Emotional Intelligence: The Management Game Changer at Level 3

Emotional intelligence (EI) is fast becoming a much sought-after managerial skill in modern business. Against the backdrop of AI innovations and machine learning, employers are increasingly encouraged to focus on the organic aspects of work that only their human workforce can deliver. Employees in today’s world expect respect and to be treated as individuals with feelings and emotions, rather than numbers on a payroll. 

An American study of more than 14,000 workers found that employees with emotionally intelligent supervisors mentioned being happy three times more than being stressed. In contrast, employees who had a supervisor who scored low on emotional intelligence gave answers that indicated 70% of their primary feelings about the workplace were negative. Ultimately the study indicated that a manager’s emotionally intelligent behaviour (EIB) was directly related to a worker’s motivation and ability to grow as an employee.

Managers who score high on emotional intelligence often have strong conflict resolution skills and are able to maintain a happy workforce and a positive company culture.  

Emotional intelligence can be defined as the ability to manage, control or demonstrate our emotions, and being strong in EI can be a game changer at level 3 management. Level 3 management refers to top-level managers such as executives, chief executives and managing directors who often have to be able to perform under pressure, take responsibility and keep a cool head in high-stakes situations. EI can help managers to gain control, both of their own feelings and reactions and situations, build better connections with others and effectively manage their employees. 

Although our emotional intelligence is often thought of as an innate skill, there are multiple programmes, courses and strategies available that can help us to learn, build and utilise EI skills to become more effective leaders and unlock our full potential.  

Understanding Emotional Intelligence

We tend to think of people who thrive in the workplace as being highly educated and having a high IQ; however, increasingly, emotional intelligence is also being recognised as an important skill, especially in level 3 management. At this level, there can be a lot of pressure and difficult, high-stakes decisions to make which in some people can cause stress and burnout. Many people at higher management or executive level will also be responsible for overseeing a number of subordinate staff who may also present their own unique challenges which require support and understanding. 

Emotional intelligence can be a management game changer at level 3, with those with high EI able to harness their skills to help resolve conflicts, communicate effectively, support their colleagues and use their intuition to improve outcomes. 

Sometimes, people talk about the 3Cs of emotional intelligence, which are commonly considered to be:

• Consciousness
• Compassion
• Connectedness

Consciousness in EI refers to being self-aware and mindful of your emotions and their potential impact on others. 

Compassion in EI means having empathy and understanding the needs, feelings and viewpoints of the people around you.

Connectedness in EI is about how you connect and get along with others. 

People who are emotionally intelligent may demonstrate some of the following characteristics:

• An ability to see, understand and subscribe to how a person is feeling
• Good self-awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses
• High levels of self-confidence and self-acceptance
• The ability to move on from mistakes
• Accepting of change and able to take responsibility for mistakes
• Curiosity (especially about other people)
• Empathetic and caring about the feelings of others
• Sensitivity towards other people
• Ability to manage emotions in challenging situations

Key components of emotional intelligence include:

• Self-awareness
• Self-regulation
• Motivation
• Empathy
• Social skills

We know that being emotionally intelligent is beneficial at work, especially to those in higher management positions. If you want to boost your social and emotional skills, you should consider taking some time to listen, empathise and reflect. 

Listen – detect how people are feeling by noticing verbal and non-verbal clues; listen to their words and look at their body language. When you get a sense of how a person is feeling, consider the factors that contribute to this and how you came to this conclusion. This can help to strengthen your social, emotional and observational skills.

Empathise – being able to detect how others are feeling is crucial – but can you change your perspective and put yourself in their place? When you can perform this type of perspective shift to start to truly understand why someone feels the way they feel, you are practising empathy. Being empathetic can help you to better interact with others, understand emotions and find more suitable solutions to help them to feel better. 

Reflect – emotional reasoning is a core factor in emotional intelligence. Taking the time to reflect on emotional exchanges and understand how emotions affect your behaviour or decision-making (or those of others) gives you a greater insight into the relationship between thinking, feeling and behaving. 

