EQ and Leadership Effectiveness

Abstract

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions, as well as others’ emotions. EQ is increasingly becoming one of the most important attributes in the field of leadership. The ability to control your emotions as a leader is a crucial part of success and increases the effectiveness of leadership .

Emotional intelligence contains four key elements:

• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management
• Social Awareness
• Relationship Management

These four elements relate to different abilities associated with high EQ. The ability to control and apply these elements in leadership can be crucial for managers to increase effectiveness and productivity .

Leaders with a high level of EQ are seen to be more effective in achieving organizational goals, engaging with stakeholders, creating a positive work environment, and building winning teams. They are both great a developing themselves and others toward the direction of the goals in an organization. To apply EQ in leadership it is important to constantly develop and increase the level of the key elements. .

According to the authors behind “EQ and the Bottom Line” they identified 10 key steps to develop EQ in an organization. These steps are a variety of difficulty to apply within an organization and must be adapted to individual organizations. However, if applied correctly can be a vital driver for increasing organizational EQ and productivity

While EQ is seen as a very valuable tool and the ability of leaders, it is important to acknowledge its limitations. The complexity of the concept and development of EQ requires effort, time, and dedication. In addition, can EQ be very difficult to measure as an ability. Furthermore, all individuals are not equally skilled in EQ, and it can be very difficult to develop these skills for some people.

Succeed as a leader with EQ

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Emotional Intelligence commonly referred to as EQ, is the ability to manage and understand your own and others’ emotions as an individual person. It is increasingly being seen as one of the most important attributes of a great leader or manager. A person associated with high EQ is often seen as being better at managing conflicts, connecting with their team members, creating a positive work environment, and building trust.

The Four Key Elements

The Four Key Elements of Emotional Intelligence

The four key elements of EQ are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. These elements are referred to as key in both applying and developing a high EQ. For an individual to experience success working with EQ it is essential to master the elements that involve both internal and external factors.

Self-Awareness – This is the ability to understand your own emotions, weaknesses, strengths, behavior, and rationality. It also includes skills in predicting patterns in behavior and the ability to exclude feelings in a situation of decision-making. Individuals who possess self-awareness are excellent at identifying the emotional and rational mind and the triggers associated with it. They are aware of their emotional triggers when they are in stressful situations to avoid making decisions based on their emotions.

Self-Management – This is the ability self-manage your emotions and adapt to the a given situation based on your rational mind. It also covers great self-management skills concerning sudden changes in behavior or processes. Individuals with a high level of self-management are extremely good at adapting to negative changes and are very good at keeping a positive mind through stressful or tough situations. They are very good at balancing their emotional and rational mind to make better decisions.

Social Awareness – This is known as the ability to understand and emphasize the emotions of others. Furthermore, you are able to navigate effectively through social situations and deal with other perspectives than your own. Individuals with a high level of social awareness are great at listening, feeling empathy, communicating effectively and resolve conflicts together with other people. They are great at being aware of social signs and building relationships with people. To build an inclusive and diverse environment, a high degree of social awareness among managers is often required.

Relationship Management – This is the ability to build and maintain healthy relationships, influence people, motivate others, and manage conflicts. This involves communicating effectively and being able to negotiate and cooperate. Individuals with a high level of relationship management are great at building trustful and inclusive relationships. They inspire others and are often seen as trustworthy individuals.

Controlling your emotions

Individuals that score high in emotional intelligence have the ability to control their emotions. They are able to respond to any given situation in a proper way by managing their emotions. They are aware of both their negative and positive emotions and can successfully regulate them. Furthermore, it is also very important to be aware of the elements of positive emotions that broaden and negative emotions that narrow.

Positive Emotions - Broadens

Positive emotions are often what broaden our awareness and attention. It makes us more outgoing and driven toward making connections, networking, and pursuing opportunities.

