Emotional Intelligence: The Crucial Key to Building Highly Effective Teams
Emotional Intelligence plays a crucial role in personal and professional success. Those who recognize their own EI are better able to navigate life in a positive direction, even in difficult times. EI makes you more resilient, equips you socially, and improves your ability to lead others in a purposeful direction.
What is Emotional Intelligence
First introduced in 1990, Emotional Intelligence caught on with the masses when Daniel Goleman released his epic book Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More than IQ.
Selling more than 5,000,000 copies and being distinguished as “a revolutionary, paradigm-shattering idea” by the Harvard Business Review, it is clear that Goleman struck a chord with business leaders worldwide.
This exciting new premise identified five key elements to help you recognize your own EI and the Emotional Intelligence of others. The five elements of Emotional Intelligence are:
● Self-Awareness: Being able to identify your emotions and their triggers.
● Self-Regulation: Recognizing these triggers and the feelings and emotions they produce. Learn to control your impulse to react before thinking.
● Motivation: Achieving a goal for the sake of achievement and nothing more.
● Empathy: Considering how your actions will impact others.
● Social Skills: Managing your relationships in a way that motivates others in a positive direction.
Even if you don’t recognize these traits within yourself, you can work to develop and hone the core elements of Emotional Intelligence to become a better leader, and a more driven, focused, and successful person. With effort on your part, you’ll be in control of your emotions and able to recognize Emotional Intelligence in others as well. This is a necessary component in building EI in your team.
Leadership EI First
Tweet This● Work to recognize your feelings and emotions. Identify your triggers.
● Remain calm when chaos strikes. Others will be drawn to you as the “voice of reason.” Work to be that voice for your team.
● Express your thoughts and directives in a clear and concise way that leaves no room for second guessing.
● Realize what’s going on around you. Work on reading the room.
● Find a way to resolve disputes respectfully and efficiently.
● Engage your team and be the leader they need. Be someone they know has their backs. Be the leader who is respected and has no trouble getting his or her team to rally.
Recognize Team Members as Individuals
This may sound simple, but identifying your team members’ strengths and weaknesses are crucial to developing an outstanding team. When you get to know the person, you can help them make the most out of their unique talents. Begin by getting to know each member of the team outside of a particular project. Allow them to lead a team meeting, or work in a capacity outside of the confines of their job title or description.
Should your team member not be able to rise to the occasion, take the time to examine where he or she fell short. Offer constructive feedback. Help the individual understand that their development is far more important than a reprimand for not getting the job done.
Find the Fit
Don’t merely hire someone, place them on a project, or with a team, based on their skills or experience. Make sure the person you choose fits the culture of your company.
Once you have assembled a group of like-minded individuals, it’s up to you to prevent a lull in the team energy. You need to stoke those fires of passion and keep your team members engaged and excited. Some ways you can do this:
● Offer a flexible work environment. Get outside of the office from time to time. Take your team to lunch to discuss strategy and goals. A change of venue can do wonders for morale, innovation, and strengthening relationships.
● Find ways to re-introduce your company’s mission when energy levels wane. This will remind your team members of their purpose.
● Recognizing the team as a whole is important. Reward a job well-done. Also, recognize the individual team member who went above and beyond.
Promote Team Trust
Establish a climate of trust and mutual respect. It’s a much clearer path for team members if they know where they’re going and what is expected of them. Give everyone an opportunity to share their thoughts in a non-judgmental environment. Allow tensions to come out in the open and deal with them. Make sure these guidelines reflect your company values.
Manage Stress
● Discourage Multitasking: Experts have already established that multitasking is impossible. This “urban legend” can end up costing you more time than if you focused on completing a single task. Encourage your team members to give their all, one task at a time.
● Confront Conflict: No matter how inviting and engaging you make the workplace, people are bound to have a difference of opinion and conflicts will arise. Never ignore these issues but instead confront them and find a way to resolve the disagreement.
● Stick to The Plan: If you find that you frequently need to rush assignments, change the focus, or extend projects, stop. Predictability is a lot less stressful. If your team members understand the parameters of their project, they will produce a far better outcome. It’s up to you as a leader to set these parameters and be clear about your expectations.
● Encourage Regular Disconnect Time: Make sure your employees aren’t “all work and no play.” Make some time for each member of the team to rejuvenate by changing their focus to the things they enjoy, without interruption.
● Practice Empathy: Because of your ability to empathize with individual team members you know what motivates them. You also can read your employees’ emotions and recognize when someone is out of sorts. Be compassionate and supportive. Have a one-on-one meeting and find out how you can help.
Get Outside the Office
Raoul Davis, of Ascendant Group, says:
Of course, you don’t want to push too much of a good thing, but when your team seems to get along well encourage them to spend time together outside the office. Sign up as a group for a charity 5K or come together outside the office to volunteer in another capacity. Invite everyone to a Happy Hour on a Friday afternoon. This type of together time can do wonders for building trust, improving morale, along with increasing productivity, and job satisfaction.
Develop Effective Communication
One of the many frustrations team members express is the feeling of not being heard. Overcome this common frustration by finding creative ways for individual team members to promote their ideas and concerns. Try storyboarding. Ask your employees to design a poster promoting their ideas, or solving a problem.
Help your team to develop better communication skills by hosting a class on how to read body language. Have a round table discussion about frustrations they may be feeling. Brainstorm and problem-solve. Remember to allow everyone to express his or her thoughts in a respectful manner. Learning to communicate effectively is the basis for building high-trust teams.
Tying It All Together
Emotional intelligence is a powerful tool and the foundation of a successful leader. EI contributes to creating highly effective teams that form important work relationships, exceed goals, and build a healthy, productive, and thriving workplace culture.
Use your own EI to cultivate an emotionally intelligent team. Boosting EI is the secret to building an outstanding team. Here’s to creating an extraordinary team!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tim Crowley, Ph.D.
Motivational Keynote Speaker, Leadership, and Resilience Expert
Dr. Tim Crowley is a well-known speaker with a passion for growing agile leaders, teams, and organizations that produce extraordinary results. For more than 25 years his services have touched the lives of leaders in some of the most recognizable companies in the world. Including AT&T, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Ernst & Young, Hallmark, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Marriot, Microsoft, Nestle-Purina, along with numerous organizations, universities, state and federal agencies.
When not speaking, leading workshops, or writing he looks for inspiration through mountain biking, volunteering, and spending time with his family and friends.
Invite Tim to speak at your next event. You can learn more about him and how his services can help you and your team at drtimcrowley.com. Connect with Tim on LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, and Twitter.
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