Effective leaders must possess a whole host of skills and capabilities. And as working practices and norms change, so do the skills that leaders need.
Emotional intelligence is fast becoming an essential tool for leaders, particularly as it helps them get the best from employees. Self-awareness, meanwhile, will help you get the best from yourself.
But what do emotional intelligence and self-awareness mean in a business context?
What is emotional intelligence and self-awareness?
Those who possess emotional intelligence are better able to identify and understand others’ feelings. They’re adept at reading the emotions of others, which is, needless to say, a valuable skill for all kinds of leaders. It can help them greatly when it comes to communicating, since they can empathise with others’ feelings and viewpoints.
Self-awareness is also concerned with understanding emotions, but your own. If you’re self-aware as a leader, you can recognise and reflect upon your own thought processes – and how they’re shaped by your values and experiences. As a result, you can better anticipate and manage your own motivations and reactions. And related to that, you should be able to identify your strengths and weaknesses at work. Then you can apply your skills to situations where they’ll make a difference – for the benefit of both your company and your career.
Sometimes, leaders are blessed with both emotional intelligence and self-awareness. Indeed, if it’s allied with self-awareness, emotional intelligence will undoubtedly help people to reach leadership positions. But for some people, these skills will be a developmental goal – one that executive coaching can bring closer.
What is the importance of emotional intelligence and self-awareness in leadership?
When you’re equipped with emotional intelligence, those you work with will appreciate your ability to empathise with them. They’ll know that they can approach you with any issue, trusting that you’ll listen, understand and, ultimately, resolve the problem with sensitivity and discretion.
You’ll be in a great position when it comes to conflict resolution and uncovering workplace issues. But as a leader with emotional intelligence, you’ll also inspire respect in people and be able to motivate them. You’ll enjoy more positive relationships with people at every level.
Working relationships will also be easier for self-aware leaders. Being mindful of your own behaviours and biases, you’ll be able to compensate for them and make more objective decisions – about both people and business scenarios.
And with insight into your own skills, you’ll realise when you can affect a situation. Equally, you’ll know when someone else would be better placed to take a task on – and can delegate it accordingly.
How can you improve your emotional intelligence and self-awareness?
First of all, making time for self-reflection is vital. But you can also learn much from examining past decisions and how you make them, speaking to your direct reports and inviting feedback. Executive coaching, meanwhile, can help you hone your communication skills, and reveal your strengths and shortcomings.
There are many ways the modern leader can improve their emotional intelligence and self-awareness. Here are just a few.
Understand your strengths and weaknesses
Gaining insight into your strengths and weaknesses plays a major role in developing self-awareness at work. If you know what you do well and what you don’t do so well, you’ll come to better understand the way you operate. You might find that you favour tasks where you can use your natural strengths and, perhaps, shy away from tasks where your weaknesses could hold you back. You can then concentrate on improving in areas where you’re not quite so accomplished.
Understanding your own strengths and weaknesses can, of course, lead you to recognise the same – or similar – traits in others. Even the process of examining your strengths and weaknesses will help with identifying others’ capabilities. Then you’ll be able to see why people work and behave the way they do – and, hopefully, empathise with them. Any exercise that gives you an appreciation of others’ mindsets will enhance your emotional intelligence.
Learn to manage your emotions
Your emotions are key drivers of your behaviour – at work and in your personal life. If you can learn to spot when your emotions are coming into play, you’ll be able to take a step back and see what might come next. You can anticipate your actions and decisions better if you have greater control of your emotions. And you’ll be much more aware of why you follow certain behaviours and what your emotional triggers are.
A higher degree of emotional control will give you the self-awareness to make more rational business decisions, rather than ones based solely on feelings.
At the same time, you’ll have a greater appreciation of the emotional struggles of others. The process of seeking to manage your emotions will see you develop more empathy for the feelings of others. You’ll realise just how easy it is to let emotions govern your behaviour – and you’ll recognise emotional triggers when they show up in colleagues.
Accept and value feedback
Being able to accept and act upon feedback is crucial for leaders. Not only will it lead to better solutions, but it’ll mean you can make more rounded decisions in the future. Learning from past missteps is integral to development – and becoming more aware of your shortcomings.
Also, when people see you take their feedback on board, they’ll realise that you value them and their opinions. They see the behaviour of someone with real emotional intelligence. This will motivate them to be more engaged at work, improve your relationships with them and highlight you as someone who prioritises the company’s best interests.
What’s more, when it comes to you giving other people feedback, they’re much more likely to be receptive to it. After all, if their leader accepts and values feedback, why wouldn’t they? You’ll be creating a culture of improvement, where people are encouraged to listen to others and examine their own behaviours.
Connect with your employees and develop empathy
Forging closer working relationships with employees can only lead to greater knowledge of what drives them and, ultimately, improved emotional intelligence. Listening to them as they reveal their daily issues and motivations will inevitably help you develop empathy for them.
Plus, you’ll find out about yourself. You’ll be able to see the impact of your decisions up close, giving you reason to reflect upon how you reached those decisions. Also, if you truly connect with your employees, you might be able to get some honest opinions on your leadership style and how you can change it for the better.
Improve your self-motivation
Unlocking the door to your self-motivation can lift you to new levels of performance. Executive coaching can prove particularly useful in understanding what drives you, giving you greater self-awareness and the fuel you need to become a more effective leader.
By examining your own motivations, you’ll also gain insight into what motivates people in general – an important part of emotional intelligence.
Work on your communication skills
Any exercise that focuses on your communication skills will undoubtedly touch upon listening, empathising and reading others. In other words, communication skills training will always help you to become more emotionally intelligent.
In the course of any training whatsoever, you’ll always uncover skills that you’re either lacking or regularly use. Whether you have well-honed communication skills or not, working on them will cause you to examine your capabilities.
So, there are some of the most effective ways to enhance your emotional intelligence and self-awareness. Put them into practice and you’ll soon be on your way to becoming a well-rounded leader, with the ability to both motivate others and develop yourself. Here at agp, we offer bespoke leadership coaching services to help senior executives discover their own authentic leadership style.