• Supporting resiliency – Positive emotions strengthen our resilience and tend to give us the ability to be great at adapting to and overcoming new challenges. They are generally better at handling and recovering from difficult situations.
• Improving our thinking – Another aspect that positive emotions have a great impact on is our ability to think creatively and our problem-solving skills. With positive emotions, we reduced silo thinking which can be an obstacle to thinking clearly.
• Undoing negative emotions – Negative emotions can be reduced by positive emotions as replace the negative thoughts with feelings of well-being and open-mindedness.
• Building new skills - As positive emotions give us the curiosity and open-mindedness to explore and pursue opportunities, we are also more likely to learn new skills. Learning new skills requires a growth mindset which is enhanced through positive emotions.
• Creating psychological capital - By creating psychological capital we prepare ourselves to better handle tough situations. Psychological capital is referred to as internal resources such as hope, resilience, efficacy, and optimism. Positive emotions help us build and strengthen these resources, making individuals more suited for tackling difficult situations.

Negative emotions – Narrow

Even though negative emotions aren’t seen at as something that can be helpful, there are situations where they come in handy. Where positive emotions broaden, negative emotions tend to narrow our perspective in terms of focus and attention.

• An indicator of potential threats - It can help us identify potential dangers and threats as negative emotions trigger our attention to these. It increases the ability to be quick in decision-making when we are exposed to threats.
• Calls attention to an issue – Negative emotions can help us take action when things aren’t going as they should. They can help push towards addressing issues that might be both professional and personal in our life. Indicating emotions as being angry or disappointed often leads to issues being discussed and addressed instead of being suppressed.
• A mechanism of learning – When experiencing negative emotions, they also can affect the desire for change in terms of personal growth and development. They can trigger action towards learning new skills and motivate you to become better.

People who score high in Emotional Intelligence are able to utilize both positive and negative emotions depending on the situation they are in. As mentioned above, there are positive effects of both types of emotions if an individual is aware of the outcomes. However, it can be a very difficult skill not to be too emotionally impacted but is certainly something to be developed or trained.

EQ and Leadership

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and leadership are closely related, as leaders with high EQ are often seen as more effective and successful. Leaders with high EQ are able to understand and manage their own emotions, as well as the emotions of others, and use this knowledge to build strong relationships and create a positive work environment. The general idea behind this is that these leaders are exceptional in leading by feeling and hence understand how to utilize emotional intelligence. They can discover when others are struggling as well as themselves and are not afraid to be vulnerable in the context of admitting when something is difficult. They value transparency and being authentic while being calm in highly difficult situations.

Leadership is essentially concerned with effectiveness, direction, and purpose. It is important for leaders to define a clear direction and be able to communicate this direction to the rest of the team. This includes handling different personality types within the team and making everyone follow the desired direction to be able to deliver and realized value. A clearly defined purpose can strengthen the team's desire to follow the direction of the leader. An important aspect of defining the purpose is through face-to-face communication. Leadership is seen as most effective in influencing people when the leader is strong in delivering messages and communicating through face-to-face communication.

High EQ is associated with great leadership qualities for several reasons. Leaders with high EQ are able to empathize with others, build strong relationships, and communicate effectively. They are also able to manage conflict and respond to feedback in a constructive manner. These skills are critical for building a positive work environment, fostering innovation and creativity, and achieving organizational goals.

How to increase EQ

Never stop developing and learning is a critical aspect of developing EQ and effective leadership. One methodology to develop EQ is to start by being human. This means not isolating oneself or becoming disconnected from others as high EQ is related to the ability to feel other people and sense their emotions. It is important to be open-minded and able to consider other perspectives and decisions. Try to remove barriers from your way of thinking, this will let you be able to include other perspectives and increase your horizon.

As mentioned about controlling emotions it is essential to have the ability to limit your negative emotions as this will increase the number of positive emotions. With a positive mindset, you will be able to connect with employees on a personal level that show a willingness to engage and help them. By showing empathy and interest you increase the level of trust that ultimately results in a more person-focused environment.

