How can you lead with emotional intelligence in a global and diverse context?

Understanding your emotions and using that to understand the emotions of others is a great place to start when learning about your level of emotional intelligence. Knowing where you are is step one. Step two is learning to apply it in real life. To lead with EI, you have to learn about people’s emotions. Understand that empathy is comes first. You have to put yourself in their shoes. Prioritize their feelings first to show you care. Listen actively, pay attention to their body language, and ask questions to truly understand their emotions but don’t ignore your own. Find outlets outside of work. By doing this, you build stronger connections and create a supportive ecosystem.

Emotional Intelligence can be simplified for all in the golden rule. Do unto others what you want done to you. If we are committed to think and behave the way we want others to think about us and behave, then all is good.

I recognize that I'm a leader in different ways in my life. I must use EI to stay balanced. If one area is off this can influence my leadership in another area. I incorporate mentors in various aspects of my life. The value of a mentor is so priceless. I reach out to my mentors for guidance. Because I've chosen my mentors based on the respect I have for them and their leadership, I respect their insight. I don't take it personally, but use it as a guide for the way I lead.

Another tool to assess your emotional intelligence is through the Everything DiSC Catalyst platform. I find that a combination of personality assessments and emotional intelligence is a powerful way to gain personal insight into how you are showing up in the world.

Certainly, self-awareness and mindfulness in one's own interactions with colleagues, partners is the first and important step. In the quest for excellence (IQ), EQ is ignored during the early years. We need to use 360 degree feedback system and direct conversation to understand how others perceive you. Understanding invisible biases, that you might operate with is really, really important to know. Reviewing the conference call recordings and seeing the reactions of others to what is said is great tool. As a leader, insist on having the participants turn on their video cameras. In the end, be kind to yourself based on your context. Have empathy towards oneself and others. Understanding your EI level is a great start towards leadership.

Comments to this point discuss EQ from an individual perspective; however, the EQ styles one uses depends on large part on what the driving “need” of the organization is as well as “maturity” of the organization and the members therein. Startups and those undergoing significant change need authoritative leadership to provide direction, but smart organizational leaders also employ affiliative styles to align everyone on core values and create harmony among and across diverse groups. Using these styles strive to build trust and engage the talents of many in driving change. After this the Democratic and Coaching styles need to be employed in concert to evoke innovation across the board and continually develop the talent who deliver results.

Attending various networking and social events are additional ways to improve your EI. Intentionally participating in varying social venues with varied crowds provides a maximal opportunity to practice your adapting skills. Perhaps you can even ask for feedback later in the evening or even self-assess your performance if that's too much of a stretch.

Adapting your style is much more difficult than it sounds. We have spent most of our lives showing up a certain way. Adapting takes practice in order to become skilled. I practice in places where the risk is lower. For example, I practice when out shopping or when having a bite to eat and yes even in airports. The keys to successful practice are to try approaches that are different, to a point that it makes you a bit uncomfortable. Afterwards ensure you take time to debrief what happened in the encounter and then adjust. And when you are noticing better results and your confidence levels are up, then its time to bring it to where it really matters.

Does anyone remember Communication 101 or 102 from their undergrad coursework? Knowing the audience, adapting your message, and reading the room go a long way toward improving your EI. If you want to connect with others, you must first consider how they prefer to communicate and connect- then, adapt!!

Using an assessment will definitely help you understand the 15 competencies of EQ - EQi2.0 by MHS is our go to tool. EQ is about balance, understanding how your self perception relates to your expression, to your relationships, how you make decisions and even manage stress in your life and work. When working with leaders we often get them to think about balance! As an example:Balancing your optimism with your ability to still be realistic at critical times is an important skill for leaders to have and flex. Once you start to understand your self, and your own emotions you can work to show up as the best version of yourself.

Did you know that EI is a critical component of executive presence and professional influence? You either have it, or you don’t. Make the time to study yourself, and how others approach or interact with you. You’ll gain a lot of insight from introspection, and ensure the path you’re on to building your EI aligns with your professional goals.

Feedback, feedback. I recently took the saboteur assessment at Shirzad Chamine's PositiveIntelligence.com. My strongest saboteur is the 'judge.' He says this is the most common saboteur amongst us. However, when I read the thoughts, behaviors etc, I went on the defensive for a minute which meant I was judging myself even more. But once I started putting in practice what he advises, my 'jugde' became all too familiar. Armed with this information and solutions I am now able to tame the little sneak when she shows up.

I highly recommend the positive intelligence assessment and using the tools Shirzad Charmine has designed to help us improve our positive intelligence quotient (PQ). Your PQ measures the percentage of time your mind is acting as your friend rather than as your enemy or serving your vs sabotaging you.

Keeping things simple usually helps. I believe the approach to emotional intelligence is becoming more complex than it needs to be. What if we simplified it to: being aware of your own emotions first and being able to regulate it well so that you can relate better with others? The simplified version might be something like: managing your emotions, being compassionate, and being aware of certain nuances from others that are informative. That way, practical application is easier to achieve and pressure is reduced on leaders to be all things to all men. In my opinion; good motive, regular reflection, honesty with self, and honest conversations with others are the bedrock for leading with emotional intelligence.

Leveraging Emotional Intelligence in leadership within a global and diverse setting is a multi-faceted endeavor. Assessing your own EI, honing self-awareness, cultivating empathy, mastering emotional regulation, and embracing feedback form a holistic framework for leading with authenticity, effectiveness, and inclusivity. By intertwining these steps, you can forge a path that inspires collaboration and harnesses the power of emotions for transformative leadership. For me, it was more about the journey inwards first in order to go outwards.

THE most important aspect of any of this is actually practising it first, rather than using real-world colleagues to try it out on and hoping the consequences aren’t too damaging if you don’t get it right. None of these models (MSCEIT is probably overly complicated to be honest, my gut tells me people can possibly talk about it but when it comes to it, nobody actually tries it out in practise) can tell you what you look and sound like when you try to actually implement them - that can only be achieved from experiential training and feedback. I say so often, it’s not about the complexity of the model, it’s about the simplicity of the practical application.