Focus Magazine - Winter 2012 - 37

LEADERSHIP/MANAGEMENTDEVELOPMENT

Emotional Intelligence for Leadership Development
I By Dr. Travis Bradberry s FDR wisely recognized when he took o ce in 1933, emotional recovery must precede economic recovery. at’s especially true for leaders who are hoping to stay ahead of the pack as the economy bounces back. e further you climb up the corporate ladder, and the more people you are responsible for, the more your emotional intelligence skills come into play. To date my company has tested the emotional intelligence skills of just under a million people (a large portion of them leaders) and we’ve found emotional intelligence is so critical to success in leadership positions that it’s responsible for 58 percent of a leader’s job performance. Likewise, more than 90 percent of top performers in leadership positions have a high degree of emotional intelligence. at’s just the top performers that are high in emotional intelligence (EQ), mind you. Most leaders are on

LEADERS WITH LOW EQ…
Sound off even when it won’t help. Brush people off when bothered. Deny that emotions impact their thinking. Get defensive when challenged. Focus only on tasks and ignore the person. Are oblivious to unspoken tension.

LEADERS WITH HIGH EQ…
Only speak out when doing it helps the situation. Keep lines of communication open even when frustrated. Recognize when other people are affecting their emotional state. Are open to feedback. Show others they care about them. Accurately pick up on the mood of a room.

80 78 76 74 72 70 68

the other end of the scale. EQ scores climb with titles from the bottom of the corporate ladder upward toward middle management. Middle managers, on average, have the highest EQ scores in the workforce. For titles of director and above, scores descend all the way down to CEOs who have the lowest EQ scores in the workplace. A leader’s primary function is to get work done through people. You might think, then, that the higher the position, the better the people skills. e opposite is true. Leaders set the emotional tone for others to follow. As a result, your people trust what they see leaders doing far more than what they hear them saying. e emotional tone that permeates your organization starts with leadership, and it’s dependent upon their collective level of emotional intelligence.

Measuring EQ is Critical to Increasing It
In business, you improve what you measure. e simple act of measuring something sends a message that this “thing” is important to the company’s success, and therefore to the success of the individuals working there. While it’s essentially impossible to fake a high EQ, it’s a perfectly reasonable thing to improve. EQ is a exible skill that can be increased. Testing leaders’ EQ gives them an objective look at where they stand today. is is the essential rst step to increasing EQ because it builds self-awareness and shows them what they need to improve through the practice of new, more effective behaviors. EQ assessment is a relatively easy addition to existing leadership development programs that can be incorporated without upheaving program structure or content. I

Dr. Travis Bradberry is president and co-founder of TalentSmart® and the award winning co-author of the best-selling book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0.

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Focus Magazine - Winter 2012

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