Emotional intelligence and its role in leadership

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Default Author • Feb 06, 2019

Growing in awareness as a manager.

It's no secret that success in recruitment warrants a degree of generating fees. However, when it comes to managing a team there is so much more to consider if you want to lead them to victory.

The truth is that any well-trained recruiter can receive a promotion on the grounds of an agreed billings target or KPI. You may be highly proficient in your field - but what about other skills that contribute to your ability to work well with others and guide your team to success?

What is emotional intelligence and why is it important?

Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is defined as:

“the capability of individuals to recognize their own emotions and those of others, discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour, and manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt to environments or achieve one's goal(s).” (Colman 2008)

People with a high degree of emotional intelligence know what they're feeling, what their emotions mean, and how these emotions can affect other people.

For leaders, having emotional intelligence is essential for success. After all, who is more likely to earn respect – a leader who shouts at his team when under pressure, or a one who stays in control, and calmly assesses the situation?

It takes more than money to move up the chain

I strive to ensure it is not just monetary targets and billings that constitute success here at Morgan Consulting. In the past, I've worked in environments where promotions are based purely on a financial basis, and quite frankly, I've found this to breed a hostile culture.

Psychologist and EQ author Daniel Goleman found that, beyond a certain point, there is little or no correlation between IQ and high levels of professional success. Apparently, you need above-average intelligence to master the technical knowledge needed to be a doctor, lawyer, or business executive. However, once people enter the workforce, IQ and technical skills are near enough equal among those on the rise, so emotional intelligence then becomes a key differentiator.

“In fact, emotional intelligence—the ability to, say, understand your effect on others and manage yourself accordingly— accounts for nearly 90 percent of what moves people up the ladder when IQ and technical skills are roughly similar.” – (Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ)

What makes a successful leader at Morgan Consulting?

Great leaders cultivate the foundation for a terrific work experience for their employees - a place where people are motivated and inspired and want to be a part of the company. And this all starts with awareness of the self.

Speaking from experience, it wasn't until I truly invested in improving my emotional intelligence that I started to see positive transformation in my own performance, not only as a recruiter, but also a manager. The same with the other leaders within Morgan who have also invested in their own awareness and created an environment of trust and success, in which they are now seeing the effect of their team performance's going from strength to strength. It all start's from the top and by learning from our own failures and setting ourselves goals that I'd once thought were impossible to achieve, I am witnessing a workplace of leaders evolving, in which we will continue to invest in EQ throughout the workforce for better company engagement and employee commitment.

As our consultants move higher up the organisational ladder, we keep an important focus on the following people skills and EQ traits in managers – whether they are hired from internal or external sources. Plus, our entire workforce takes comfort in knowing that the whole essence of our culture is built upon these values…