Leaders today are navigating through multiple complexities; leading a wide range of people, ensuring quality for students and stakeholders, finding money for the fundamentals, or leading through change to name just a few. On top of all this they are also dealing with a myriad of emotions throughout any one day; either their own, or those of others. Leading in this modern world is complex, and requires a different type of skill-set.
“Research shows convincingly that EQ is more important than IQ in almost every role and many times more important in leadership roles. This finding is accentuated as we move from the control philosophy of the industrial age to an empowering release philosophy of the knowledge worker age.”
Steven Covey
Emotional Intelligence is one’s ability to balance the rational and emotive parts of the brain. Essentially when information comes into the brain, it passes through the limbic system where emotions are created. From there it moves to the rational part of the brain; the frontal cortex. If we think of the intersection between these two parts of the brain as our broadband connection; it is the place of information transfer and transformation. If that broadband connection is weak and the information is not moving from the emotional to our rational part of the brain, or is getting ‘scrambled’ along the way, problems can arise. That can be seen as self doubt, a lack of self-control, aggression, negative thinking, tunnel vision or even a melt-down.
The good news is that this connection can be strengthened over time. It does however require deliberate and mindful actions on a daily basis. As a starting-point, one simple technique you can apply (or assist others to use) to strengthen your/their ‘broadband connection’ if these emotions start to take-over is a ‘state change’. This can include contacting a friend, going for a walk, moving to another space, basically anything that interrupts or shifts the energy. This allows the brain to calm, and the information to move from the limbic to rational part of the brain for logical processing.
As leaders, we are charged with both developing our own emotional intelligence and assisting others to develop theirs.
If you are interested in learning how you might do this either through collective staff learning, individual coaching or specialised Emotional Intelligence assessments contact me here to discuss your needs.
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