In order to be an excellent leader you must have a high degree of emotional intelligence. Here we look at using emotional intelligence to improve your leadership skills.

To be able to set up and successfully grow a business, leadership is key. The perfect leader keeps a calm head, no matter what obstacles they face. The perfect leader listens to those they manage. They keep an open mind and consistently accept the need for improvement. These effective leadership qualities are all encompassed within a high level of emotional intelligence.

What Exactly Is Emotional Intelligence?

EI means being aware of your emotions and having the ability to manage those emotions well. Recently I spoke to an SEO consultant who told me EI it also involves an awareness of the emotions of those around you. Those with a high emotional intelligence level understand their emotions, understand the meaning of those emotions and the effect those emotions can have on others around them.

How Is Emotional Intelligence Important In Leadership?

There are several ways emotional intelligence is important in leadership. A good degree of self-awareness is key, so that you understand the emotions you are experiencing and how they will affect those around you. Most importantly it means having the ability to not only understand, but accept that you have not only strengths, but weaknesses as well.

Self regulation is another key factor of emotional intelligence in leadership. You might understand your emotions, but can you manage them? Being able to stay in control is so important in business. Being overcome with negative emotions means you have the power to bring even the strongest business down, and to push even the most loyal and understanding associate away from you. A leader with excellent self regulation is able to refrain from verbally attacking colleagues, avoid rushing decisions without consideration, refrain from judging others and able to make key compromises when necessary.

Empathy is a critical part of emotional intelligence in leaders because, if you don’t recognise others and how others feel, you aren’t truly a team player. Only those with excellent levels of empathy can put themselves in another’s shoes, and therefore learn how to communicate with them effectively.

And potentially the most important EI factor of all – motivation is a key EI leadership quality that truly drives a person to succeed as an entrepreneur. Having strong self-motivation means consistently striving to reach your goals and go above and beyond the call of duty.

In Conclusion

Having these excellent emotional intelligence skills means having excellent leadership skills, there is no getting around it. An effective leader must fully understand their emotions in order to succeed. A measure of self-reflection and honesty is needed in order to achieve a high degree of emotional intelligence, but it’s a completely worthwhile journey if you want to succeed as an entrepreneur.