Emotional Intelligence for the Win
I’ve always been a bit of an observer. From the time I was in kindergarten, I wanted to be a teacher. Because I knew teaching was in my future, I observed my teachers along the way. I noted the characteristics I loved – being knowledgeable of the discipline, being able to meaningfully connect with students, clearly communicating expectations, being prompt with grading and feedback, and making learning fun.
I also noted undesirable traits – being inflexible, playing favorites, being disorganized and inconsistent, being rude or hurtful, and being unwilling to say, “I don’t know the answer." No teacher was perfect. Even the best teachers had bad days or did something frustrating at some point.
Once I entered the professional world, I continued to observe those around me. I added to my understanding of what an effective instructor says and does. I also observed the leaders around me – faculty leaders, principals, superintendents. This continued through my time as a faculty member and administrator in higher education. In a similar way, I noted the good and bad traits and actions of those leaders. As it turns out, good teachers and good leaders have many traits in common.
An Illuminating Framework. When I studied leadership, I was drawn to Emotional Intelligence (EI) theory and Boyatzis’ and Goleman’s four components of EI. The theory and the components provided an illuminating lens to understand many of the traits associated with effective leadership and teaching. When I was observing effective teachers and leaders, I was often observing people with strong emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence “refers to a person’s abilities to perceive, identify, understand, and successfully manage emotions in self and others...being able to effectively manage ourselves and our relationships” (Daft, p. 146).
The four components of EI are: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, and relationship management. Self-awareness and social awareness describe levels of recognition, while self-management and relationship management are the resulting behaviors. When I first read about EI, I immediately recalled some of the more “cringey” moments in faculty meetings or classroom settings, where someone lacked the ability to see how their emotions were affecting their responses (self-awareness), or they were unable to perceive and understand the emotions and reactions of the others in the room (social awareness). Quite frankly, most of the “leadership fails” I’ve witnessed (and participated in!) were connected to a lack of emotional intelligence.
Consider the team environment – both in the classroom and in the work setting. As a teacher for 30 years, I have heard my share of complaints regarding “group assignments.” Students complain about unclear expectations, poor communication, having lazy team members, and dealing with interpersonal conflict. They would rather “do it all on their own.” In the professional setting, the complaints are often similar. Guess what...those complaints are all connected to a lack of one or more of the emotional intelligence components.
Emotional Intelligence and Remote Work. We have all witnessed the increase in remote and hybrid working over the past few years. My personal experience working remotely is limited (although growing!), but I have witnessed and read quite a bit about the remote environment. I even took an online course on working remotely (highly recommend!). My observation is that EI is just as important in remote work and leading remote teams as it is in the in-person setting. This week, I decided to do a little digging on that topic.
The research article by William Quisenberry titled , “Exploring How Emotional Intelligence Contributes to Virtual Teams: Interpretive Analysis of a Phenomenological Study,” provides some insight. The author interviewed 31 self-managed members of virtual teams regarding the attributes and characteristics of effective team members. The author then sought to determine whether those attributes were associated with emotional intelligence. The short answer: yes!
Here are the most common characteristics of effective virtual team members in the study:
Excellent communication skills – This includes verbal and written skills, as well as having excellent listening skills and being “message decoders.”
Good self-management skills – This also includes a willingness to be accountable and responsible (as an individual and as a team).
Highly collaborative – Remote workers should be a "team player,” caring about the members and work of the team and being willing to share and receive knowledge and support with team members.
Highly self-motivated – This includes being able to work with limited oversight from management.
Demonstrates organization and initiative – Remote workers should be organized, with an ability to focus for long periods of time, and with the initiative to find answers and solutions (apart from asking managers).
Trustworthy – Remote workers demonstrate trustworthiness, integrity, and a strong work ethic.
Almost all of these traits are connected to the behavior components of emotional intelligence.
Self-management: responsibility, self-motivated, initiative, trustworthy, strong work ethic
Relationship management: communication, accountability, collaboration
Whether you work remotely, in an office setting, independently, or on a team, emotional intelligence matters. The good news is EI can be developed. Seek professional development or coaching to grow in this important area.
ABL Wise Consulting would love to help you take the next step toward excellence.
photo credit: Alexander Sinn - acquired through Unsplash
