Reading the tea leaves on the future of emotional intelligence

As a kid I have always been fascinated by the future. I recognized this early on in my childhood when my parents took me to Disney World. Future World at Epcot Centre was by FAR my most memorable moment of the trip. I have vivid memories of it today. When I close my eyes, I can still see myself taking the rainbow tunnel at the Imagination Pavilion.

I know my fascination for the future is not unique to me. It has been part of humanity’s DNA for a long time. We often go out of our way to seek understanding of what will happen next. This explains why corporations invest massive amounts of money trying to understand how consumers’ preferences will evolve over time. Or on the lighter side, why fortune telling and reading tea leaves have both evolved into pop culture staples.

With this blog post, I wanted to do my best to read the tea leaves surrounding the importance of emotional intelligence in leadership. Maybe you have not noticed, but it’s been steeping for a while (pun intended) and we are at the beginning of a new era in leadership skills. Have you also seen it coming? The tea leaves I will attempt to read are the social, organizational, and human realities that are currently leading us to a future where emotional intelligence will be in great demand.  I will place my stake in the ground now. I believe emotional intelligence will not only become one of the most sought after skills for leaders, but is in fact the #1 skill that successful organizations will have to recruit and train for.

For good measure, if you are reading this and you are not sure what emotional intelligence is, let me give you a quick tour. Emotional intelligence is your ability to monitor your own and other people's emotions, to understand and label them appropriately, and use this emotional information to guide your thinking and behaviours. In leadership, emotional intelligence includes facets such as self-awareness, how you inspire others, empathy, resilience, and stress management to name a few. We all have a certain amount of emotional intelligence, which can be measured and improved. The concept has been around for years and if you would like to read up on it, might I suggest you start by reading Daniel Goleman’s first book on emotional intelligence.

In order to understand why emotional intelligence will continuously gain greater importance, we need to take a quick sidestep and see what impacts the daily lives of leaders. To picture this, I will reference the ecological system model developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner. It offers a framework which examines an individual’s' relationships within its various communities and the wider society. In the specific case of a leader the model translates like this:

Per this theoretical construction, each system contains roles, norms and rules which will subsequently shape how a leader needs to act and react in leadership situations.  The prerequisite behaviours of a leader are directly related to what is considered acceptable by the ecosystem. As the ecosystem evolves, the ripple effect of its changes reaches all the way to the core where the leader resides. Consequently, to remain relevant, the leader needs to adapt.

With this out of the way, let’s get back to my tea leaf reading and look at specific elements changing in the leader’s ecosystem. For several years now these ecosystems have been slowly evolving toward the need of a more emotionally intelligent leader. Let me review the elements I see as the main ones.

1)     Industry 4.0 – Market and Industry Level:

By now, everyone is aware of the disruptive impact technology has had on certain industries. We all know too well the faith of historical greats such as Kodak and Blockbuster. Their inability to adapt to the changing application of technological advancement in their industry lead to their inevitable demise. Now with the game changing potential of AI and other technologies, others will certainly suffer the same fate.

The World Economic Forum, in its future of jobs report, tells us that four specific technological advancements will continue to significantly impact industries and jobs—ubiquitous high-speed mobile internet; artificial intelligence; widespread adoption of big data analytics; and cloud technology. 

The report further denotes that when it comes to the skills required for people and organizations to succeed in Industry 4.0, proficiency in new technologies is only one part of the larger picture. ‘Human’ skills such as creativity, originality and initiative, critical thinking, persuasion and negotiation will likely retain or increase their value, as will attention to detail, resilience, flexibility and complex problem-solving. The reports end by mentioning that emotional intelligence, leadership, and social influence as well as service orientation, will also see an outsized increase in demand relative to their current prominence.

In other words, more tech = less technical tasks for leaders. And less technical tasks = more time to spend thinking and managing people. Of all the human skills mentioned above, most are either key components of emotional intelligence or can be greatly enhanced using it.

2)     Creating a human experience at work – Organizational Level:

In the last few years, Deloitte’s Global Human Capital trend report has mentioned the birth and rise of the social enterprise. A social enterprise is an organization whose mission combines revenue growth and profit-making with the need to respect and support its environment and stakeholder network. The 2019 report suggest the pressures that have driven the rise of the social enterprise have become even more acute. One the of pressures mentioned is around employee engagement. Employees are still not engaged or actively disengaged at work. This is forcing organizations to move beyond mission statements and philanthropy to learn to lead the social enterprise—and reinvent themselves around a human focus. Shifting from developing an employee experience to what they call a human experience. The human experience is about making work meaningful and giving people a sense of belonging, trust, and relationship.

