Emotional intelligence leaders can help reduce stress levels for employees and managers by taking the time to listen and ask questions.
Have you ever met someone who seems to have a calming effect on others, or perhaps they’re able to navigate awkward family gatherings with ease? They likely have high emotional intelligence (EQ).
Listen to Your Team
Social awareness is an important aspect of recognizing and understanding others’ emotions through nonverbal cues. Being self-aware means consciously maintaining an awareness of your own changing emotions in the moment, such as managing stress, avoiding impulsive reactions, and staying optimistic despite setbacks.
Understanding how team members feel and see can help leaders build relationships. According to leadership development firm DDI, managers who are highly empathetic perform over 40 percent better than those with low empathy when coaching or engaging others or making decisions. To improve social awareness, practice empathizing with other people by putting yourself in their shoes and seeing things from their perspective.
Build Relationships
Leaders must understand and appreciate their employees as individuals through genuine interaction with them on a deeper level. Stronger bonds can be built by knowing what makes people tick — including how your actions may affect them — as well as recognizing verbal or nonverbal cues that signal emotion.
Leaders who exhibit emotional intelligence foster a company-wide culture that helps nurture emotional intelligence in all areas of business by providing positive work environments focused on growth and innovation. Learn more about SNHU’s online Master of Science in Applied Psychology degree today!
Encourage Employee Growth
A good leader not only recognizes his or her own emotions and how they impact behavior but also those of team members. This means acknowledging an employee’s frustration during tough times; appreciating their point of view during a debate that leads to improved solutions; or considering new ideas that could bring greater success.
Empathy also allows for healthy boundaries within professional relationships and ensures that employees feel they are being treated fairly by managers, according to Kellogg research. Leaders with higher empathy tend to retain employees longer and establish stronger organizational relationships than those with low emotional intelligence (EQ), which is especially important when tough times hit.
Build Trust
Emotional intelligence is teachable, so training employees to notice feelings as they arise will help them better communicate and understand that different actions may bring about various reactions from team members.
Empathy can also help build trustworthy relationships among team members in an open and honest workplace. If employees know they’re free to voice concerns without judgment, they’ll be more likely to remain motivated and engaged in their work long-term.
Improve employee growth by offering EI/EQ training for all staff, which may include assertiveness techniques, stress management strategies or communication improvement tools.
Foster a Culture of Respect
Empathy is all about seeing things from someone else’s perspective and it’s that thought process that will help team leaders make better choices. If you can understand other people then you can create a workplace that values diversity and is accepting of everyone. It also helps with communication too as when you consider the emotional effects of what’s being said, it’ll allow for better understanding.
Leaders who have good empathy skills genuinely care about their employees growth both personally and professionally. They want to fulfill every need they have while also offering them motivation, guidance and support whenever needed to ensure success.
Every organization should focus on honing empathetic leadership styles for 2022 so prepare for future business challenges. Self-awareness is the first step in becoming an empathetic leader but once you get there the increase in overall productivity will be undeniable.
