Leading From The Heart

Emotional Intelligence (EI), also known as Emotional Quotient (EQ) is the ability to understand and manage your emotions, as well as the emotions of other people. Intelligent Quotient (IQ) and technical skills are important for managers and leaders, but EQ is needed for greater success, because EQ is the engine oil whereas IQ is the engine of the leadership vehicle.?

Building up your EQ is adding to your toolbox. EQ is actually a more relevant resource to bring out the best in your employees or teams, especially in times of complex organisational change.

The other day, the COO of our Food Systems Sustainability business said to me, “Next time, please don’t ask him such a question, it’ll make him feel important”. He was making reference to a question I asked a person working directly under him. Of course, I’d wanted the said person to feel important. By making him feel important, I’ve raised his self-esteem and that in turn has resulted in superior performance.?

It is clear that a leader with enhanced EQ is likely to be more effective because it gives him greater flexibility to manage and influence others to achieve positive objectives and goals.?

Believe it or not, leaders have the responsibility to set the mood of their teams, groups or organisations. They do this by applying a curious cocktail of interpersonal attributes flowing out of the wellspring of both nature and nurture.?

To improve your EQ for better performance in the workplace or around people, these interpersonal attributes are necessary;

Empathy:?This allows you to put yourself in other people’s shoes and to see things from their own eyes, which will help create new perspectives and sensitivity, and challenge stereotypes. This will cement the needed emotional bonds amongst employees and engender positive work environment.?

Self-Regulation: You need to be your own ombudsperson or regulator or accountability officer. Stay calm and in control of your own emotions, regardless of the situation. Make the transition from reaction to response. When you are calm under intense pressure, you are promoting an organisational culture of resilience, and leading by example.

Self-Confidence: Self-confidence (when broken down into plain English) expresses your awareness of your strengths and weaknesses, it also recognizes your emotions as a person, and how it affects you and the performance of your team.?

As a leader, you should not allow your emotions to flaw your decisions but use your position of authority to demonstrate humility.

Social Awareness:?Leading with social skills is being able to communicate with passion. This is important for building necessary relationships to accomplish organisational objectives and goals.

Motivation: This is the emotional energy to improve performance with and within the teams for the business to exist in perpetuity.??

I work for and with people. I have no choice than to be emotionally intelligent, so EQ is intricately woven into the fabric of my existence. It is worthy to spotlight the point that EQ is such a potent force that if not prudently managed, can also self-destruct the one doing the empathising.??

The phrase; “I’m seeing it with a different pair of eyes” is an emotionally intelligent way to say; “I disagree with you”. This implies we do not share the same view on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a project or business.

Around the world, as people are dealing with the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and thinking about what’s ahead, it is important for leaders to think about how to work through these difficult times with their teams and still get the jobs done, in an emotionally responsible manner.??

Please hear this; I try to tread carefully not to hurt people, but I am by no means perfect and will offer a sincere apology when the mistake was mine. To cultivate EQ-enabled relationships to foster workplace productivity, leaders must humanize themselves and show they are fallible like the rest of us; by saying they are sorry when they are wrong. You may have to seek legal advice (when necessary) before you go on with the apology, so as not to implicate others unfairly.?

Leaders like Apple’s founding CEO, Steve Jobs and Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg had all said “I am sorry” at one point or the other. When police arrested two men sitting down in a Starbucks store in Philadelphia for just being black, Starbucks’ CEO Kevin Johnson put EQ where it belongs in this kind of crisis - quickly issued a personal apology and plan of action – it closed 8,000 US stores for an afternoon to provide training on unconscious racial bias for 175,000 employees.??

To acknowledge a mistake – to family members, colleagues, employees, customers, and the general public – is to assert secure leadership, take corrective course of action and bring a matter to an end. A heartfelt apology is a sign of confidence, empathy, and strength. It has the added power to patch up relationships, bring back respect, reputation and customer loyalty. I believe it can also build work environments that are open to engagements and collaborations.??

Feedback is vital to any human endeavour. It can be a difficult terrain to navigate because few people are ready to tell you the hard truth. I also rely on my wife and my daughter for candid assessment of my life and the businesses that I lead. They are part of my 360-degree feedback program – giving me a multi-source review of the good, the bad and the ugly of how I am leading from the heart.?