Part Two: What’s the EQ of Your IT Leaders?
Which EQ Skill Set Makes the Most Effective Leader? Hint, All of them!
Today, many experts believe a person’s emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) may be more important than their IQ, and may be a better predictor of future success! There are 6 leadership styles associated with EI, and sometimes, the best leaders are those that can incorporate many styles as the situation warrants:
- Visionary– A leader capable of inspiring people by focusing on long-term goals. To be effective, they must be able to listen to the values held by the individual employees within the group, and can explain the overall goals of the organization in a way that wins over their support.
- Coaching– Or, leadership by delegation. A task is given out to the employee with the expectation that they will be responsible for its completion to the benefit of the company’s success. Coaching leaders have strong listening skills, often applied in one-on-one settings with employees, to help establish not only a rapport and trust, but also to use this skill set to help employees work out for themselves how their performance is essential, and where they can improve.
- Affiliative– This is the style of leadership that creates a warm, people-focused working environment. An affiliative leader also uses their listening power to discover employees’ emotional needs, and strives to honor and accommodate those needs in the workplace.
- Democratic– Leadership that gets input and commitments from everyone in the group. When a stalemate is reached on how to proceed, a leader garners fresh ideas by listening to everyone’s opinions and information, and moves forward on the consensus ideas.
- Pacesetting– Leadership that sets ambitious and sometimes lofty goals, and continually monitors progress toward the completion of those goals.
- Commanding– This is the style of leadership that dictates instructions about a project without asking for input from the employees about what is to be done or how it will get done.
Most people will lean toward one or two of the traits above, the individual that has honed their EQ skill sets will be able to shift between leadership styles based on the current needs of both the business and the team. It’s not an easy, but it’s achievable, and worth the effort. Perhaps you find this information overwhelming and daunting, but don’t fret our experts at CultureFit are here to help find that ideal candidate while considering all factors and attributes. For more information on Emotional Intelligence, and how it should factor in to your decision to hire, talk to one of our IT Staffing Professionals at CultureFit.
