Developing EI enables leaders to create an encouraging environment and a genuinely inclusive culture that brings out the best in everyone. Jo Maddocks outlines four steps to achieve this
Huge resources are dedicated to employee engagement programmes that aim to attract top talent with increasingly quirky perks and benefits. So when business leaders know that engagement is low, it’s not surprising that they shy away from finding a solution, assuming that it will be both complicated and expensive. But real employee engagement and growth starts with creating the right climate at the top. And a lot of it is just common sense.
Whatever an organisation does, it will be most effective if it harnesses the full potential of all its people. According to State of the American Workplace Report, by Gallup he impact of improved engagement can be seen at an organisational level in terms of productivity, profitability, retention and employee well-being. That leaves a key question. How can a leader develop their own behaviours to ensure that their team is passionate, committed and fully engaged?
Sustainable behaviour change
Most organisations define effective leadership through behavioural competencies. While this is useful for measuring whether a required behaviour is being achieved, using competencies alone does not support leaders to develop that behaviour. What’s more, behaviour change can only be sustainable if it is underpinned by attitudes and intentions.
Emotional Intelligence (EI) enables leaders to understand their own attitudes and align these with their behaviours. By being emotionally intelligent, leaders will be better able to adopt appropriate attitudes and develop their behavioural competencies. And in doing so build trust and cultivate a climate that supports engagement and sustainable high performance.
Leadership climate
The EI of leaders has been found to have a powerful impact on the emotional climate and effectiveness of an organisation, particularly during challenging periods. According to a 2015 study by Ekta Vyas, Director of Human Resources at Stanford Children’s Health, and Adjunct Management Professor at San Jose State University higher EI was linked to increased staff engagement during transformational change.
A leader with low EI, who is controlling or withdrawn, can create a survival climate that role models competitive or even aggressive behaviour. Operating in a survival climate makes employees feel anxious, intimidated and unable to do their best work. An inspiring and inclusive leader on the other hand can create a mindful climate where employees are energised, motivated, empowered and adaptable.
Achieve win-win
The behaviour of leaders is driven by their attitudes, which they are often completely unaware of. This might be a need for control, perfectionism or pleasing others. While this will have played a part in past successes, these attitudes can come at a cost – to their relationships, the climate they create and ongoing engagement levels within their team.
At work or at home the ideal outcome in any situation is ‘I win – you win’, where both parties feel competent, confident, authentic and open to change. Finding a balance between your own self-regard and regard for others is key to achieving this. It is the cornerstone to all aspects of EI and particularly important for effective leadership.
In addition to self-regard and regard for others, EI experts have identified a number of attributes of EI that are particularly important for effective leadership. By developing these attributes, leaders will be able to develop sustainable behaviours and create a climate of trust where people feel inspired to perform to their full potential.
Adapt
Research shows that adaptable leaders experience greater team satisfaction. An effective leader will avoid inflexible thinking and encourage collaboration rather than competition, which in turn increases individual and team resilience. A leader who behaves with integrity and authenticity also creates a supportive environment where people feel valued.
Tips to develop your EI:
- Self-awareness –stay in touch with your physiology, feelings and intuitions. Don’t over-estimate your capacity to deliver.
- Emotional resilience – keep problems in perspective, see mistakes as learning opportunities and take a balanced view about what you can and can’t control.
- Personal power – take responsibility and maintain a belief that you are in charge of your own outcomes.
- Deliver
Deliver
A leader that is able to deliver results will be able to organise and prioritise effectively, follow procedures and work with detail. At the same time they will display drive, initiative and ambition, and cascade these through their team.
Tips to develop your EI:
- Goal directedness – know what you want and ensure that your behaviour is aligned with your goals.
- Connecting with others – ahighpredictor of employee engagement is a team that feels their boss cares about them. Form trusting, honest and caring relationships that are more than just transactional.
- Flexibility – try to be responsive and adapt to the needs of the current situation rather than remain rigid and dogmatic.
Think
Analysing information is an increasingly important part of any leadership role. Problem solving and strategic thinking are vital, as well as the ability to be creative and innovative. A strong leader needs to continuously learn and inspire others to do the same.
Tips to develop your EI:
- Emotional expression and control – always seek to achieve an appropriate balance between expressing and controlling your emotions.
- Balanced outlook – remain calm, steady and consistent, and maintain a healthy balance between optimism with realism.
- Reflective learning – reflect on what you (and those around you) feel, think, and do. Learn from experience, grow by noticing the outcomes that this produces, and alter your behaviour accordingly.
Inspire
An inspirational leader needs to be an effective communicator and presenter – someone who influences and connects with people and builds good professional networks. They will also be a decision maker who directs and guides others, managing talent by coaching and developing their people.
Tips to develop your EI:
- Awareness of others – gauge your expectations of other people, find out what they need and aim to provide the correct level of encouragement, advice, autonomy or direction.
- Authenticity – invite trust by being principled, reliable, consistent and known. Being led by someone who is unpredictable creates considerable anxiety.
- Trust – it’s important to place the right amount of trust in other people. The key is not to be over trusting or mistrusting. To get the right balance, be carefully trusting.
A sense of belonging
Developing EI enables a leader to create an encouraging environment and a genuinely inclusive culture that brings out the best in everyone. Policies, procedures and rules aren’t enough to achieve productivity – people need to feel valued in order to be engaged and function at their best.
Furthermore, targets and quotas won’t improve diversity if the prevailing business culture fails to make people feel secure and appreciated. Recruiting a diverse workforce is a Sisyphean task if the diverse employees you have hired are quickly driven away by a culture that does not value difference. And a negative climate is a waste of talent, as those that do stay are unable to operate at their best.
Daniel Goleman summarised the benefits of diversity by saying, “The more diverse the members of the team, the better its potential performance will be”. This potential will never be fully utilised if a leader and their organisation is unwilling or unable to use the power of difference.
How does it feel?
The emotional climate of an organisation can be defined as how it feels to work somewhere and be led by someone. Negative leadership behaviours erode trust and engagement, particularly if they are used habitually. But coaching and supporting your team will impact their relationships, which in turn will cascade across your organisation. Improving employee engagement is common sense and it starts with your own EI.
Key questions for leaders
- What percentage of time do I spend in the survival zone (controlling or withdrawn) or the mindful zone (inspiring or inclusive)?
- Which zones characterise my most negative relationships and why?
- Which zones characterise my most positive relationships and why?
- What actions can I take to create a more mindful climate?
Personality + emotional intelligence = performance
- Personality represents who a person is and includes their temperament and innate resources, including IQ, memory and pattern matching.
- Emotional Intelligence is how well a person learns to manage their temperament and harness their innate resources.
- Competencies are how a person’s personality and EI are demonstrated in their performance and behaviours.
Jo Maddocks has worked as a business psychologist for more than 25 years, tackling a vast range of issues across numerous sectors and age groups. Jo is passionate about the power of EI to improve individual and business performance – and build happier, healthier lives.
Currently completing his Doctorate in the psychology of Emotional Intelligence, Jo is one of the UK’s leading experts in Emotional Intelligence. He is also the author of Emotional Intelligence at Work: How to make change stick.
