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Leadership and emotional intelligence

By Chris Golis - posted Monday, 31 October 2011


Google 'Leadership' and you get 438 million hits. Google 'Emotional Intelligence' and you get 8.5 million hits. Google 'Emotional Intelligence+Leadership' and you get 4.6 million hits.

Obviously, the promoters of emotional intelligence (EQ) believe it to be a key to leadership. Indeed Daniel Goleman, whose book Emotional Intelligence sold 5 million copies, considers social intelligence the make-or-break leadership skill set. Goleman now collates his four EQ factors into two. Self- awareness of emotions and self management are now called self-mastery while social awareness (empathy) and social skills are together called social intelligence. According to Goleman, it is social intelligence or interpersonal skills that are distinguishing characteristic of 'star' leaders.

A study of 110 YPO (Young Presidents' Organisation) members found that it was a combination of flexibility and high self-regard that distinguished them from the public at large. Flexibility was defined as being able to change direction; independence as able to absorb information from a variety of sources and come up with a decision; while self regard is the ability to work out one's strengths and weaknesses and choose team members who were not yes-men but able to compensate for your weaknesses.

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Jeffrey Pfeffer, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at the Stanford Business School, has developed what I consider an excellent model of leadership. Professor Pfeffer is widely regarded by his peers as perhaps the leading writer on organisational structures, power and leadership.

In his seminal book Managing with Power-Politics and Influence in Organisations, he identifies six characteristics of the leader:

Energy

The first common characteristic of leaders (as opposed to other people) is their energy and physical stamina. Leaders are the first in the office and the last to leave. Before they get to the office and after they leave they participate in other activities. During the day they continue to be active in a round of meetings. They are rarely sick.

Focus

Contrary to the popular view, perhaps pushed by the recruitment consultants, successful general managers are not general. Typically the people who become managing directors do so by focusing their energy and avoiding wasted effort. They succeed by focusing their efforts in one industry and generally one company.

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Empathy

Successful leaders are aware of other people. They spend time thinking about the behaviour and personality of their colleagues and employees. They put themselves in other people's shoes.

Flexibility

To succeed as a leader it is necessary to be able to modify one's behaviour. Flexibility is essential to success, particularly for managers. People may not like flexibility in the abstract but they do like what it is able to accomplish.

Conflict

Leaders are willing to engage, when necessary in conflict and confrontation. Many people believe that to get along you go along. This belief is inculcated from an early age. However, leaders have discovered that conflict will often provide you far more power than pliability.

Team spirit

While confrontation is a key to success, another key-particularly in the larger organisation, is the ability to submerge one's ego and become a team player during one's career.

Nature or genes probably contribute 50% to the development of these six factors, nurture and upbringing the remaining 50%.

The most practical model of genetic emotional drives that I know is the Humm-Wadsworth. This model says that each of us has seven core emotional drives and the mix and strength of these seven drives determines our temperament:

Each of the seven core emotional drives is associated with a simple descriptive name and the first initial is used as a short-hand.

Movers are driven by the desire to communicate. These people are friendly, sociable, enthusiastic optimists and often work in sales and marketing roles. Because of their energy Movers are sometimes erratic and impulsive. They are like grasshoppers.

Double-checkers are dominated by the desire for security. These people are compassionate and cautious. Because Double-checkers are conscientious and stable they make excellent administrators. On the other hand Double-checkers dislike making decisions and are a little like rabbits – any disturbance and they jump back into their burrows.

Artists are governed by the desire to create. These people are creative, imaginative, and sensitive. Artists often work in architects' offices or in product design. Quiet and contemplative, Artists love to give full rein to their imagination. People often think Artists are like clams, saying nothing but generating pearls.

Politicians are driven by the desire to win. They seek power and are steadfast, decisive, and forceful. Politicians often become managers in large organisations. They can be loud and argumentative. Politicians are so aggressive that they are frequently nicknamed tigers.

Engineers like to plan and complete tasks. They are thorough, meticulous, and systematic. Engineers regularly work either in production or as project managers. They are like beavers who will die rather than leave their dam half built.

Hustlers are led by the desire for material success. They are realistic, shrewd, and astute. The acumen of Hustlers often leads them to become successful business executives. Hustlers remind people of foxes.

Normals are governed by the desire for social approval. These people are logical, ethical and conservative. Normals tend to work for professional organisations such as lawyers and accountants. Because Normals tend to follow group norms assiduously and dress in white shirts and dark suits, many people think of them as penguins.

What then are the emotional drivers of the ideal leader? The first is the Mover or M component. The M component provides two characteristics of the ideal leader, energy and team spirit. Movers have far more energy than any other component and their desire to meet and communicate with people makes them good team players.

The second key component is the Politician or P component. This provides two more characteristics of the ideal leader, conflict and focus. P style people naturally like to argue, they debate well and are usually forceful and articulate when expressing their views.

In addition, P style people see life as a competition, and more importantly as one they have to win. Thus when they join an organisation they soon set themselves the goal of working their way to the top. They commit themselves to that aim and generate much emotional energy getting there.

The final key component is the Hustler or H component. This provides the empathy and flexibility so necessary for a leader's success. H-style people spend a lot of time trying to work out what other people are thinking and planning to do. They put themselves in other peoples' shoes, which, of course is what empathy is all about.

While empathy can be a learned skill, Hustlers do it naturally. In addition to natural empathy, H-style people have natural flexibility. Grahame Richardson, who had a lot of Hustler component in his personality, defined it well when he said the key to political success was "doing whatever it takes." If that includes having to be flexible about the truth, well that is a necessary evil.

The most successful Australian Labor leader has been Bob Hawke. Under his leadership, Labor won four elections. Hawke is an excellent example of an HMP personality.

Bob Hawke has demonstrated many of the characteristics of the Hustler component with his love of gambling, name-dropping and financial opportunism since he left politics. His energy and desire to meet and talk with people was the stuff of legend and also a strong indicator of high Mover component. Finally even after winning four elections he still believed he would win a fifth. This compelling desire to win is a good indicator of the Politician component.

Bob Hawke was one of those rare individuals who combined all three key emotional components and in turn, these emotional drives were a strong reason for his political success.

Tony Abbott definitely has two of the three core drives, the M and the P. Julia Gillard on the other hand only has the P. It is stronger than Tony's P but if anything, it is too strong. She has learned to appear to listen, but is not really paying attention.

Great leaders know that they must only fight battles they are going to win. They also do not talk about history being on their side. They have learned that such language speaks of hubris and arrogance.

The contrast with Hawke is stark. His government made a number of historic decisions yet he rarely talked about the judgement of history during his period of leadership. Afterwards yes, like all politicians do trying to rewrite history in their favour, but not during his period of leadership.

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About the Author

Chris Golis is Australia's expert on practical emotional intelligence. He is an author, professional speaker and workshop leader. His site is www.thehummhandbook.com.

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