It is a familiar situation. Someone with lots of technical, profes-
sional or specialist expertise is promoted to a managerial job and
fails. This may be partly attributed to an inability to manage in
the sense of planning, organizing and controlling the use of
resources. But the main reason is probably a failure to manage
personal relationships as a leader or a colleague, and this may be
attributed to a lack of understanding of the individual’s own
emotions and an inability to appreciate the emotions of people
with whom he or she is involved. In other words, the person has
an inadequate level of emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence, according to Daniel Goleman, is a crit-
ical ingredient in leadership. His extensive research showed that
effective leaders are alike in one crucial way: they have a high
degree of emotional intelligence, which plays an increasingly
important part at higher levels in organizations where differ-
ences in technical skills are of negligible importance.
Research conducted by David McClelland, a leading American
expert in human and organizational behaviour, found that
emotional intelligence not only distinguishes outstanding
leaders but can also be linked to strong performance. He estab-
lished that when senior managers had a critical mass of
emotional intelligence capabilities, their divisions outperformed
yearly earnings goals by 20 per cent. Meanwhile, division leaders
without that critical mass under-performed by almost the same
amount.
THE COMPONENTS OF EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCEThe four components of emotional intelligence identified by
Daniel Goleman are:
■ Self-management – the ability to control or redirect disruptive
impulses and moods and regulate your own behaviour,
coupled with a propensity to pursue goals with energy and
persistence. The six competencies associated with this
component are self-control, trustworthiness and integrity,
initiative, adaptability – comfort with ambiguity, openness to
change and strong desire to achieve.
■ Self-awareness – the ability to recognize and understand your
72 How to be an Even Better Manager