Emotional intelligence
Have you guys ever thought about what’s required to climb up the career ladder? What particular skills and abilities are necessary to become a manager with ambitions?
Well, as far as I have thought there is no linear „do this and you get that“ approach. Nevertheless, there are some common features successful middle and top manager seems to share. More about that later…
What comes to your mind if you think about career success? I assume there are quite a lot of internal and external factors that influence these thoughts. Maybe because of personal experiences. However, there is a high probability that you might throw in things like : Resilient, Skilled, Experienced, Philanthropic, Determined, Autocratic, Empathic, Communicative etc. Of course you are all right. Nevertheless this seems to be pretty vague…
So, let’s explore what is this one hidden secret which is getting more and more important as one’s getting up within a company. No, it isn’t your intelligence quotient. Although, there is a certain importance of having a high IQ in terms of being able to link facts and information together.
The magic word is: „Emotional intelligence“
What the heck is emotional intelligence? Let me explain to you in bullet list format what it’s all about.
- Self-awareness (Being able to recognize one’s strengths and weaknesses)
- Emotional resilience (Perform even under inhuman pressure)
- Motivation (Abilities to motivate your employees to perform like rising stars)
- Interpersonal sensitivity (Being able to show empathy & sensitivity)
- Influence (Present your notions in a persuasive way)
- Intuitiveness (Make decisions based on intuition which put the company forwards)
- Conscientiousness (Behave with integrity, being consistent in all kind of situations)
Actually pretty easy, isn’t it? You just have to excel in all of these points and you’ll automatically climb up the career ladder. What’s my proof that emotional intelligence is really the key to become a good manager? Let’s have a look at this study about emotional intelligence conducted by Victor Dulewicz and Malcom Higgs which has been the biggest study ever about this topic. It’s fascinating to see which skills are required at what kind of level and how they evolve when one raises higher in companies. Additionally, you obtain some insight why IQ is not the most important prerequisite.
Dou you have any thoughts or additions? Don’t hesitate…the forum’s open.