What Makes a Leader? The Sine Qua Non of Leadership Insight By: Oudney Patsika ...
What Makes a Leader? The Sine Qua Non of Leadership
Insight By: Oudney Patsika | Topic: Emotional Intelligence & Leadership
Superb leaders have very different ways of directing a team. Some are subdued and analytical; others are charismatic and go with their gut. But effective leaders are alike in one crucial way: they all have a high degree of what has come to be known as emotional intelligence.
The Case for Emotional Intelligence
It's not that IQ and technical skills are irrelevant. They do matter, but mainly as "threshold capabilities"; that is, they are the entry-level requirements for executive positions. But my research, along with other recent studies, clearly shows that emotional intelligence is the sine qua non of leadership. Without it, a person can have the best training in the world, an incisive, analytical mind, and an endless supply of smart ideas, but he still won't make a great leader.
When I analyzed data from nearly 200 large, global companies, I found dramatic results. When I calculated the ratio of technical skills, IQ, and emotional intelligence as ingredients of excellent performance, emotional intelligence proved to be twice as important as the others for jobs at all levels. Moreover, the higher the rank of a person considered to be a star performer, the more emotional intelligence capabilities showed up as the reason for his or her effectiveness.
The Self-Management Skills
Self-awareness means having a deep understanding of one's emotions, strengths, weaknesses, needs, and drives. People with strong self-awareness are neither overly critical nor unrealistically hopeful. Rather, they are honest—with themselves and with others. They know where they are headed and why.
Biological impulses drive our emotions. We cannot do away with them—but we can do much to manage them. Self-regulation is the component of emotional intelligence that frees us from being prisoners of our feelings. People who are in control of their feelings and impulses are able to create an environment of trust and fairness.
If there is one trait that virtually all effective leaders have, it is motivation. They are driven to achieve beyond expectations—their own and everyone else's. The key word here is achieve. Those with leadership potential are motivated by a deeply embedded desire to achieve for the sake of achievement, not just for external rewards.
Managing Relationships
Empathy doesn't mean a kind of "I'm okay, you're okay" mushiness. rather, empathy means thoughtfully considering employees' feelings—along with other factors—in the process of making intelligent decisions. It is particularly important today for three reasons: the increasing use of teams, the rapid pace of globalization, and the growing need to retain talent.
Social skill is friendliness with a purpose: moving people in the direction you desire. Socially skilled people tend to have a wide circle of acquaintances, and they have a knack for finding common ground with people of all kinds—a knack for building rapport. It is the culmination of the other dimensions of emotional intelligence.
Can It Be Learned?
"It takes time and, most of all, commitment. But the benefits that come from having a well-developed emotional intelligence, both for the individual and for the organization, make it worth the effort."
It would be foolish to assert that good-old-fashioned IQ and technical ability are not important ingredients in strong leadership. But the recipe would not be complete without emotional intelligence. It was once thought that the components of emotional intelligence were "nice to have" in business leaders. But now we know that, for the sake of performance, these are ingredients that leaders "need to have."
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