Leading with Emotional Intelligence
Purpose
This job aid is designed to offer learners practical tips about how to lead with emotional intelligence and encourage effective and healthy teams.
Leading with emotional intelligence, whether in person or remotely, involves creating work environments that improve employee engagement, reduce stress and burnout and boost performance by paying attention to how other people in an organization are doing.
Why more leaders are using emotional intelligence in work environments
Numerous studies have shown that leaders who use emotional intelligence have a positive impact on their teams and their overall performance.
For instance, 62% of the most highly effective and healthy teams are managed by leaders with effective emotional intelligence. These teams experience 43% less turnover, have 81% less absenteeism and enjoy a 24% higher profit margin. (Korn Ferry, 2021, and The State of Emotional Intelligence Report published by Search Inside Yourself Global, 2020)
Distinctive behaviours of emotionally intelligent leaders
Leaders who use emotional intelligence can stay focused on goals despite setbacks and obstacles. These leaders usually see the best in people, situations and events. They are also able to:
- Build trust through collaborative communication
- Recognize the impact of their actions on others
- Encourage others to express their perspectives respectfully while managing emotional triggers
6 steps to collaborative communication
Frustration, anger and differences of opinion will sometimes occur in any organization. In such cases, it is crucial to remain respectful and find ways to ensure these emotions do not interfere with work and working relationships.
Hold space: Hold space for others to share their perspectives and reactions professionally and respectfully.
Engage: Engage others meaningfully and tactfully to create healthy and open dynamics. Maintain eye contact when speaking to build trust.
Strive: Strive to understand multiple perspectives, find solutions and garner support for decisions. Taking everyone's emotional pulse can help make interactions go more smoothly.
Listen: Actively listen to what others are saying to encourage meaningful conversations. This reduces stress and makes it easier for others to navigate challenges with care, focus and resilience.
Encourage: Encourage self-awareness to help others keep track of their emotions and better understand how these emotions can impact their job performance and affect colleagues who work closely with them.
Identify: Identify a common goal shared by everyone in our work environments to help others stay focused on the prize and build common ground.
You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.
Knowledge in action
How are your actions and emotions affecting others in the work environment?
- What changes can you make in how you communicate so that you can deliver instructions or messages in the organization's positive tone while acknowledging other perspectives? (The nature of the relationships, hierarchies and decision-making processes that are so common in the public service.)
- What are some things you can do or say to express gratitude and appreciation to your team for a job well done?
- What are some ways to actively solicit feedback on how your emotions and actions may be affecting others?
Reflection in action
How are you considering the perspectives of others?
- What could you do to develop and motivate others to work together toward shared goals?
- What steps could you take to ensure that your reading of a particular situation at work is accurate?
- What could you do to make better-informed decisions based on tangible and intangible data? (For example, how soon is a decision needed? Who needs to be swayed? Why and how?)
- What could you do to encourage acceptance and patience for those trying to adjust to changes at their own pace, without judgement?
- What can you do to encourage others to tap into their inner resources and respond thoughtfully rather than impulsively? (A more deliberate response can help avoid escalating the situation.)
Managing emotional triggers
Emotional triggers are often associated with past events that individuals wish to avoid repeating.
Recognizing the physical symptoms that precede emotional triggers, such as increased heart rate or disorientation, can help individuals react differently in the future.
- Emphasize that emotions are just transitory data. Making space for others to clarify their feelings and needs is one of many ways you can support an individual.
- Additionally, you may find it useful to follow recommended techniques such as taking deep breaths, focusing on pleasant stimuli, adjusting your body position or going for a short walk to let off steam.
- When someone is emotionally triggered, active listening and empathy can help create feelings of connection and validation. Note that listening to someone does not mean agreeing with everything they say.
It is important to connect the situation you are in with your team or organization's greater purpose, emphasizing that everyone's efforts contribute to achieving a common goal.
Additional reference tools
Books
Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change and Thrive in Work and Life, by Susan David, Ph.D. This book explains how anyone can thrive in an uncertain world by becoming emotionally agile, using four key concepts that can help us acknowledge uncomfortable experiences while simultaneously detaching from them, thereby allowing us to embrace core values and align our actions with what we truly want.
Working with Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman. This book demystifies emotional intelligence as a set of skills that anyone can learn and offers practical insights into their importance and how best to develop these skills.
Canada School of Public Service
Job aids and webcasts
Courses
Other
Workplace Strategies for Mental Health and Canada Life offer several emotional intelligence tools and resources for leaders, including a free, online Emotional Intelligence Self-Assessment that is widely used in workplaces across Canada for personal and professional development. Completing this emotional intelligence self-assessment will help identify knowledge gaps and support individual learning needs.