As with any other skill, developing or increasing EQ requires practice. It requires practicing the elements of EQ that an individual finds the most challenging as high EQ is associated with skills in all four elements. A vital aspect while practicing the development of EQ is to constantly seek feedback from people around you. Even though, getting feedback can feel overwhelming it is seen as the best method to measure your progress.

Increasing Emotional Intelligence can be very difficult and often requires a lot of time and effort. However, the benefits from the effort can be significant and increase the skills of any individual in a leadership position. It will improve how you communicate, your relationships, and decision-making.

Apply EQ as a Project, Portfolio, and Program Manager

Applying EQ in the role of a project, program, or portfolio manager can be beneficial in many aspects. As a manager, you are obligated to communicate effectively, make decisions, and operate within a team. It is important that you are able to connect with people on a deeper level to make the outcome as great as possible. It is not necessarily about being as friendly as possible, but more about being transparent and authentic towards people. Being authentic and transparent ultimately builds and increases trust which is necessary for running a team effectively. However, not every manager is competent in being in a managerial role as it can be extremely difficult to identify great managers. It is often seen that promotions to managers are based on performance that requires technical skills rather than emotional skills. It is hence very important for managers to identify their own position and self-awareness to improve their skills within emotional intelligence. EQ can be applied at an individual level, as well as in teams and organizations.

Accidental versus Competent Project Manager

Accidental versus Competent Project Manager

The Accidental Project Manager

It is often seen in organizations that employees with great domain skills often are promoted into managerial roles that they not necessarily are suited for. They are often extremely great specialists but lack skills as a generalist. These are often skills connected to EQ such as communicating, problem-solving, and leadership. Furthermore, it requires self-reflection to identify the position that the manager is in and what challenges are associated with the individual.

The Competent Project Manager

On the other hand, the “competent” manager possesses both domain skills and soft skills which are connected to emotional intelligence. Often are the domain skills more limited compared to the accidental manager, but then are significantly better in other areas. As a manager, you deal with both team members and stakeholders and are required to be able to communicate, manage and engage with them on a level where both technical and non-technical people are convinced of what you are saying.

EQ and Stakeholder Engagement

As a project, program, and portfolio manager, a vital part of your job is managing and engaging stakeholders. Stakeholder Engagement is essential as they are a vital part of projects and for project managers, it is important to understand the needs and perspectives of those. Project managers who are able to apply EQ can increasingly build trust and influence stakeholders in favor of the project. As emotions can be high in stakeholder management it is important for project managers to remain calm and understanding of the stakeholders and that requires the skill of EQ. Furthermore, with actively being able to engage stakeholders project managers can maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders and hence achieve greater success in their projects.

For program and portfolio managers it is important to utilize stakeholder engagement. As program managers often work with transformational change it is very important to engage stakeholders doing the process to maintain a good relationship. It is necessary to understand the perspective of the stakeholders who are faced with transformational change and react to the possible concerns and challenges of these people. As stakeholders can influence change initiatives it is important to have them on your side from the beginning. By utilizing EQ, program managers will be able to connect and influence stakeholders to remove potential obstacles.

For portfolio managers, the idea is almost identical to program managers. However, for portfolio managers, the focus often is more concerned on senior management. As effective portfolio management requires commitment from senior management it is necessary to maintain a close and good relationship. Senior management is often difficult to engage and requires clear communication. As a portfolio manager, you have to be able to communicate clearly the positive outcome of portfolio management and the benefits.

The 10 Key Steps

The 10 Key Steps - "EQ and the Bottom Line

Studies have investigated how EQ in organizations can help improve organizational productivity. It is suggested that organizations that are successful in implementing EQ in the organization are able to increase productivity and happiness among employees. In the report “Bringing Emotional Intelligence to the Workplace” from 1998, there were identified 22 steps towards bringing EQ to an organization. The 22 steps have since been revised to 10 key steps by Bharwaney, Bar-On, and MacKinlay that are essential to implementing EQ especially senior leadership in organizations. With the successful implementation of these 10 steps, the first steps towards implementing EQ have been fulfilled. It is suggested to start simple to slowly, but increasingly implementing the steps. The 10 key steps are as follows:

