LO_CH7: Emotional Intelligence and Interpersonal Skills for Leaders

The main points of emotional quotient are:
- be aware/understand/express yourself
- be aware/understand/relate to others
- deal with strong emotions and control impulses
- adapt to change and solve problems of personal/social nature

So then emotional intelligence begins with ability to identify and manage emotions in ourselves and others and also ability to translate these emotions into actions using social problem solving ability.

To find out more about ourselves, we can use the MBIT (Briggs Myers) personality types which are 4 types in 16 combinations:

Extrovert vs Introvert
Sensing vs Intuitive
Thinking vs Feeling
Judging vs perceiving

We communicate by talking, but we also communication by nonverbal cues. Understanding more about non-verbal cues help us understand more about communication. To improve these cues, we can learn about cultures you will interact with. We shouldn’t judge someone's actions out of context. We should develop understanding/sensitivity to non-verbal cues. And to apply what we learned, we should assess our own non-verbal cues.

Also for good leadership, listening is an important skill to have. Some ways to improving Listening Skills include stop talking, stop thinking ahead to what you want to say, avoid multi-tasking, empathize with speaker, don’t interrupt, but ask questions if necessary, use eye contact but not stare, listen for ideas, not just facts, listen with open mind, not just want you want to hear and pay attention to non verbal cues

Sometimes, success as leaders measured by ability to motivate and develop other people. Some good suggestions for motivating are provide direct help, enough resources and time, react to success/failure with learning chance instead of just result, set clear goals and why goals matter, recognize effort and praise subordinates, work collaboratively, make things fun and relaxing, provide emotional support and give feedback.

Just like mentoring, networking is a good way to connect with people and give back in professional and personal setting. When attending an event, consider benefit of event. Prepare appropriate self-introduction and be ready to open conversation and keep it moving. Afterwards have a plan following the event.