Why Would a Manager Want to Learn Emotional Intelligence?

The best managers are the ones with emotional intelligence! Here's why.

1. Managers are called upon to make decisions. Primitive emotions, unmonitored, automatic, powerful and not always conscious can “hijack” us making us react thoughtlessly to people and situations instead of thinking through a situation and responding with good judgment.

2. 67% of the qualities needed for success are emotional intelligence competencies.

3. EQ will increase you effectiveness with people both at work and at home.

4. Honing your EQ competencies will allow you to act more responsibly and more intentionally. Intentionality means meaning what you say, and saying what you mean, AND being accountable for your motives. In a position of responsibility, you need to be aware of you’re the motives behind your actions.

5. Increasing your EQ gives you more creativity and flexibility so you can generate options and problem-solve more efficiently and effectively.

6. Emotions are contagious; this is part of “primal leadership.” The more you increase your own skills, the better you’ll be able to pass on what you’ve learned, model emotional intelligence, and empower your employees.

7. When you increase your self-awareness, which is the cornerstone of emotional intelligence, you are able to control automatic reactions and be more conscious. What we don’t know, controls us.

8. Emotions motivate us. When you have your own emotions managed, and understand the emotions of others, you are better able to influence growth and change, and motivate.

9. Resilience, an EQ competency, means how well you bounce back from setbacks and adverse events. Not only do you need this for yourself, you need to be modeling this for your reports.

10. In today’s information-dense and rapidly changing work climate, IQ, skills, and technical expertise are not enough. Studies show that the higher up you go, the more emotional intelligence matters. n