What Makes a Great Leader?: Understanding Emotional Intelligence

The world is changing. People are more educated, more aware of their rights and responsibilities, and less willing to put up with bad behavior in the workplace. As a result, companies are scrambling to find leaders who can keep pace with this evolving workforce. The question many businesses ask themselves is what makes a great leader? Let's talk through some definitions for emotional intelligence as well as how it is used by leaders.

What is emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand, use and manage your emotions. It's about how you perceive situations and what they mean for your future behavior.

Understanding your emotions means being able to recognize them when they appear in yourself or others during a specific situation. Managing these emotions is choosing which of these feelings are appropriate based on the situation and then deciding how to express them.

Emotional intelligence is a set of skills that can be learned and developed over time, like any other skill. You may not have been born with all the different aspects of emotional intelligence; however, you can learn more about each aspect and improve in your ability to use it in leadership situations.

Understanding your emotions

Understanding emotions means being able to recognize what emotion is shown by another person or yourself when faced with certain stimuli during a specific situation (e.g., sadness after receiving bad news). Managing these feelings involves choosing which emotion(s) are appropriate based on the situation (e.g., anger for unfair treatment) and then expressing it through action (i.e., fight back against unfair treatment). Emotional intelligence is a set of skills that can be learned and developed over time, like any other skill. You may not have been born with all the different aspects of emotional intelligence; however, you can learn more about each aspect and improve in your ability to use it as part of leadership.

Emotional intelligence in leadership is about understanding, using, and managing emotions in order to enhance your ability to work with others. We tend to think of people who are good leaders as having certain traits that make them adept at their jobs. However, these traits may not be sufficient for the changing demands of the modern workplace where teams are more diverse than ever before.

How to use emotional intelligence in leadership

Leadership should begin by understanding what emotions are being displayed among those who work for them. Understanding these feelings helps leaders gauge their employees' moods which sets up expectations on how they will react or behave towards others during certain situations. This also means considering one's own emotions when dealing with coworkers because it could affect their performance at work due to psychological factors such as stress levels.

Once a leader has understood his/her emotions along with those of his/her employees, they can then begin to manage these feelings by choosing the appropriate ones in certain circumstances. These emotions may involve anger when faced with unfair treatment or happiness after receiving praise from a coworker among many others depending on what is happening at work and whom it is directed towards.

The importance of empathy in leadership

Empathy plays an important role for leaders because without showing any emotional response towards their team members' needs, there will be no trust nor loyalty which greatly impacts productivity and overall performance of the business. It also helps build rapport with one's team allowing them to feel comfortable enough to share concerns about their roles and responsibilities within the company so that improvements can be made where necessary.

Empathy is also beneficial for the overall company because it allows leaders to consider what their employees need in order to perform better at work, which may include adequate training or simply having enough supplies. The more effective a leader becomes with understanding and demonstrating empathy towards his/her team members, the greater they will be able to improve employee morale which ultimately leads to higher productivity levels among workers.

Listening skills for leaders 

In order for a leader to connect better with his/her employees it is important to listen carefully when they are speaking as this makes others feel valued during conversations. This means being fully present in what is going on around you rather than thinking ahead or simply doing other tasks at hand while conversing with your co-workers. Leaders should make sure they maintain eye contact with his/her employees because it shows that he/she is truly interested in what they are saying.

When listening to others, leaders should remember not to judge or interrupt someone during their conversation so as not to offend them and ruin the chance of building stronger relationships. Not only does this help build trust among colleagues but also builds loyalty by allowing team members know they can approach you about anything without judgement or fear of retaliation for speaking up on certain topics which could be sensitive towards your business interests. This ultimately leads into greater productivity levels since workers feel more comfortable discussing work-related problems before anyone becomes too stressed out at work due to lack of communication between managers and co-workers.

Listening skills are another part of leadership that's critical for building strong relationships not just within one's own company but outside as well. Being an active listener means being fully engaged during conversations instead of half-heartedly listening while thinking about something else completely different from what other people are saying (e.g., deadlines at work). This type of behavior gives others the impression that their voice is not being heard and ultimately makes them feel unappreciated as a person.

Being an active listener also allows leaders to understand his/her team members better by knowing what's going on with regards to family life or personal problems which can then be used for both parties' benefits such as providing more flexible work hours if it means allowing employees time off during important occasions such as birthdays, weddings etc. This type of gesture goes a long way in building trust between managers and team members because they know that whenever they need help outside of work, their leader will always be there without any judgement whatsoever. As mentioned earlier, this leads into higher levels of productivity since workers are comfortable enough discussing issues regarding their work with their manager which ultimately leads to better performance.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand and manage your emotions. It’s also about understanding other people's emotions so you can use this information in leadership situations. A leader with high emotional intelligence will be able to better handle others' feelings by listening empathically and respecting their point of view. This type of skill set makes for a more harmonious workplace environment that allows employees to feel heard, which increases productivity and satisfaction levels on both sides of the desk! What impact does your emotional intelligence make daily?