Can Leaders Build an Emotionally Intelligent Leadership Team?

Can Entrepreneurs Build an Emotionally Intelligent Leadership Team?

How do you build out your organization’s leadership capability?  How do you get your teams to perform at a higher level in constantly changing times?  What skills do your leaders need to possess if they hope to take your business to a higher level.

I suggested that you might consider evaluating your current leaders and any you recruit in the future based on how emotionally intelligent they are. I believe, and so do many of my best clients, that an emotionally intelligent leader is a stronger leader and they attract a higher caliber person to your organization.

Yesterday, we talked about the key qualities of an emotionally intelligent leader. We talked about four critical capabilities that a strong leader must possess.  They include higher levels of self-awareness, increasing self-management skills, a high level of social awareness, and a high level of social skills. You can find that blog at Developing Serving Leaders.

So what leadership skills must your team possess if you hope to build a successful organization? The final skills in emotional intelligence provide the leadership capability required to succeed in a fast changing personal and professional environment. My observations are based on the work of Dan Goleman and Cary Cherniss and my own extensive background in management consulting and executive search. I have interviewed over 16,000 senior leaders in my thirty year career.

What skills does an emotionally intelligent leader possess? I believe there are several interpersonal skills required to be an exceptional leader.

Emotionally intelligent leaders are able to express their vision to others. They have the ability to tell a story that not only inspires their team but everyone who comes in contact with their organization.  These individuals are capable of transforming their industries and the world through the power of their vision.

Emotionally intelligent leaders are masters of influence both on the small and large scale. They understand there are many ways to reach people and have become masters of influence. As technology continues to change, these leaders embrace the different media to impact their key stakeholders in many different ways.

Emotionally intelligent leaders invest their time and money to develop others. They invest significant time developing others knowing that they are increasing the odds of success by producing other leaders to help spread their ideas. They are also developing others’ strengths and capabilities, many times seeing hidden assets even before the people themselves do.  This capability permits them much latitude in developing the leaders around them.

Emotionally intelligent leaders are great listeners and ask powerful questions when talking with others. They are capable of moving people both emotionally and logically based on the needs of any given situation. This communications mastery provides them with a platform to drive change across a wide range of stakeholders. Their communication seems so personal; they build lifelong relationships with the people with whom they come in contact. This allows them to get many things done when needed more quickly than others can.

Emotionally intelligent leaders are able to serve as change catalysts within their peer group. They can take on challenging projects and get things accomplished more quickly than others. They are able to manage the conflict inherent in change while still creating significant success for others who are involved in working with them. Their ability to see others’ points of view provides significant connection when disagreements arise. They are able to de-escalate situations before they do permanent damage to either party in the discussions.

Emotionally intelligent leaders are great members on teams and work well as a leader or follower, based on the needs of the organization.  They are capable of helping create breakthrough results with teams because of their strong collaboration skills. They are able to effectively help other leaders use their strengths to their greatest advantage. These skills have allowed them to get things done when others have failed.

We’ve covered a lot this week.  Now that you have learned about what it takes to create a leadership culture, next week we return to talk about how you can implement this into your businesses.  See you next week.