• Assessing the organization's needs
• Demonstrating a very clear business case
• Assessing personal strengths and limits
• Providing feedback with care
• Encouraging participation
• Setting clear goals
• Maximising opportunities to practice
• Encouraging use of skills on the job
• Providing an organizational culture that supports learning
• Conducting ongoing evaluation

Implementing EQ in organizations requires investment in people development. However, as the results from the research where the 10 key steps were implemented, concluded an increase in organizational productivity, the investment might be beneficial. Furthermore, not only increases the bottom line and productivity within an organization, the general happiness and ability to handle the stress of the employees increased as well. However, as the impact of emotional intelligence is difficult to measure, it has become more measurable when it directly influences the bottom line.

Limitations and Challenges

As mentioned before, emotional intelligence can be difficult to measure. Unlike its counterpart IQ, emotions are not necessarily possible to quantify, making it very difficult to put actual numbers on both the impact and the level of EQ. The current measurement tool lacks consistency and clarity, and there is a need for this before EQ can be characterized as an ability. An additional aspect is when researchers are testing emotional intelligence, participants tend to fake their answers to improve their self-development.

Emotional intelligence is questioned to be a real ability or just a branch of regular intelligence. There is a significant correlation between EQ and IQ suggesting that they are the same. It is suggested that people who score high in EQ also score significantly high IQ and that hence indicates that high EQ originates from high IQ.

There is a lack in programs that practice emotional intelligence as there is no standard for how individuals improve their EQ. This is due to limited research in improving emotional intelligence, hence the lack of a standardized training program. Furthermore, people with high EQ can tend to be too reliant on their emotions. This can result in emotions taking over in decision-making processes and replacing logic and realistic approaches.

Annotated Bibliography

AXELOS and Cabinet Office, Managing Successful Programmes, (The Stationery Office Ltd, 2011 Edition)

This book contains theories on how to manage successful programs. It explains how program managers can secure a successful program by providing frameworks and guidance. It provides a structured approach to leadership and managing stakeholders, where emotional intelligence is a vital part, making the content relevant for this article.

Casper. C.M, Using emotional intelligence to improve project performance, (Project Management Institute Annual Seminars & Symposium, 2002)

In this article, Casper, provides relevant information about how emotional intelligence improves project performance and what aspect to be aware of. He goes through the model of emotional intelligence and the four key elements. Furthermore, he suggests how your increase and implement EQ in the project environment to secure successful outcomes of projects.

Bharwaney. G, R.Bar-On, A. MacKinlay, EQ and the Bottom Line, pp. 14-16, (EI World, 2011)

The three authors, Bharwaney, Bar-On, and MacKinlay made this research paper on how emotional intelligence can increase the bottom line in organizations. EQ has been criticized for being unmeasurable, but the three authors had a vision of defining key steps towards increasing the bottom line with the aspects of EQ. Their research has provided significant results in how EQ initiatives can benefit organizations and increase both the health of employees and the financial aspect of the organization.

Burgan. D. S. & Burgan. S. C., Understanding emotional intelligence for project management practitioners, (Project Management Institute Global Congress 2012)

In this article, the Burgans provide a perspective on how aware managers should be of self-awareness. Self-awareness is one of the key elements in emotional intelligence and can be difficult to master. They provide theory on how a lot of managers today are promoted based on their domain skills, as a “accidental” manager. The accidental manager often lacks soft skills associated with EQ and is hence deemed to develop these after their promotion. Burgan points out that the appointment of accidental managers often leads to failing projects.

Thompkins. S, Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Effectiveness: Bringing Out the Best, (Center for Creative Leadership, 2022)

In this article by Shelley Thompkins, she presents a theory on how high emotional intelligence is a must-have ability for leadership effectiveness. She outlines how you can identify EQ and what elements are required to utilize it. She furthermore, provides tools to increase EQ and how you can apply it to your leadership style.