What is Emotional Intelligence?
If we talk about what emotional intelligence is then it is known to be the ability to perceive one’s own thoughts and that too accurately. These thoughts and emotions are perceived to understand all such signals that emotions are sending about a particular relationship. With that, emotional intelligence also refers to manage your own emotions effectively.
Now that we know what emotional intelligence is, let us also take a look at who an emotionally intelligent leader is and why emotional intelligence is important for leaders.
To your knowledge, an emotionally intelligent leader is the one who has the skills and ability to communicate with his colleagues and team members. It is his job to motivate his team and resolve any type of conflict that may happen at workplace.
In this article, we are going to talk about why is emotional intelligence important for leaders.
In a survey conducted by Adecco group, the following statistics were concluded.
- 74% of the employees suggested that their managers should demonstrate a leadership style that promotes empathy.
- With that, 70% claimed that the right kind of support from their leader is important not only for their mental being but work as well.
- Similarly, 80% of employees who were having a bad relationship with their manager were cut off entirely.
- And there were 50% of the employees had to leave their jobs just to get rid of their managers.
These stats show how important it is for leaders to have a good relationship with their team members.
Why is it important for Leaders?
If you ever felt the need to understand how to build better relationships at your workplace then the best way to do that is through emotional intelligence. You need to understand the fact that emotional intelligence plays a vital part in helping leaders perform better and take care of their teams. If a team leader doesn’t show empathy towards his team then it is highly likely the team would not perform well or feel comfortable working. So yes, it is very important for leaders to possess emotional intelligence.
Now let us dive deeper into this concept.
Industry experts claim that emotional intelligence is something that can explain an individual’s ability to not only identify but compose their emotions. With that, these types of leaders can also empathize with other people more specifically his team’s emotions. An emotionally intelligent leader has the ability to understand and comprehend the things that can motivate his team members. With that, he can also figure out how to collaborate with them successfully. If a leader is emotionally stable and composed, he can easily deliver and communicate with his team and understand their emotions and act accordingly.
With the drastic change in a way all organizations work now, the need for leaders to be more empathetic has increased a lot. And that is why, we believe an organization that is emotionally intelligent leads to a positive and result-oriented workplace. Every leader must give his team an environment where they can feel they are trusted, they have the right to stand up for themselves or share their thoughts with everyone without being judged and so on. And who can make sure all of this is present in an organization? An emotionally intelligent leader.
Benefits:
There are many benefits of an emotionally intelligent leader and few of them are mentioned below.
Can make sound decisions:
If as a leader, you are emotionally stable, you can easily make sound decisions. It is because sound decisions can be only made if you have a good understanding of what your feelings are and to the extent it can affect your judgment, attitude, or productivity. So if you possess self-awareness and know your limitations then it is easy to make sound decisions for the organization.
Can gauge the emotions of others as well:
If you have high emotional intelligence then it is highly like to understand other people’s emotions as well. Meaning, an emotionally stable leader can put himself in his employee’s shoes and thus can make more deliberate decisions.
Can handle stress more efficiently:
We know every organization has a certain level of workplace stress as it is unavoidable. But if there is a leader with emotional intelligence, then he can manage this stress far better than the ones who don’t posses it.
Conclusion:
In the end, we can say that an emotionally intelligent leader can perform very well as compared to the leader who is not. So yes, it is very important to possess emotional intelligence as a leader.
Note: All the statistical data that you may find in this article has been collected by different authentic sources.
For more information, visit whatsmind.com
