Emotional Intelligence - Benefits for Leaders

For more than a decade, people from all organizational levels and from a broad spectrum of industries and businesses have participated in programs to help them enhance their Emotional Intelligence (EI) skills. While the participants' various roles have presented them with quite different pressures and challenges, the one factor all these people have in common is the emotions they experience. When people develop EI skills, they are able to become internally self-managed and capable of making their greatest contributions. And when employees work in that zone of peak performance, so does the organization. Following are some examples of how EI skill development can benefit executives, high potential people and managers or supervisors.

Executives:

Daily, executives make decisions that may make or break their organizations. They must rely on more people than ever to achieve results they, personally, are held accountable for by the board. They must quickly and flexibly lead system-wide organizational change, while inspiring and energizing their followers. This constant, burdensome pressure can create feelings of anxiety, fear, caution, and even guilt and depression. The wrong decision, an untimely decision or no decision may cause "The Street" to undervalue the company, hampering its ability to meet its goals and stockholder expectations.

Research has shown that high EI skills are the distinguishing characteristics that separate star performing executives from average ones. With enhanced EI skills executives are able to demonstrate their passion, lead with courage, retain and grow talented leaders, and empathize with people while humanely challenging them to meet demanding business goals. The resilient, flexible, strong organizational culture that is created by such a leader attracts talented people, ensures organizational success (through thick and thin), and creates a lasting legacy.

High Potential People:

High Potential People must assume the demands of multiple projects and leadership roles. Unforeseen events occur that delay or derail critical business initiatives under their responsibility. Daily they may interact with customers, suppliers and even competitors who can be threatening and irate. They receive hundreds of emails demanding immediate attention. These situations can cause the person to feel anxious, fearful and overwhelmed. They may feel frustrated that things are not moving faster and may worry that problems are hurting their career. Negative emotions can lead to poor decisions and multi-million dollar flubs. Products flop and marketing campaigns go awry as critical details fall through the cracks. A shallow talent pool can keep the company from developing new products and services, crippling its chances in its industry.

Since high EI skills are a distinguishing characteristic between average and high-performing individuals, then the earlier these skills are developed and ingrained, the more likely High Potentials and the company are to experience success. Ensuring that high potential people develop their EI skills to the fullest assures a cadre of competent global leaders available to introduce new products, start new businesses, and lead the integration of new acquisitions.

Managers and Supervisors:

Managers' and Supervisors' behavior and treatment of their people determine turnover and retention. They interact daily with individuals who have distinct needs, wants and expectations. They significantly influence the attitudes, performance, and satisfaction of employees within their department and other departments. The stress brought on by the demands of upper management along with the stress of leading people and satisfying so many changing needs and expectations can be overwhelming. Being both firm and caring at the same time causes many to feel inadequate for the role. An inadequate relationship between the employee and their direct supervisor is reported to be the cause of forty percent of turnover. Where trust is lacking, performance suffers.

Enhancing EI skills enables Supervisors and Managers to regulate their emotions and motivate themselves more effectively. They are more able to demonstrate compassion and empathy for their employees when they effectively manage their own emotional turmoil. Enhanced EI skills also equip them with the courage to challenge existing thinking and processes to make necessary changes for their people. All employees want a supportive, caring Supervisor or Manager who has their best interests at heart. Knowing this, the employee will be more likely to turndown offers from other companies to work for such a person.

Results:

Examining actual results drives home the value, both to the individual and the organization, of developing EI skills. Program participants have reported improvements ranging from 20% to 40% reduction in stress and worry, 20% to 35% increase in personal productivity, 15% to 35% increase in teamwork, and similar improvements in personal motivation, creativity, work/life balance, management of emotional reactiveness and more. These increases can translate into positive return on investment for the organization.