Emotional intelligence can help managers at level 3 to excel and grow in their important, executive roles in many ways, such as:

• Improving their ability to take criticism and accept responsibility
• Helping them to set and enforce appropriate boundaries
• Enabling them to solve problems in a way that benefits the business as a whole (rather than simply focusing on themselves)
• Allowing them to listen without judgement
• Giving insight into why they act in a certain way (self-awareness)
• Listening with empathy
• Helping them to resolve conflicts and avoid grievances being raised
• Helping them to emotionally regulate in tense situations

At the heart of emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and interpret emotions which can be the key to making better relationships at work, improving communication between the whole team and improving the overall culture and wellbeing within the workplace. 

Enhancing Self-Awareness

Emotionally intelligent leaders are not only good at thinking about how other people feel but they are also skilled at understanding their own feelings. Self-awareness plays an important role in the working lives of level 3 managers. 

When we are self-aware, we understand our own motivations, limitations, challenges and tendencies and this helps to continuously improve ourselves and to lead our organisation by example. 

Being self-aware has multiple potential benefits for leaders, such as:

• Helps with decision-making
• Improves interpersonal relationships
• Builds trust and credibility
• Normalises making mistakes and learning from them
• Allows them to set realistic expectations
• Promotes personal growth and improvement
• Sets a positive example for others
• Reduces instances of miscommunication

Ultimately, when we are able to be self-aware and understand our own strengths, weaknesses, emotions and habits, we are able to improve ourselves and work more effectively with others. Emotionally intelligent leaders who are both empathetic and self-aware, are less likely to make decisions or communicate in a way that is damaging or inappropriate. This improves the working environment by reducing worker stress and anxiety and makes employees feel more positive about approaching their boss about issues or problems. 

Developing Self-Regulation

Emotional regulation describes our ability to recognise, manage and respond to an emotionally charged situation. People who are high in EI are often good at emotionally regulating, remaining calm and composed when challenged and not reacting in a way that will make others feel worse. 

Some tools and strategies that can help us to regulate our emotions include:

• Mindfulness
• Stress management
• Cognitive restructuring
• Conflict resolution

Mindfulness connects with EI on many levels, including the ability to be aware of the moment and listen without judgement. It can increase our empathy skills and help us to regulate our emotions by making us feel more centred and calmer.

Building emotional strength and resilience is the key to stress management. Being in a level 3 leadership role can be highly stressful and can put you under significant pressure. Taking care of your own wellbeing is vital if you are to be a good example to others. 

Using stress management techniques can help you to find some inner calm and peace including:

• Meditation
• Mindfulness
• Progressive muscle relaxation
• Deep breathing techniques

You should also ensure you are looking after your general wellbeing:

• Eat a healthy, balanced diet and stay hydrated
• Get enough good quality sleep
• Exercise regularly
• Avoid relying on unhealthy short-term ‘boosts’ (such as coffee, sugar, energy drinks)

You can build stress management techniques and healthy coping mechanisms into your regular routine to keep you in peak physical and mental condition to meet the challenges of being a level 3 manager. You can also use quick stress-relieving techniques ‘in the moment’ such as counting to ten before responding, taking a break or deep breathing.

Cognitive restructuring is a core component of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). It involves identifying the motivations behind our negative thoughts and replacing them with more helpful and positive ones. People with strong EI skills have a keen awareness of their own thoughts and feelings and may find they are using cognitive restructuring techniques without even realising. 

As an emotionally intelligent manager, you probably already have strong conflict resolution skills; however, if you are looking to build these skills you may want to learn how to apply the following in the workplace:

• Active listening techniques
• Good communication skills
• Learning the art of compromise
• Strengthening problem solving skills
• Identifying triggers or sources of conflic
• Addressing triggers or sources of conflict
• Strengthening collaboration and teamwork

How we respond to conflict affects whether it escalates, how quickly the situation can be resolved and whether we learn from it or not. Conflict resolution can be used as an agent for education and change or it can be used to create drama and upset. Emotionally intelligent managers will have a healthy response to situations of conflict and prioritise finding solutions and protecting their employees over making a spectacle or minimising the situation.

Healthy responses to conflict vs. unhealthy responses to conflict:

Motivating Teams with Emotional Intelligence

Emotionally intelligent managers are able to inspire and motivate their teams which leads to increased productivity and sales, as well as a better working environment. 

Level 3 managers can use their emotional intelligence to improve staff morale and increase productivity by:

• Using clear communication
• Applying goal setting techniques
• Setting realistic expectations
• Inspiring others through setting a positive example
• Collecting and addressing feedback

Emotionally intelligent leaders can motivate, support and mentor their employees by playing to their strengths and offering them resources and training to address areas of improvement. They may also be able to notice subtle changes in people’s mood or attitude helping them to identify and address problems, internal conflicts or skills gaps. 

