5 Benefits of Having Emotionally Intelligent Leaders in Your Organization

Organizations need emotionally intelligent leaders. As a leader yourself, you want to employ other leaders who possess high emotional intelligence or EQ in your organization. So, what benefits should your team or organization expect to reap as you hire more emotionally intelligent leaders? Here are five benefits of having an emotionally intelligent leader within your organization

First, you must understand what emotional intelligence is and how it can benefit your organization. Next, what characteristics should you expect to see in an emotionally intelligent leader?

What is emotional intelligence?

In the recent blog, I explore what emotional intelligence or EQ is. Many leaders believe emotional intelligence (EQ) is limited to the ability to control and manage your emotions. Though this definition is technically is correct, Daniel Goleman, a bestseller author on numerous books on EQ, breaks emotional intelligence down into five key components of emotional intelligence.

So what are the characteristics of emotionally intelligent leaders?

We’ve already covered those listed by Daniel Goleman. However, also, individuals who possess emotional intelligence are known to display:

• Adaptable
• Influencer
• Coach & mentor
• Conflict management
• Strategic vision
• Organizational awareness
• Relation building

How can emotionally intelligent leaders benefit the organization?

Any organization can benefit from employing leaders with the characteristics listed above. When your organization employs emotionally intelligent leaders, you reap apparent benefits like a self-aware, competent leader that can self-regulate. However, the less obvious but arguably more critical benefit is the impact on organizational culture.

Experienced leaders understand culture lays the foundation for your organizational vision and, ultimately, your bottom line. Emotional intelligent leaders bring the following to an organization, all of which support the overall corporate culture.

1. Collaboration

No matter how talented one individual is, this individual skill does not compare to the benefits of a collective effort. Emotional intelligent leaders shine when it comes to collaboration. Their high EQ allows them to better understand and empathize with their teammates. As a result, they can harness and maximize each individual’s unique talents, leading to a better team effort.

2. Relationship building

Successful leaders, teams, and organizations must be able to network and build relationships. Your emotionally intelligent leader will likely possess highly tuned listening skills, intrapersonal skills, and the ability to influence others. These three skills make up the foundation of building both personal and business relationships. As a result, you will want to place your emotionally intelligent leader in positions to maximize their ability to develop and maintain relationships within your organization.

3. Mentorship and leadership

Combine the skills of an experienced leader with a high EQ, and you get the ultimate coach and mentor. This leader brings all the skills of a seasoned leader, such as communication, consistency, and vision. Add these skills to the leader’s ability to understand how to connect with the team. With the high EQ usually comes patience, insight, and the ability to avoid being frustrated as they coach and mentor new team members.

4. Strategic vision

Though organizational leaders wish that all of their employees would understand and buy into its strategic vision. Unfortunately, only a select few can. However, an organization can change this by employing more emotionally intelligent leaders. High EQ leaders can empathize with team members as well as high ups. As a result, they can serve as the bridge between the leadership and team, serving as strategic vision translators.

5. Conflict resolution

No organization can avoid conflict. Most experienced leaders have heard of Tuckman’s stages of group development, forming, storming, norming, and performing. To quickly progress through the storming phase and move to the norming and eventually performing stage, organizations need high EQ leaders who can effectively manage conflict resolution. High EQ leaders can help lead disagreements and misunderstandings toward achieving team goals, shared interests, and identifying win-win situations.

Test your EQ

Now that you know about some of the added benefits of organizations employing emotionally intelligent leaders, how do we test our leader’s EQ? Here are a few free online quizzes that can give leaders a quick assessment of their EQ levels.

The Institute for Health and Human Potential

This emotional intelligence quiz is a quick five-minute quiz. The test has less than a dozen multiple-choice questions that can give a quick and easy assessment of your EQ level.

The Greater Good Magazine

Though this test takes a little longer, it’s a lot more interesting. Twenty questions are picture-based. Each question contains a picture with a facial expression, and you must determine what feeling the person is conveying.

Psychology Today

Though this test is the longer of the three, it is also the most detailed. After taking this 45-minute test, you will receive a FREE snapshot report with a summary evaluation and graph. There is even an option for a more detailed report for $9.95

Conclusion

Your organization will benefit from having emotionally intelligent leaders leading your teams. Benefits such as conflict management, strategic vision, and coaching and mentoring will pay dividends as your organization grows and the collective EQ of your teams grows with it. If you are interested in some tips to help increase the EQ of your leaders, check out my blog on 4 Tips to Increase your Emotional Intelligence Skills. Also, feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts.