5.1 Lack of emotional intelligence
In Week 3, you identified the importance of emotional intelligence in good leadership. It incorporates elements such as empathy, self-awareness and self-regulation, all of which are potentially missing or under-developed in many of the types of poor leadership outlined this week.
The video you watched in Week 3 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] included an explanation of how emotional intelligence can be developed. Bariso (2016) suggests seven steps:
- Reflect on your own emotions
- Ask others for perspective
- Be observant
- Use ‘the pause’, i.e. stop and think before you act
- Explore the ‘why’, e.g. ask yourself: ‘Why does that person feel the way they do?’; ‘Why do I feel differently?’
- When criticised, don’t take offence. Instead ask: ‘What can I learn?’
- Practice, practice, practice.
Point 7 is an important one. These are steps that won’t come naturally at first and require perseverance over time to become embedded.