5 TRAITS OF HIGH EQ LEADERS

According to John Maxwell, in his book Developing the Leader Within You, “the key to success in an endeavor is the ability to lead others successfully.” A leader’s emotional intelligence is an overlooked quality that is a key to lead other people effectively.

In this article, we listed down the 5 emotional intelligence factors of leaders and how they help improve the workplace.

Why do we need to measure emotional intelligence?

Leaders with strong emotional intelligence can:

• Perceive when their team members are upset
• Sense when the feelings of a team member could jeopardize working relationships
• Intervene when problems arise
• Control their own emotions to gain the trust of employees

5 key traits of emotionally intelligent leaders:

• Self-aware
• Empathy
• Composure
• Team orientation
• Charisma

1. Self-Aware

Leaders who are self-aware are conscious of their moods and feelings. They are more likely to control their emotions as they understand the implications of what they say and the decisions they make towards workplace performance.

 People want to work for these leaders, as they put the well-being of their people first knowing this has a compound and reciprocal effect on their team’s individual performance.

Leaders who are self-aware are likely to:

• Accurately perceive emotions in themselves
• Understand the emotional information underlying their decision and actions
• Acknowledge feedbacks from their team.

2. Empathy

Emotionally intelligent leaders recognize and share the feelings of others.

Leaders who possess this trait acknowledge that it is their responsibility to make sure everyone on the team is working at full capacity. Effective leaders make this happen by expressing genuine concern towards employees.

Leaders who are empathetic are likely to:

• Have a strong understanding of how others’ emotions are related to their behavior
• Accurately discern the emotions and moods that others are feeling
• Come across as being warm, empathetic and caring.

3. Composure

Effective leaders are capable of managing their emotions in high pressure situations. They respond to emotions and moods in a productive manner – using self-control to direct the outcome of certain situations.

This is crucial as people always look up to leaders. How they respond in every situation can make or break their team’s morale and motivation.

Leaders who have composure are able to:

• Display composure in stressful situations
• Turn down emotional impulses
• Understand others emotions and adapt themselves in response
• Have a high amount of self-control

4. Social Orientation

Strong teams and teamwork are key factors towards achieving business objectives. Effective leaders are capable of establishing impactful relationships with individuals within their team to encourage teamwork and unity.

Through this, they encourage a healthy workplace environment which results in harmony among co-workers and motivates employees to push themselves harder.

Leaders who are socially oriented are likely to:

• Manage interpersonal conflicts effectively
• Be capable of influencing other individuals emotional experience and expression of emotions
• Establish effective interpersonal bonds with others

5. Charisma

A charismatic leader is capable of strongly motivating employees to achieve success for the company.

These leaders understand that the productivity and efficiency of the workplace are dependent on the morale of their employees. Thus, effective leaders use charisma to define a vision that unites and captivates their team to achieve business objectives.

Leaders who are charismatic tend to:

• Have strong verbal and nonverbal communication skills
• Readily pick up on emotional information expressed by other individuals
• Leads by influence and motives others

Part of a manager’s job is to motivate and develop people to achieve optimal results. This makes their role the most significant in terms of the impact on organizational performance.

It’s highly recommended to assess the emotional intelligence of your managers and even high-potential employees as you screen them for promotion. This way, you are one step ahead towards making sure people won’t leave your company because of a terrible manager.

Assess the 5 Factors of Emotional Intelligence

1. Self-Awareness – this factor is concerned with an individual’s ability to identify their emotions accurately, and the emotional reasoning behind his or her behavior.
2. Emotional Appraisal – this factor involves accurately identifying emotions in others, and the capacity to empathize with others.
3. Self-Management – this factor is the ability to manage, adapt and respond in a productive manner to emotions and moods.
4. Social Orientation – this factor relates to the individual’s tendency to enjoy, and successfully engage in, relationships with others.
5. Communication – this factor assesses the individual’s confidence in their interpersonal skills relating to receiving and expressing emotional information in social settings.