A high level of emotional intelligence (EQ or EI) is not only beneficial to you but also to those around you—because how we engage in the world matters. We all have the capacity to influence but we don’t always understand what that influence looks like. This is why emotional intelligence is key in effective leadership.

As a leader, you have the unique privilege and responsibility to lead people which makes it all the more critical to understand how you’re showing up and how you’re impacting those you lead and serve. And when you lead yourself in strengthening your emotional intelligence, your influence will be positive and your leadership effective. In this article, we discuss the five key components of emotional intelligence and the leadership benefit of each one.  

Defining the 5 Components of Emotional Intelligence

1. Self-Awareness: The ability to recognize your moods, emotions, and drives, as well as their impact on others.

2. Self-Regulation: The ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and the propensity to think before acting.

3. Motivation: A passion for work that transcends money or status. It reflects the amount of energy and persistence you apply to an activity.

4. Social Awareness: The ability to understand the emotional makeup of others and how your words and actions impact others.

5. Social Regulation: The ability to influence the emotional clarity of others through a proficiency in managing relationships and building networks.

But it’s not enough to simply define each component of emotional intelligence. You must understand how they individually connect to your leadership, what’s at risk if you don’t apply them and what’s made possible when you do.

The Leadership Benefit of Each EQ Component

• Self-Awareness. The first step to growth is always acknowledgement because it’s hard to make a change when you don’t understand what needs to change. This is why healthy self-awareness is key to effective leadership. By taking the time to truly understand yourself (your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs), you’ll be able to better connect what you do (your words and behaviors) with why you do it. This means you’ll recognize when your past affects your present. And when you understand how your past experiences have impacted you, it becomes easier to assess what sort of words, events, or circumstances might emotionally trigger you in the future.

• Self-Regulation. We all have emotional triggers, but if you’re aware of what yours are, then you’ll be better equipped to regulate yourself the next time you feel triggered. Essentially, your self-awareness helps you think before speaking or acting, cueing self-regulation. This is a gift to those around you because how you act in challenging moments often impacts others. And by regulating yourself during emotionally triggering situations, you’ll be able to make good decisions and show up productively. A self-regulated leader is a leader with influence because people can count on them during times of crisis.

• Motivation. A leader with high EQ is motivated in their work, past money or status. To find deep motivation in your work, you must have clarity on your purpose and a compelling vision pulling you forward. This means that despite your industry or role, you understand what your core convictions are and how they connect to your purpose. You are clear on both your personal vision and your organizational vision. And you see how your daily job functions directly contribute to both. To grow in your motivation, you must cast an exciting yet challenging vision for your work and create a plan to get there.

• Social Awareness. This requires empathy. And if you don’t consider empathy to be a natural skill for you, the good news is that you can always grow in it. Empathy is demonstrated when you validate the feelings and experiences of another person. And this doesn’t mean you that you must understand their experience or agree with their feelings, but it does mean that you get to listen to them, receive what they say, and accept that their words and experiences are valid. Also, social awareness means you pay attention to how your words and behaviors impact people. You observe their responses and reactions to you and stay receptive to feedback.

• Social Regulation. To socially regulate a conversation, you must employ active listening and intentional curiosity. By remaining curious, you can communicate care and validation even if you think differently. This behavior will help you deescalate emotionally charged situations and allow you to find common ground with the other person. Social regulation is key to effective leadership because it allows you to influence social situations in a positive and healthy manner, helping others to navigate challenge and conflict productively.  

If you’d like to grow in these five components of emotional intelligence and strengthen your overall leadership effectiveness, it’s important to first understand where you’re at with your own EQ. And we’ve got a great tool to help. You can purchase an EQ Assessment and debrief your results with one of our coaches! It’s never too late to strengthen your EQ. Learn more today! And reach out if you have any questions. We’re here to help!