People
Issue No. 26 - December/January 2005/06
Is your EQ high enough to succeed?
by Graham Winter
Boosting the emotional intelligence (EQ) of business leaders is definitely attractive for the bottom line. The business case is compelling.
In a multi-national consulting company the greater the EQ the greater the income of the Partners. A restaurant chain found 34% greater profitability growth in businesses run by high EQ leaders. Savings of over $US2million in staff turnover costs by screening for EQ
Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to understand your own and others’ emotions and to use this awareness to think and act intelligently. A high EQ means that you:
- understand how your own emotions affect your leadership
- understand other’s emotions and can show empathy
- control your emotions under pressure
- make smart decisions based on a mix of ‘art and science’
- know how to motivate people
Importantly, though EQ isn’t some sort of fluffy concept or about being emotional. Quite the opposite. It is about having the tough conversation but doing it without wrecking the all-important relationship.
It is what Codan CEO, Mike Heard described during our research for the book High Performance Leadership, as the “doses of reality about oneself and one’s organisation” that are needed to stay at a genuinely world-class level.
EQ in practice
Let’s look at some real life examples of what the five skills of EQ means for leaders.
1 Understand how your emotions affect your leadership
People want to work with leaders who are open, who can express disappointment and celebrate success, and who are emotionally smart enough to know that little gestures of frustration or annoyance can shut down the creativity of a whole team.
Jim Collins in Good to Great described the top leaders as displaying humility and working with a calm, yet “fierce resolve” when under pressure.
The EQ...
