You would have heard many people say that leaders must keep emotions out of decision making. This negative interpretation of emotions has long been a part of the corporate world until recently when it was established that emotional quotient is in fact one of the key aspects behind a leader’s success and his decision making skills. EQ or emotional quotient lets the leaders understand others and their own strengths and help them in dealing with other more efficiently. Many well established researches have backed the fact that a higher EQ translates into much better chances of success. Therefore, bolstering the Emotional quotient of my clients during my interactions with them has been one of my key agendas.
How to develop Emotional Quotient
Daniel Goleman, the person known to bring emotional quotient into serious discussions, has derived that after a certain level, IQ levels hardly matter in determining whether a leader would be successful or not. After an above average IQ is attained, the probability of success is proportional to the emotional quotient in the individual. While working to increase the overall EQ of my clients, I urge them to reduce the stressful situations since the ability to stay calm impacts most of the decisions you end up taking. I ask them questions like how do they respond to stress? By talking loudly or clenching their fists? We then try to come up with alternate ways such as taking long walks or taking deep breaths.
Another aspect where we stress is controlling the non verbal communication. How you say is usually more important than what you say. The tone of your voice or your body language can pass on signals that you don’t want to convey. These can be rectified by making eye contact, listening to others and stop being judgment at the drop of a hat. Some other useful ways to develop a higher EQ include displaying a sense of humour at work, being brave enough to walk away from arguments and thinking about the impact of the actions you wish to take in the future.
In such a cut throat corporate world where a slight slip up can push you down the hill, having a high emotional quotient can be your ladder to success. Work on it now and give away your image of an emotionless leader.