It goes without saying that people leaders in organizations will be a major contributor to the success or failure of this initiative. We already know that a manager accounts for 70% of employees’ engagement at work. Therefore, offering people a sense of belonging and relationships will fall on their shoulders. Leaders that cannot leverage enough interpersonal relationship, emotional expression and self awareness skills will have a hard time helping their organization make this crucial shift.

3)     Authentic and mentoring bosses: Team Level

One workshop exercise we do at LeedHR is to ask our trainees to share the skills, behaviours and persona types of their favorite leaders they have worked for. We do this to help leaders understand what type of behaviours people are inspired by. Before reading on, take a few seconds to do it yourself.

In case your doubting your answers, let me start by telling you what they do not write. Never does anyone mention that they miss a boss that was a micromanager…or those who never said thank you…. or the ones that took no time to appreciate the small success of the team…or those that would lose their cool. You get the idea. It begs the question, if everybody hates these behaviours, why are they still prevalent in the workplace?

Instead, we hear that the best bosses are the ones who understand their people…are optimistic when the chips are down…care for the wellbeing of their team…know the business…can communicate well and consistently… and along with a plethora of other great ‘human’ qualities. To support this, a 2017 Inc.com article highlights 4 leadership traits millennials expect from their leader. Here are the answers: mentoring, gentle spirit, authenticity, and integrity.  All of these skills and competencies have a strong correlation to emotional Intelligence. Leaders that cannot channel these skills will have a hard time engaging their teams and keeping their talent with the organization.

4)     The importance and openness around mental health is growing: Society & Culture Level

Mental Health has always been of importance and the awareness surrounding it is thankfully increasing. In 2007, research done by the Institute of Health Economics cited that in any given week in Canada 175 000 full time workers are absent from work due to mental illness. Thankfully, in the last few years we have made great strides in opening the conversation in the workplace. These conversations are going beyond the traditional promotion of EAPs offered by employers. We are seeing and hearing more about its importance and even high-profile personalities are openly sharing their experiences.

In 2018, Demar Derozan, the all-star guard of the Toronto Raptors, shared publicly his battles with depression. I remember thinking at the time that his story would help others discuss what is a sensitive topic in a tough-minded industry. Other players followed the footsteps of Demar and together they have helped the NBA adopt new rules. NBA teams are now required to have at least one full-time licensed mental health professional (a psychologist or behavioral therapist) on their full-time staff. 

I am not a mental health expert, but I can foresee this conversation continuing to make headway in our organizations. Leaders and people managers will have to continue improving and enhancing their skills to create an environment safe enough for employees to come forward. Moreover, they will need to ready themselves to participate in supportive one on one conversations with their employee using effective self-awareness and empathy skills.

5)     War for talent – Market & Industry Level:

The Covid-19 pandemic has been difficult on many fronts. The unexpected slow down has forced the hand of many companies by requiring them to cut employees. Consequently, placing an abundance of talent on the market and providing employers greater mass availability. As we recover, I believe the mass availability will be short lived as the economy rebounds from Covid. Soon enough, we will successfully return to a seeker market wherein there will be a greater amount of available jobs than qualified talent. Employees that were fortunate enough to sustain employment during the crisis but had to deal with poor management experiences will be on the lookout for a new gig.

It should come as no surprise that some people will leave their employer, as a direct result of their relationship with their manager. A 2019 survey by Robert Half International found that 2 out 5 employees quit their job because of a bad boss. A manager has a tremendous impact on the work culture of a team. People want to be inspired and have a good relationship with their boss. Successful leaders use emotional intelligence to reach these goals and retain their employees.

In summary, with all the changes underway at the social and organizational level, emotional intelligence is now predisposed to becoming the most sought after skill in leadership. It will continue to fuel engaging leadership for years to come. If you are passionate about the future of leadership and would like to discuss more, I would love to connect with you. I can be reached [email protected]. For more information on emotional intelligence for leaders, visit our website at leedhr.com.