Emotional Intelligence Shapes Leaders and Coaches

Managers with high Emotional Intelligence are more likely to become great leaders and coaches.

Many of our important decisions in life are influenced by both emotional and rational attributes. Daniel Goleman, expert in psychology and brain sciences, shared research in his book Emotional Intelligence, showing that up to 90% of performance effectiveness is due to emotional savvy rather than technical knowledge.

The good news is, unlike our IQ, emotional and social intelligence can be developed. Emotional intelligence and social intelligence are close friends. Emotional intelligence enables managers to deal with their own responses in business interactions. It gives us the ability to monitor and discriminate between different emotions and use the information to guide our thinking and behavior. Social intelligence allows managers to see the world as others do and listen without bias.

Emotional intelligence is made up of four core skills that pair up under two primary competencies: personal competence and social competence. The four skills are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management.

We now know that managers with high emotional intelligence are more likely to become great leaders and coaches. Emotions so often drive choices and decisions, even in the face of logic.

Today many companies look through the lens of Emotional Intelligence in hiring, promoting, and developing their employees. Johnson & Johnson found that mid-career employees identified at mid career as having high leadership potential were far stronger in Emotional Intelligence competencies than were their less-promising peers.

For more on this theme view our on-demand Leadership Lens event, Linking Higher Levels of Emotional Intelligence With Engagement to Accelerate Results.