Harvard Emotional Intelligence Class

Chapter 79 Using emotional intelligence to develop leadership (3)
Does being an emotionally intelligent leader guarantee you win more games?Maybe, maybe not.But managers with high emotional intelligence do have an advantage over their counterparts: They see the big picture, are receptive to different perspectives, and do the right thing they should be doing.This is what leaders do to build and maintain great teams.Little has created a sense of trust and belonging within the team, which is very beneficial.

Of the six functions at the heart of management, planning is perhaps the most specific and least demanding of emotional intelligence.Planning is a logical thinking activity, and making a good plan requires you to know all kinds of information and data, some of which are transactional and some are emotional.

Some managers think, "It doesn't matter how you feel about the plan, it's going to be done this way." This statement is one-sided.Only when you correctly judge the whole team's thoughts and feelings about the goals and arrangements set, you can make reasonable and realistic goals and plans.The analysis of emotions can help you to conduct various what-if analysis, which can be beneficial to the planning and decision-making process.

Making good decisions requires you to understand and accept facts and figures that make you uncomfortable.Accepting this information starts with accurate emotional judgment at the time.To make emotionally intelligent decisions in meetings, you also need to understand the feelings and emotions of the other people in the meeting.

When shocked by bad news, many managers choose to suppress or ignore their feelings.This not only means that they lose the information contained in their feelings, but also lose their cognitive resources in the process of suppressing their feelings, so the emphasis on existential problems will inevitably decrease, which is harmful but not beneficial.

You and your competitors are smart people, and both have a lot of information.So, the key to good decision-making and planning is the intelligent use of all the information at your disposal, including the intelligence embedded in competitive intelligence, marketing plans, and emotions.

One of the most emotive features of leadership is its inspirational purpose, through appreciation for the accomplishments of employees and appreciation for the group as a whole.Here, managers need to fully understand the complex emotions.How do you ensure that your praise and appreciation of your employees creates a sense of honor, rather than sparking envy in others?What kind of celebration seems sincere?How do you reward your employees for their achievements without undermining their intrinsic drive?These are all challenges for managers with high emotional intelligence.

To facilitate the development of others, leaders must answer the question: "Who should the leader serve?" Should the leader put his own needs first or should the needs of the entire team and those whom he serves be the first priority?Recently, the concept of "servant leadership" has received renewed attention.Fundamentally speaking, public servant leadership is to focus on employees and consider their development.The wisdom of leadership comes from the members of the entire organization, namely human resources.A good leader can rationally use human resources to achieve its expected goals, and at the same time give these human resources in return.

Suppose you are the manager of a product company. During the management process, you find that the employees responsible for product development do not report to you.And you just received an expert analysis material, which shows that your company's product cost and production plan are not suitable. This is a bolt from the blue for the entire development team. You need to encourage them and let them find a better way to deal with it. .At this time, what should you do?

There are many ways to deal with this matter, and many methods seem reasonable, but they may not be effective.For example, many managers put on a forced smile, believing that the happy tactic can be inspiring.It is true that sometimes we need to be submissive, but the result of doing so is that the whole team will smirk along.If this is the case, everyone will find that your incentives are fake, and the trust established before will no longer exist.

For this product manager, there is no single, best answer to this question.However, the questions posed by the emotional blueprint may help him find a solution to the problem:

1.Judging Feelings: How do you feel about the event?How does the team feel?How does it feel to be an expert who makes analytical material?

2.Using Emotions: How do these emotions affect your thinking?How to influence the team?
3.Understanding Feelings: How Will the Team Respond?What do they expect from you?For example, how would they feel if you asked them to work harder on this project?
4.Controlling Your Emotions: How Do You Control Your Emotions?How do you control the team's emotions so that they can recognize the seriousness of the problem and get to work right away?
You may find that the initial panic leads you to believe that the project is beyond repair.But when you start thinking about it with your relationship at the center, you realize that the news, while bad, is not as bad as you first thought.You sense your team's concerns, so you can use your clear minds and those of your employees to focus on details and problems.You want to prepare the team for bad news, don't sugarcoat the truth, but don't make it feel like the end of the world is coming.You could say that the project was initially thought to be dead but analysis proved that things were on the mend.

You empathize with your team and understand their confusion, anger, surprise, and fear.Because the news is bad but not hopeless, so you want everyone to find a way to solve the problem as always.Now is the time to give a pep talk, emotionally direct and intellectually honest.If you truly believe that the product has a chance of being saved, you should effectively communicate this message to everyone.

It is relatively easy to establish goals for an organization, but the difficulty is how to effectively convey the goals to the team so that they can achieve the true meaning of setting goals, that is, to motivate and guide the organization to achieve common goals.Goals must be meaningful and must convey enough information to be understood, accepted and assimilated.This is where an emotionally intelligent manager can make a difference.

Take Sony's philosophy of "Numbers, Dreams, Children" as an example.This goal is lovely, but also significant on many levels.The goals illustrate the changing nature of Sony's customers, kids growing up in the digital age.This philosophy also challenges Sony employees to think like children in the digital age.Sony's chairman put forward such a goal, while encouraging his employees to "become the children of dreams and continue to create new products to meet the needs of future customers."

Of course, for Sony, and for any organization, there are a myriad of possible statements of purpose to choose from.The president of the company once said that "if employees don't get up and drink coffee, they will face the end of the world", this is actually a "fear" declaration, and the message is "change, run, or die" or something relatively A milder expression. "Fear" can be a great motivator and changer, but it doesn't necessarily work that well in the long run."Fear" can wear us out after a while, it's not a "forward" concept.

Managers with high emotional intelligence must have the ability to control the fear of emotions of employees and customers.When you've got everyone's attention through this emotion, it's time to redirect their attention and focus their adrenaline rush on a common goal.

Driving change through innovation, experimentation, and risk-taking requires leaders with emotional management skills.Highly stressed leaders are afraid of taking risks and will do whatever it takes to prevent setbacks and losses.Conversely, overly optimistic leaders take too many risks without considering the consequences.

It does take enough courage and confidence to promote the realization of change within an organization. In order to realize change, you must first start with information and data.This is where your ability to judge emotions comes in handy.As a person who advocates change, you must first ask yourself: "What is my evaluation of the current development process and methods of the company." If you feel that there is a problem in the company, then you must follow reason to find the root of the problem.

When you focus on the big picture of change, you can look at issues from all angles, and all you need now is the ability to use your emotions.

Understanding the company's history and what you think needs to change requires a deep grasp of the company's emotional history and cause and effect.Understanding feelings and conducting what-if analysis of feelings can provide you with information and data to help you create a plan of action.

Managing change, like controlling emotions, requires you to embody the new rules in your words and deeds.

Building good relationships takes a lot of effort, the willingness and ability to support and oppose others.You want to speak positively of people who do a great job, and honestly criticize those who are having problems, making them realize their mistakes.

Having access to important emotional information can help, but how to build and cultivate great relationships can reflect your own unique style and values.Ask yourself the following questions:

1.Judging Emotions: How are you and the employee feeling?
2.Using Emotions: How do these emotions affect your thinking?If you're worried, do you try to get it over with quickly, ignore your employees' reactions, or ignore some of the most difficult and negative feedback?
3.Understanding Feelings: How Will Employees Respond?What is his desired outcome?
4.Controlling Your Emotions: How Do You Control Your Emotions?How to control the emotions of employees so that they can listen to you?
Remember that feelings contain information that can reflect relationships between people.Accurately understanding feelings and their meaning can provide emotionally intelligent managers with a solid foundation for understanding themselves and others.This is the basis for building good relationships.

(End of this chapter)