It takes a lot of different personality traits and skill levels to achieve success in a leadership role. Good business sense is just the beginning, there is so much more at stake that requires your immediate attention. The Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations Rutgers University suggests emotional intelligence is also essential when it comes to being a successful leader. Emotional intelligence is the ability to relate to others around you, and without it there can be a lack of understanding in the workplace. Here are some ways to boost your emotional intelligence to improve your leadership skills.
Put yourself in someone else’s shoes.
Empathy is one of the most important aspects of emotional intelligence. It’s important that you are able to see situations from other people’s points of view. When something happens in the office, don’t react immediately using your own biases and experience to inform your response. Take time to evaluate what happened and put yourself in the shoes of those involved to make an emotionally intelligent decision.
Take time to evaluate your own feelings.
Of course, it is also important to spend time reviewing what your own feelings mean in any given situation. So often, we don’t know how to react or what we feel when something happens. But a good leader with strong emotional intelligence will take some time to step back and review their own feelings to better understand why they want to react in a certain way.
Lead by example.
Whether you encourage it or not, your team looks up to you and will act accordingly to your example. To be an emotionally intelligent leader, you need to lead by example to demonstrate how calm reactions are better than office blow ups. If you are the kind of boss who yells to get attention or acts passive aggressively, you’ll find this behavior will permeate the office culture. But so will positive behaviors or a culture of gratitude.
Pay attention to personal interactions.
Of course, emotional intelligence isn’t just about how you react to yourself or only in crisis situations. You need to review all your personal interactions regularly to evaluate how you’re doing and make improvements over time. It’s OK to admit you’ve handled something wrong in the past and to improve your responses to certain situations.
Do you want to know more about building your leadership skills? Contact Harvard Resource Solutions, Staffing Agency in Troy MI, today.
