LeAnn, that's great awareness. Once you know your strengths and weaknesses, then you can make a plan to move forward.
Dr. Jean Norris
You can manage without an EQ but you can’t lead with only a high IQ.
As a leader you are being watched and evaluated constantly by everyone around you. Self-awareness and empathic listening style are two things I have learned from this course that I will always remember and improve on constantly.
All aspects are important for leadership. I have come to recognize how self-awareness and relationship skills/building can lead to a strong team. It’s important to understand how your emotions and actions can affect others around you. Relationships are the key to a successful team and if you develop those relationships you are more likely to see positive results.
Great awareness Jenniffer. When we consider multiple aspects and understand how they impact our relationships we have the ability to grow our skills to produce positive results. Do you have any examples of this in action?
A good leader should understand his/her own feelings as well as that of his/her audience. Being able to truly listen to what the other person is saying both verbally and non-verbally gives a good leader clues as to how to proceed with going forward with what needs to be done. Lisetning without letting your mind get ahead with what you should be saying next is so important. It allows you to truly listen and empathasize with the speaker. Understanding whether the person that you are managing responds better to visual, auditory, or kinesthetic stimuli is also very important. For example, if as a leader you are continually verbalizing information without demonstration or charts (or other visual stimuli) the person who does not respond well to verbal stimuli will not flourish.
Thank you for your input Anne these are all great points. I like you're thoughts on the visual, auditory, or kinesthetic preferences that a person might have. Making subtle changes to our communication and approach can have an amazing impact on our team.
Dr. Jean Norris
Emotional intelligence is very important when considering leadership. It is the ability to listen, coach and direct personal with an unbiased perspective. It is needed to recognize the difference between personal opinions acting as the guiding force for reasoning without consideration of outside perspectives.
Garry, interesting point! Thank you for sharing. Which aspect of emotional intelligence do you feel aids in this discovery?
Dr. Jean Norris
Since EI is maturity which entails understanding oneself, EI as a whole is important. EI is about removing the emotional response to business dealings, how one relates to people, etc., all genuine factors of leadership. Being able to lead with the emotional baggage is critical to overall leadership success and development.
David, Great point. It sounds like you have experience with a leader that might have operated this way, or you yourself are a leader. Can you share your experience?
Dr. Jean Norris
The most important aspect to remember when dealing with emotional intelligence is to know how to manage emotions in the work place. People sometimes become overwhelmed with stress and/or overloads of work and do not know where to start and how to do it. Because of that they take it out on other employees, cry, scream, etc. people need to learn how to prioritize, plan and organize themselves so that they do not become caught up and burn out. Pacing is important to creating great work ethics.
david, It sounds like you have some experience with emotional intelligence. What can you do to assist with employees or co-workers when they are expressing concerns or stress?
Dr. Jean Norris
The Aspects that I think is most important is empathy,showing genuine interest in an employees workforce is an integral aspect of the leadership style. It is important to notice the employee’s needs, wants, circumstances and listen to their point of views. Consequently, understanding the team will allow you to create a stronger relationship.
Daniela, Showing genuine interest in your employees needs is really important. Empathy allows you to recognize their need, and help them through the situation. How do you compare empathy to sympathy?
Dr. Jean Norris
I think all aspects are as equally important in order to be a great leader. If a leader is self aware, he/she knows how they feel and how your emotions along with your actions can affect the people around you. A Leader who regulates or controls themselves seldomly attacks others verbally or makes any rushed or emotional decisions. A self motivated leader always strives to achieve their goals and takes pride of their work. A great example for his/her peers. A Leader with empathy has the ability to put themselves in someone else's situation. An empathetic leader helps to develop his/her peers and is a good listener. A leader with good social skills can be a great communicator with his team. I believe in order to be a great leaders, we must strive to master all of these aspects of emotional intelligence.
As a former US Army NCO I will revert to the first of eleven principles. "Know yourself and seek self-improvement". This has always served me well in the military and the civilian world.
Miriam, It's so true what you said about empathetic listening. It sounds like you have experience in this situation, would you share?
Dr. Jean Norris
Derek, Great insight! How specifically does it serve you well?
Dr. Jean Norris
Self-evaluation is an important aspect of leadership - focusing on intellect over emotion. Oftentimes I have observed emotions cloud the issues (and have, of course, been guilty of the same). Attempting to suppress the ego and intellectually focus on solutions can yield positive results.
Derek, Very true. Being self-aware offers great opportunity. Can you give an example of the opportunity self-awareness may present?
Dr. Jean Norris
