You’ve worked hard for years, and you’ve finally been promoted to a management role. Congratulations. But lots of responsibility comes with your new title.
It’s your job to delegate tasks to employees, manage conflicts, deal with customers, and ultimately make some difficult decisions on a daily basis.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a new manager or a veteran manager. Some of you manage five people while other managers are in charge of 100 employees. Regardless of your situation, there is one thing that all managers have in common.
Your management style will have a major impact on the success of your company.
According to a recent study, 91% of employees believe that their managers lack emotional intelligence.
Unfortunately, with such an overwhelming number of employees feeling this way about their leaders, there is a good chance that you fall into this category.
This needs to change immediately.
I’ll show the basic concepts of emotional intelligence and explain how you can use these skills to be a better manager.
What is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is the ability for people to recognize the emotions of both themselves and others.
The concept became popular when Daniel Goleman published a book on the topic in 1995.
Goleman challenged the idea that intelligence, or IQ, was the sole factor in determining how successful people will be in life. For decades, society emphasized the importance of skills related to math, logic, and other traits associated with intelligence.
But just like IQ scores, emotional intelligence can be measured as well. Goleman discovered that people with high emotional intelligence scores (EQ), were more successful in life than people with lower EQ scores, regardless of their IQ score.
In simple terms, someone with an average IQ score and high EQ score can be more successful than a person who just has a high IQ.
Emotional intelligence can be summarized with two main concepts:
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- The ability to recognize, understand and manage your own emotions
- The ability to recognize, understand and influence the emotions of others
As a manager, improving your EQ will help you and your employees perform better on a daily basis. Once you have a firm grasp of these concepts, you need to make a conscious effort to implement them to your own life.
How Your Emotional Intelligence Characteristics Affect Your Management Style
What do your employees think about you?
Once you’re able to recognize your emotions, you need to learn how they impact your actions, mood, and effect on other people.
As a manager, I’m not saying that it’s your job to be everyone’s best friend. In fact, you should definitely be keeping these relationships professional. But with that said, it helps being personal at times as well. Just don’t cross any lines.
Research shows that 20% of people hate their boss.
If people hate you, it’s going to hinder their performance and negatively impact their ability to follow directions.
As a manager, it’s going to be difficult to make everyone happy. However, managers with high EQ recognize the emotions of others and are still able to delegate tasks efficiently. Employees respond well to managers who make an effort to understand their emotions.
Furthermore, 58% job performance is related to emotional intelligence. On average, people with high EQ scores make $29,000 more per year than those with lower EQ scores.
There are five main components of emotional intelligence:
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- Self Awareness
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- Self Regulation
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- Motivation
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- Empathy
- Social Skills
Once you’re able to master these concepts, your EQ will rise. As a result, your management style will be more effective.
Self Awareness
Self awareness is your ability to identify and understand your own emotions.
Once you’re able to recognize your emotions, you need to learn how they impact your actions, mood, and effect on other people. For example, if you’re in a bad mood at work, those emotions can negatively impact employee productivity.
Being self-aware means that you’re able to recognize how you are perceived by others, which is critical in any leadership role.
Self Regulation
Having high EQ doesn’t mean that you aren’t allowed to feel negative emotions. It’s unhealthy to bury your feelings.
However, people who are emotionally intelligent have the ability to know the right time and place to express their feelings.
Those of you who have strong self regulation skills will have an easier time managing conflicts and respond well during tense scenarios. This is extremely important as a manager.
Motivation
What motivates you?
Emotionally intelligent people are motivated by internal rewards. They don’t get caught up in the chase for money, fame, or recognition for their achievements.
As a manager, you need to set personal goals. Have a thirst for excellence. Always look for ways to improve, regardless of how it’s recognized by your peers.
You also need to find ways to motivate others. According to O.C. Tanner Learning Group,, 79% of people who quit their jobs said it was due to lack of being appreciated.
If you appreciate your employees and recognize their achievements, it will make them happier and boost employee productivity.
Empathy
Empathy is the ability to recognize how other people are feeling. In addition to identifying these feelings, you need to be able to respond appropriately.
For example, if an employee is complaining to you about something, you need to recognize how they are feeling before you respond.
Your emotional response based on how they are feeling will have a major impact on coming to a resolution.
Social Skills
As I said before, you don’t need to be best friends with everyone at work. However, you need to be able to interact well with your employees.
Make meaningful connections. Build relationships. Establish a rapport with the people who work for you.
Learn how to be an active listener, and it will improve your leadership abilities.
Final Thoughts
Nobody said being a manager would be easy. However, there are things you can do to improve your management style.
Understand the basic concepts of emotional intelligence. Take an emotional intelligence test to determine your EQ score, and figure out which of the five areas need the most improvement.
Once you enhance your emotional intelligence skills, you’ll become a better manager.
What kind of manager are you? Let us know in the comments section below.