EQ is superior to IQ and Technical skills

 Leadership in the 21st century - Week 3 , 4/22/12

Jack Welch MBA Program

The transformation is continuing in ways I never imagined.

Until this time I thought IQ and Technical skills are the most important core capabilities for leadership. With the training at Jack Welch MBA program I understand that Emotional Intelligence (EI) is more critical to be a great leader.

I understand the importance of self awareness and self regulation. It is important to remain open to feedback and not get defensive when hearing things about ourselves that are not always pleasant.

Here are the main takeaways this week.

1. Emotional intelligence (EI)

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EI is the ability to work with others in leading change by appealing to emotion in addition to logic

Most effective leaders have a high degree of emotional intelligence along with initiative and strategic vision.

Emotional intelligence is critical to lead while IQ and technical capabilities are threshold capabilities only (Daniel Goleman, HBR, 1998)

Dr Valerie Opher's pearls of wisdom to build EI.
Get to know people
engage them in a way that supports their personal needs
develop long-term and meaningful relationships.
keep networking activities genuine
seek to make connections memorable

2. EI - 5 components

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Self awareness, self regulation, achievement motivation, empathy and social skills are the five components of EI. The first three are for managing the self while the last two are for managing relationships with others.

(i) Self awareness:

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- ability to understand deeply one's moods, emotions, drives, needs, strengths, weaknesses and understand how they affect others

- understand values and goals in decision making; decisions should mesh with values to get energized at work

- Candor: assess your capabilities honestly

- retain sense of humor

- be comfortable talking about strengths and limitations

- self confidence: do not set yourself up to fail

(ii) Self regulation:

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Extreme displays of negative emotion can never be a driver of good relationships

master disruptive feelings and emotions

cut out impulsive behavior

be in control of feelings and redirect in useful ways

think before acting

(iii) Achievement motivation:

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internally motivated with strong drive to achieve;

remain optimistic even in face of failure

commit to the organization

set the bar high for you, the organization and aim for strong leadership

keep score to track progress and surpass benchmarks

(iv) Empathy:

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consider feelings of others, retain talent and heighten collaboration

ability to understand emotional make up of people - sense and understand viewpoints of everyone

skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions

(v) Social skills:

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Do not be mean spirited

effectively manage relationships, build networks, get the job done through others

ability to find common ground and rapport; persuasion; ability to build and lead teams

3. Choose leadership style carefully to suit the situation

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Personal styles of leaders vary.

Style should be chosen carefully depending on the situation eg M&A sensitive negotiator vs forceful change agent in turnarounds.

4. Leading virtual teams

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Biggest challenges in Leading virtual teams are

(a) typical team development process not easy to achieve and

(b) leaders need to own constant maintenance and nurturing of the team

in addition to managing the tasks and connection to external teams

5. To lead virtual teams

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Inclusion - Have an in person or synchronous kick-off and welcome members

Build connections and bonds between team members

Create a concept of the shared purpose and goals of the team

Connect people to tasks

Turn conflict into something constructive

Define how to operate as a team and take decisions that entire team will own

Encourage effective team behavior

Balance individual needs versus Team's needs

Continuously maintain and nurture team

6. Conflicts in virtual teams

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Inclusion issue: out of touch, not listened to, not valued, misunderstood

Control and power: disempowered team members

7. Some virtual teams never gel

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Some teams get stuck at storming and norming stage

There are unique issues of communication, motivation, appreciation

To counter this:

Leader should facilitate discussion with multiple points of view

Decide if there is a team issue or an individual issue

Use webex, phone calls or emails with team's consensus

Take meeting minutes, review before each call

As virtual team leader you are the glue that holds it all together

Have one on one with team members to discuss issues in private

Celebrate achievements

8. Building a virtual team

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I learned the existence of communication gaps due to a variety of reasons.

I understand that building a virtual team will require more patience and giving the benefit of doubt.

Over-communication is a good strategy to strengthen a virtual team

with greater awareness of what it takes to be a great leader

Dr DP