Empathy in Leadership

In the past, strong leaders were often portrayed by stereotypes of being ruthless and cold-hearted, which led some people to believe that respect was commanded through fear. However, this type of behaviour is now considered highly toxic, with the modern workplace prioritising empathy, understanding and flexibility in their managers. 

Empathetic leaders are able to build trust, improve collaboration and resolve conflicts constructively. Empathy differs from sympathy, in that people who are high in empathy are able to put themselves in the position of another person and think about how they would feel or respond in that situation. This can give managers additional insight into why employees may behave in a certain way and what they can do to improve the working environment for everyone. 

Being empathetic can help to resolve stressful situations between workers before they escalate and it can promote a culture of compassion within a workplace, where people value the opinions of others and think before they act. 

Strong empathetic leaders will also be aware of the needs of diverse teams and will be able to consider small changes that may make the environment more inclusive such as:

• Flexible working for parents
• Adjustments for disabled colleagues
• Training and workshops to deal with stress and poor mental health

There is some evidence to suggest that people who are more empathetic have better leadership skills due to their keen intuition and ease of identifying with others. It is also beneficial if you can pair the empathy you have with others with a consistent motivation to help them and drive situations forward. This ensures that at level 3 management you are propelling productivity and striving for improvement, in addition to providing compassion for those around you. 

Whilst being an empathetic leader, you should also remember to look after your own wellbeing and be sensitive to your own feelings, as well as to those of your employees. This can safeguard you from getting emotionally drained, stressed or burnt out.

Mastering Social Skills

Strong interpersonal skills can help level 3 managers to interact and communicate effectively with those around them. 

There are four different areas within emotional intelligence, including:

• Emotional perception
• Emotional reasoning
• Understanding emotions
• Managing emotions

All of the above areas can intersect and inform our abilities to communicate well, negotiate successfully, sort out conflicts between employees and reassure clients. 

Managers with strong interpersonal skills will be able to communicate in an effective and authentic way with people on different levels, from entry level employees to middle managers to stakeholders. 

Examples of Emotional Intelligence in Management

Some general examples of what emotional intelligence at work may look like include:

• Employees feel able to express themselves in an open and respectful way
• Workers embrace change and are not afraid when new technologies or initiatives are introduced
• The workplace is visibly flexible, diverse and open-minded
• Active listening is visible in meetings and when discussing projects
• Employees know their manager will lend a compassionate ear when they are experiencing difficulty
• Managers will praise their workers in public but criticise them in private
• Constructive criticism and feedback do not provoke defensiveness
• There is a culture of continuous learning
• Employees are encouraged to think creatively and problem solve for themselves

Here are some famous quotes about emotional intelligence in leadership that may inspire you: 

Warren Bennis, American scholar, organisational consultant and author, said in his book On Becoming a Leader published in 1990:

‘Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.’

In his self-help book published back in 1903, James Allen wrote of how thought influences action and highlights our personal responsibility to shape our own success:

‘Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power.’

American psychologist and writer Daniel Goleman introduced the idea of emotional intelligence to the masses and wrote the number one bestselling book Emotional Intelligence, published in 1995:

‘Leadership is not domination, but the art of persuading people to work toward a common goal.’

At the core of many famous quotes that reflect how emotional intelligence is the management game changer at level 3, is the idea that strong leaders do not need to be controlling, aggressive or dictatorial. Successful modern leaders can, in fact, be empathetic, composed and able to inspire people to work together cohesively. They will inspire others by setting a positive example and modelling good behaviour. 

Conclusion

Harnessing the power of emotional intelligence can be a management game changer, especially at level 3 as it can contribute to a positive working environment, improve communication and build relationships with employees, as well as improve overall organisational performance. 

People who score high in emotional intelligence may be more likely to stay calm and collected in pressurised situations, make better decisions and negotiate deals and terms more effectively.

As a level 3 manager, you should not underestimate the impact that working in an emotionally intelligent way can have on your performance and the way you interact with your employees. If you want to hone your EI abilities, you can start by practising active listening skills, learning emotional regulation techniques and taking time to think before you react in a situation.