotions and the impact they have on their work. They are comfortable talking about their limitations and strengths, and they are receptive to constructive criticism. Self-aware people also tend to be self-confident. But they do not overstretch themselves. They know when to ask for help.

(2) Self-regulation helps a leader to control his feelings. When exposed to bad moods, they find ways to control them and even to channel them in useful ways. Self-regulated people are able to create an environment of trust and fairness where politics and infighting are sharply reduced and productivity is high. It helps to attract Talented people and to retain them. Self-regulation also improves organisation climate. When the boss is calm, staff below him also control their tempers.

Leaders regularly review their personal SWOT and plan corrective actions.

People in control of their emotions tend to cope with change better. When a change program is announced, they do not panic; instead they postpone judgement, seek out information with an open mind, listen to executives and understand the new program.

(3) Motivation. Emotionally Intelligent leaders are great motivators. They seek out creative challenges, love to learn, take pride in a job well done, are restless with status quo, ….
Such people have very high levels of commitment to the organisation due to their love for the job.

(4) Empathy means thoughtfully considering the feelings of employees along with other factors in the process of making intelligent decisions.

The increasing use of teams by organisations has made empathy a valuable attribute. For a team to be effective, the leader must be able to understand the viewpoints of the members.
Retaining and developing talented people also needs empathy.

(5) Social skills. Leaders must score high on social skills. Prentice has put it, "The leader's unique achievement is a human and social one which stems from his understanding of his fellow workers and the relationship of their individual goals to the group goal that he must carry out."
The essence of social skills is friendliness with a purpose. It is about moving people in the desired direction.

Socially skilled people build a wide circle of acquaintances, and have the ability to find common ground with people of all kinds. They have a knack for building rapport. They understand that nothing important gets done alone, and they have a network in place when the time for action comes.

Goleman, Boyatziz, and McKee recommend a five-step process to cultivate emotionally intelligent behaviours.

(1) Who do I want to be?
That is about imaging the "ideal self" and coming to terms with the "real self".

(2) Who am I now?
How people see us compared to the desired 'ideal self'.

(3) How do I get from here to there?
Once we know who we want to be and have compared it with how people see us, we need to devise an action plan.

(4) How do I make change stick?
That is, to break the old neural habits, we need to practise change (new behaviour) until it becomes automatic.

(5) Who can help me?
To identify who can be counted upon to give a honest feedback (about us).

xxx --- Emotional Intelligence --- xxx