Emotional Intelligence and Training - Article - The SMART approach to Emotional Intelligence

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The SMART approach to EQ

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to understand and manage your thinking, emotions and behaviours, as well as understand and influence the emotions and behaviours of others, in ways that promote outstanding performance.


Attribute:	Definition:	Characterised by:
Self Awareness	The ability to truly understand one’s thinking, feelings and the impact these have on every behaviour and decision we make.	Catching emotions in the moment. Ability to recognise and name the emotion. Recognising that emotions impact on decisions, choices and behaviour.
Managing Emotions & Impulses	The ability to catch unhelpful emotions and master these emotions to control impulses and delay gratification.	Managing impulses and negative emotions. Staying focussed on goal-directed, core activities. Staying calm, channelling emotions in a constructive way.
Attitude of Optimism	The ability to think in ways that promote resilience and the capacity to bounce back from adversity and stay focussed on goals.	Having a mindset that promotes resilient thinking. Seeing obstacles as temporary and staying 'in the game'. Able to anti-'catastrophise' and corral a problem, isolating its impact on other areas.

Reading the Emotions of Others	The ability to display empathy and tune into the emotions of others.	Seeking first to understand before being understood. Recognising others' situation by using questions and 'really listening' to the message. Understanding the underlying emotions of the message.
Teaming up with Others	The ability to work with others in a constructive way to engage them in a way that motivates them to want to work with you and assisting them to stay focussed and deliver results.	Demonstrating positive expectations of others. Supporting and collaborating with others. Giving people recognition or credit for a job well done.

The study, carried out over an 18-week period by Harvard Business School, asked 238 employees from seven successful companies to recount one event each day that stood out in their minds. By analysing nearly 12,000 diary entries, the results found that the most frequent event recorded was employees' interactions with their team leaders.

Employees' perceptions of team leaders fell into two categories: positive and negative. Team leaders were perceived positively when they showed four behaviours:

Monitoring work effectively
Showing social and emotional support
Recognising good work privately and publicly
Consulting employees about work

Alternatively, employees had a negative perception of their team leaders when they showed three ineffective behaviours:

Monitoring work ineffectively
Failing to clarify roles and objectives
Dealing with problems ineffectively

Interestingly, the results showed that negative behaviours were reported more frequently than positive behaviours. The researchers believed this was because negative leadership evokes stronger emotional reactions than the way that positive leadership affects positive reactions. Also, the negative emotions were more specifically described than the positive ones (eg. anger and frustration compared with feeling happy).

The conclusion: Teams who considered their leaders to exhibit positive behaviours generated more creative ideas and enjoyed greater performance success compared with those whose leaders exhibited negative behaviours. Common sense wins again.

What Can You Do About This?

Consider the findings above. How would you rate yourself against each of the criteria?

Now think about this. If you asked your team to rate you against each of the criteria, would their perception match your own? Where would the gaps be? What might be causing the difference in perception? How might this be impacting on the productivity of the team?

At PivotPlus, we have developed a comprehensive breakdown of the specific behaviours related to this research. If you would like to see the list of these behaviours, a self-awareness questionnaire and more ideas on how to use this research with yourself or your team click here.

For a copy of the full article related to this research and other similar articles click here.

Want To Know More About Becoming A Positive Leader?

Leaders who consistently exhibit positive behaviours and manage their negative emotions are likely to be high in emotional intelligence. To find out more about the link between emotions and performance, or how to build leaders, teams and create a positive workplace culture, contact us.

PivotPlus is an organisational development consultancy. We work with organisations to help grow their businesses by improving peoples' motivation, skills and behaviours. Our programs are tailored to meet the needs of our clients, helping people to develop in the way they think, feel, behave and achieve results.