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Creating a healthier workplace culture by nurturing your leadership team's emotional intelligence
Creating a healthier workplace culture by nurturing your leadership team's emotional intelligence
By Alexis Bolick, December 10, 2022
In early 2022, Forbes posted an article titled “Employee stress is at record highs- should we get rid of managers?” (Lashbrooke, 2022). Ouch.
Of course, the obvious answer is no. We cannot. So how do we create healthier cultures, starting with, arguably, the most directly influential members of a company? We can stop the fire before it spreads by emphasizing and further nurturing leaders' emotional intelligence.
What is emotional intelligence?
What is emotional intelligence?
The term “emotional intelligence” was first popularized by a world-renowned psychologist named Daniel Goleman in the ’90s. Defined by Goleman, emotional intelligence refers to “how well we handle ourselves and our relationships”(WOBI, 2017, 0:19).
Over the last 20+ years, Goleman has pushed the idea that, at a certain point, the consideration for one's emotional intelligence (EI) and intelligence quotient (more commonly known as IQ) becomes a balancing act and that within leaders, there should be higher consideration for EI over IQ. In this brief 2017 video, Goleman provides background information on one of the many case studies that sought to prove this point. This particular study found that within an organization of highly intelligent people, those who had earned more success had higher levels of EI over IQ.
How? Because of something called a “floor effect,” meaning, generally, in jobs that require higher educational degrees, everyone will have similar IQ levels. levels. Interestingly, the employees who showed higher EI were considered the most distinguished simply because they knew how to communicate and work well with others.
Further defining emotional intelligence, Goleman additionally states that there are four primary domains (Big Think, 2012):
1.) Self-awareness (knowing what we are feeling and, more importantly, why we are feeling it)
2.) Self-management (being able to handle negative emotions effectively)
3.) Having empathy for others (knowing what someone else is feeling)
4.) Maintaining skilled relationships (putting the other three domains together to care for others actively)
Don’t these seem like traits you want your leaders to have?
Leadership and EI
Leadership and EI
Goleman has created clear connections between high-quality leadership and the presence of EI.
Leaders who display EI are aware of more than just themselves and their intelligence- they see the organization as a connected environment they directly impact. Leaders know how to persuade and communicate, empathize and relate to others, and most importantly, can sense how their leadership impacts others. Whatever they say can drive others (along with the organization itself) towards success or decline.
Others, such as a research group in Canada, have further illustrated the benefits of leaders embracing emotional intelligence within contemporary workplace settings.
The results are in: Leaders with EI create empowered employees
The results are in: Leaders with EI create empowered employees
In their study, Udod et al. (2020) uncovered various benefits from leaders who demonstrate high emotional intelligence. These managers can build better relationships, resulting in empowered employees while fostering a creative problem-solving culture within the workplace. Because of their high levels of emotional intelligence, these leaders, even under the typical stresses within management positions, could still self-manage their emotions while caring enough to build relationships (bonds) with employees to facilitate employee empowerment.
Employee empowerment was additionally present when upper-level managers:
Shared power (information and knowledge) to their employees, allowing employees to accomplish tasks more easily
Actively valued others, motivating employees to perform better
Provided autonomy, creating both satisfying and rewarding experiences within the workplace
Promoted positive change by coaching employees to reach their highest potential
Became mentors to their employees, creating growth and skill development
Are you starting to understand the value emotionally intelligent leaders can bring to the table? If so, you might be reflecting on your current leadership staff and noticing this trait is somewhat...lacking. Don't worry. Goleman himself believes EI can be learned.
Introducing emotional intelligence into your workplace
Introducing emotional intelligence into your workplace
Once you understand the value of EI and are ready to introduce it to your leadership team(s), prepare to feel some pushback. This concept could be a culture shock to some, while others might take the recommendation a bit personally. Researcher Courtney Ackerman, MA (2018), has written an article to help those who want to make the push toward implementing emotional intelligence within the workplace. To try and minimize opposition, Ackerman has suggested implementing workplace EI into four phases.
Phase 1: Preparation- Assess your organizational needs, individual strengths, and growth opportunities. Encourage training participation and ensure learning goals are linked to employees’ personal values. Consider conducting an employee survey which allows you to assess individual strengths through organizational performance evaluations.
Phase 2: Training- Break your emotional intelligence-related learning goals into smaller, more manageable steps for employees to follow while providing frequent and direct feedback ensuring your staff is fully supported throughout the experience.
Phase 3: Transferring- Help employees maintain their newly-learned skills by building opportunities for employees to use what they have learned by creating a social community of learning within the organization. An example of a community of learning would be an implementation of “lunch and learns,” where leaders meet to talk about specific topics surrounding EI.
Phase 4: Evaluating- Take note of any change the training has created. To validate findings and obtain metrics, consider sending out a post-training survey to assess any attitude changes further. Sending out a survey will also better prepare you for future EI training, should your organization choose to do more.
Ackerman has additionally provided games for emotional intelligence icebreaking activities. When considering your current company culture, you might want to start with a game before the first phase.
Creating and maintaining a culture based on high emotional intelligence, starting with your leadership team, will set you apart from your competitors. New employees will want to work for you, and your customer base will also begin to notice better service due to increased employee performance. When you choose to foster emotional intelligence, everyone can win.
References:
Ackerman, C.E. (2018, Dec 5). How to improve emotional intelligence in the workplace. Positive Psychology. https://positivepsychology.com/emotional-intelligence-workplace/
Big Think (2012). Daniel Goleman introduces emotional intelligence | Big Think [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7m9eNoB3NU
Fisher, L. M. (2008, Aug 26). Tea and empathy with Daniel Goleman. Strategy+Business.
Indeed Editorial Team (2021, Feb 22). What is work culture? Indeed. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career- development/work-culture
Lashbrooke, B. (2022, Jul 25). Employee stress is at record highs- Should we get rid of managers? Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/barnabylashbrooke/2022/07/25/employee-stress-is-at-record-highs--should-we-get-rid-of-managers/?sh=2731e4c060e2
Pandey, A. (2021, Dec 21). How to build a corporate learning community by leveraging social learning. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/how-to-build-a-corporate-learning-community-by-leveraging-social-learning
Teleperformance Group (2020). Daniel Goleman - Emotional intelligence in leadership. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bbLWsvDW5o
Udod, S. A., Hammond-Collins, K., & Jenkins, M. (2020). Dynamics of emotional intelligence and empowerment: The perspectives of middle managers. SAGE Open, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020919508
WOBI (2017). Strategies to become more emotional intelligent | Daniel Goleman | WOBI [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt74vK9pgIA
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