Leaders who lack emotional intelligence are unable to respond perceptively and with compassion. This can result in leaders and employees who show insensitivity, arrogance, volatility, selfishness, and inflexible thinking.
Consider a situation where an employee experiences a traumatic event, such as a car accident or a breakup and arrives at work late. A leader without emotional intelligence would make them come in anyway, possibly berate them for being late, and create feelings of resentment, while decreasing employee loyalty in exchange for what would most likely be poor performance throughout the day.
A leader with emotional intelligence would ask what was wrong, would offer a solution such as time of or swapping a shift for another, and make it work because they were compassionate and cared about the employee’s wellbeing. They’d lose the employee for the day or week, but when that employee came back, they’d be grateful, they’d feel like they and their health mattered, and would be a lot more productive when they came back to work. This would in turn foster employee loyalty, boost employee satisfaction, and build inter-team trust.
Similarly, having employees with emotional intelligence builds communication, team trust, relationships, and the ability to respond well in potentially negative situations.
About the Author: Jocelyn Pick
