It takes more than business savvy, creative thinking, strategic marketing and effective communication abilities to lead a team that can achieve the company’s goals successfully quarter after quarter.
If you’re an HR executive who wants to attract the best talent and then gain the trust and mutual respect of employees in it for the long haul, it’s crucial to assess and cultivate your emotional intelligence (EQ) skills to develop a stronger connection and create a welcoming work environment for your staff to grow.
To help, 16 members of Forbes Human Resources Council explain how a leader’s willingness to display genuine traits, such as self-awareness, empathy, self-regulation and more, can directly, or indirectly, boost business performance and bottom-line results.
Forbes Human Resources Council members share thoughts.
Photos courtesy of individual members.1. Showcase Expected EQ Traits
When meeting applicants for the first time, showcasing EQ traits sets a precedent for the behaviors expected of the team and their interactions with leadership. Not only will you attract (and win) top talent, but your hires will come in with a clear understanding of your organization's goals and values. This small effort reduces turnover and helps you build experienced, highly effective teams. - Patrick Donegan, SEI
2. Improve Employee Morale
When a leader demonstrates genuine transparent emotion, it makes it okay for employees to feel like they can be themselves at work and feel safe. This safety can lead to overall better morale among co-workers and in turn, will affect productivity. This is especially important while people are working in remote or hybrid environments. - Jackye Clayton, Textio
3. Don’t Claim To Know Everything
One way a leader can demonstrate genuine emotional intelligence skills is by being "real." It's tempting as a leader to feel you must have all the answers or appear to be the "smartest person in the room." In reality, none of us do and we all have doubts. I think saying, “I don't know” when you really don't know or asking what others think goes a long way towards being authentic. - Louis Montgomery Jr., JM Search
4. Encourage Empathy And Awareness
Great businesses start and thrive with great people. It’s through empathy, awareness and effective communication that leaders are able to understand the challenges and needs facing both their business and their people. Understanding and communication will help to foster trust with one’s people, which in turn allows the entire organization as a whole to focus on accomplishing business goals. - Steven Jiang, Hiretual
5. Remember EQ Doesn’t Come Natural
Emotional intelligence is not a "natural-born" trait for many leaders. Being genuine and transparent about the desire to learn and understand will help those around to be empathetic to the leader on their journey both toward the business objectives and personal growth. - Rachel Lyubovitzky, MidasXL, Inc.
6. Be An Active Listener And Recognize Employee Efforts
When a leader stays in the present, actively listening, absorbing information presented by others and respecting their feelings, this provides the trust needed to boost the staff member's own feelings of self-worth and reason to do better. It's the recognition of a job well done, and sometimes, the crucial conversation of how the employee can work smarter to make improvements in their role and responsibilities. Providing feedback regularly always boosts results. - Ilyssa DeCasperis, Metrolink
7. Create Trusted Employee Work Relationships
A leader's ability to demonstrate genuine emotional skills directly results in creating trusted work relationships. Trusted relationships are critical to being a deeply connected and communicative team that not only cares about each other's success, empowers one another, plays to the strengths of the team, but also seeks help where necessary while remaining focused on shared purpose. - Madhavi Jagadam, Teladoc Health
8. Elevate Employee Engagement And Team Performance
It's fairly widely understood that leaders with high levels of emotional intelligence elevate employee engagement and a team's performance. Leaders with strong emotional intelligence are typically able to effectively attract and retain talent, coach, mentor and inspire highly productive teams which have a direct impact on an organization's performance and ultimate profitability. - Leslie Tarnacki, WorkForce Software
9. ‘Read The Room’ And Navigate Accordingly
One aspect of emotional intelligence is knowing how to "read the room" and navigate accordingly. The ability to perceive others’ mindsets, emotions and reactions will directly improve the odds of a successful outcome. Whether this skill is applied to a board presentation, fundraising pitch, sexual harassment claim or interview, a leader with high EQ will be most likely to drive success in a business. - Victoria Ashton, GoSite
Forbes Human Resources Council is an invitation-only organization for HR executives across all industries. Do I qualify?
10. Lead With EQ
Leading with emotional intelligence is critical to building trust. Without it, it's impossible to drive motivation and collaboration within your team. And without those, you will have no results. Empathy, self-awareness and authenticity aren't nice-to-haves; they're non-negotiables to build a successful, enduring company. - Natalie Rast, stensul
11. Strengthen Your Emotional Intelligence Skills
A leader's emotional intelligence impacts the ROI of the employee experience and business sustainability. Leaders can demonstrate genuine emotional intelligence by consistently developing their interpersonal communication and interpersonal relationships. Both are essential to creating a strong organizational culture, retaining employees and building customer relationships. - Bridgette Wilder, Wilder HR Management & EEO Consulting
12. Develop Skills In Compassionate ProductivityTo start, leadership can hold coffee talks to engage employees and receive feedback on the company. This will provide a place to launch an engagement campaign. - Richard Polak, American Benefits Council
13. Be A Problem Solver To Improve Retention
With the “Great Resignation” top of mind for many employers, emotional intelligence is important in communicating with employees about their needs. Leaders can leverage these skills to ensure employees are feeling seen and heard. Leading with empathy is key to increasing engagement, motivation and productivity, thus improving retention. - Trenae Forman, T. Simone & Associates, LLC
14. Make Yourself Accessible
Leaders who demonstrate higher levels of emotional intelligence are perceived as being more approachable and understanding than their counterparts. Employees who feel like they can connect with their manager on an emotional level are more likely to share ideas with them, raise concerns with them or seek out their guidance. - Aparna Ranganathan, Smart Energy Water
15. Provide Psychological Safety To Increase Innovation
Actively listening and hearing our people is integral to creating an environment in which people feel they can be their authentic selves. When we all feel heard and supported, connection and safety will build. Psychological safety is the foundation for open, transparent discussion, trust and is at the heart of innovation. This is just one piece of a set of attributes that strong leaders must possess. - Maria Miletic, Blue Prism Software
16. Be Vulnerable And Self-Aware
A leader who can demonstrate emotional intelligence has a tremendous impact on company culture, the employee experience and engagement and this can translate to business results. Oftentimes, leaders are perceived to be perfect and this can result in a lack of trust from employees. Being vulnerable, self-aware and empathetic as a leader can build bridges that will positively impact employee performance. - Matthew Brown, Schoox
