What is great leadership? Most definitions tend to include a leader who displays emotional intelligence (EI), a leader who positively influences those around them, and one who demonstrates compassion and empathy. But let's go further than that and examine what it means to be a great leader, along with actionable steps you can take today to become one.
THE POWER OF EMOTION | CHAPTER 28 | LEADERSHIP
Understanding What Great Leadership Is
What Do Leaders Do?
A leader's typical role is to support individuals and encourage them to achieve a common goal. They must influence their team, demonstrate compassion, empathy, and listen actively to their workforce.
Additionally, they recognize the value of investing in their employees and focusing on team development to enhance their performance and overall organizational productivity.
Emotionally Effective Leaders
Emotionally effective leaders consider employee appreciation part of the work culture. They have impeccable social skills and are empathetic, self-aware, able to self-regulate, and highly motivated. They are known to "walk the talk" and are great role models who respect others by showing an interest in them and their work.
(Read more about why empathy is the foundation of emotional intelligence in this post)
Building Emotionally Intelligent Leaders
Being proactive and improving your emotional intelligence is worth the investment to enhance ongoing development.
There are all kinds of ways we can focus on improving our emotional intelligence. But one of the quickest ways is to become aware of your EQ level, to develop a baseline of your abilities with an EI assessment.
Based on your EI Assessment, you're able to identify your level of EQ and social functioning.
Looking In The Mirror: Questions To Reflect On About Great Leadership
- Which leadership style are you most comfortable with?
- What leader from your past resonates with you, and why?
- What leadership skills do you possess?
(Visit this post next to read what leaders across Canada had to say about emotional intelligence expertise)
Leadership Strategies
If you're feeling motivated to increase your leadership skills, practise these strategies to influence others positively:
- Act with integrity
- Listen actively
- Keep team members informed
- Show the team, you care
- Be empathetic
- Lead with compassion
- Practise humility
Want to learn even more about putting these strategies to work for you? We've just scratched the surface here, but you'll learn all about them (and so much more) in my book, The Power of Emotion, A Practical Guide to Making The Most Of Your Emotional Intelligence. Click here to order your paperback or eBook copy today.
Do you want to talk more about what great leadership is or the strategies for becoming a great leader? Use this link to reach out. Or, if you're looking for different ways to enhance or increase business success with emotional intelligence training for your team or organization, visit Marshall Connects.
Did you learn more about great leadership from this post? Here are three more to read next:
- What Kind of a Problem Solver are You?
- Is Your Mindset Providing You With Optimum Results?
- Understanding The Downside to Perfectionism
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