Improving your emotional intelligence as a leader

In a sector that is all about caring, it is just as important that you show a level of care and understanding within your leadership of teams at your aged care service or facility.

Technical skills can be incredibly important in a field like aged care, where you need to have practical abilities to undertake important tasks and services for older Australians. However, emotional intelligence should not be a forgotten skill for leaders and can lead to better workforce cohesion.

Having emotional intelligence can lend greatly to your success as a leader, as it ensures that the workplace has a good culture, results in strong team relationships, and is considered a vital part of interpersonal communication.

But what is emotional intelligence, what does that look like, and why is it so important in a leader in the aged care sector?

What is emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence is described as an individual’s ability to identify, understand and manage their own emotions, as well as recognise and influence the emotions of others.

A leader with emotional intelligence will be able to successfully manage their own stress as well as for those around them, while coaching and working in a collaborative manner with others and bringing out the best in their teams.

It is understandable that people may react with emotion during stressful situations – it is proven that emotional reactions in our brain generally overpower the cognitive or rational part of our brain.

Having a leader that is able to manage emotions of themselves and others, and respond with empathy and understanding, can make team members feel supported and lead to better outcomes for all.

What does it look like in practice?

There are generally considered to be four core components of emotional intelligence that a person would use to be a better leader:

• Self-awareness
• Self-management
• Social awareness
• Relationship management (or social skills)

The gold standard of ’emotional intelligence’ was made accessible for business leaders by Daniel Goleman, a psychologist, in 1995.

Mr Goleman believes that a leader who is able to manage these four different areas effectively would be a better leader within their workplace, as they are able to:

• Understand their abilities and emotions, as well as the effect their emotions may have on their team performance – self-awareness
• Manage their own emotions and be positive and calm when they experience workplace issues or conflict – self-management
• “Read the room” when it comes to colleagues and workers, and are empathetic towards the emotions of their workers – (social awareness)
• Use their skills to resolve issues that arise and manage other people’s emotions whilst supporting or mentoring their workers – relationship management

It is important that any leader within an organisation has emotional intelligence, or is willing to work on this skill, as it can really establish the mood of a workplace and its culture.

When people say culture starts from the top, they really mean it!

Examples of what emotional intelligence can look like from a leader in aged care include:

• Providing feedback that is constructive to aged care staff, rather than providing feedback that is critical or challenging their behaviours. For example, if a complaint is made about care provided, working with staff on how to improve systems for everyone involved
• Supporting their team and workers so that their workplace stresses are reduced or working to reduce those stresses. This could be through efficient rostering, regular communication, or bringing on extra staffing help when needed
• Being calm, collected, and efficient when under pressure, such as managing a COVID-19 outbreak within a facility
• Solving problems or issues that may arise among your workers or team. As aged care can be a high-stress workplace, it is important to manage workplace disputes efficiently and to everyone’s satisfaction
• Working on ensuring the workplace is a place that all workers can express themselves freely. This can lead to workers feeling more comfortable to reach out for help when they need it.

How can emotional intelligence improve your leadership?

What good leadership looks like has evolved over the years and is no longer what you would see in decades gone by. Positive manager and employee relationships are really important to a successful business and emotional intelligence can assist with this.

According to Mr Goleman, being nice is not enough when it comes to emotional intelligence – you need to be building workers that are resilient, rather than avoiding conflict or difficult conversations.

While being nice and building bonds with your workers are important, those four core elements of emotional intelligence need to be used in harmony to be a good leader.

There are so many other benefits to utilising emotional intelligence in your leadership and workplace, including:

• Better workforce culture and overall positivity, which could be vital when the current aged care workforce is stressed and feeling undervalued
• Lead to better staff outcomes, including making decisions that benefit themselves, other staff, and clients
• Assist with workforce retention, reduce staff turnover, and lead to greater workforce loyalty and productivity
• Staff working together for business goals

Additionally, positioning yourself as a good leader is also a great way to pass on emotional intelligence skills to your workers – and emotional intelligence is an incredibly important trait to have in care workers as it can lead to better outcomes and satisfaction for older people receiving services.

Another positive of emotional intelligence is that it has been found to result in better career opportunities and progression for leaders. It is estimated that 90% of top leaders have high skills in emotional intelligence.

For instance, you may be utilising your emotional intelligence on the floor of an aged care facility managing care workers and nurses, but could lead to a higher position role, like a Director of Care job in your facility.

Tips for improving your emotional intelligence skills

The good thing about emotional intelligence skills is that it isn’t something that some leaders have and some people don’t, it is a skill that you can learn and develop!

You want to work on the four key areas that make up an emotionally intelligent leader:

1. Before doing anything, you need to start working on yourself 
   
   To be able to lead a team effectively, you need to understand how you work, including under pressure. 
   
   For example, developing self-awareness can be done by practising mindfulness. Mindfulness is when you are able to be present and aware of your body and emotions, and this can be practised in a number of ways, including through meditation or taking pauses throughout your day.
   
   Mindfulness is also very beneficial for leaders as it can improve your stress levels and mental health. You can also work on this self-awareness through journalling or taking time to understand your strengths and weaknesses.

2. Learn how to regulate your own emotions and how you react to things
   
   Working on building personal resilience and managing your own emotions in the workplace is not only great personal development, but also vital workplace skills.
   
   Mindfulness can also lend itself to developing self-management skills, as it can assist with high stress situations and how you react in those situations.
   
   You can even work on your adaptability skills. Any change in the workplace can be difficult to get used to, but being adaptable and flexible can reduce the likelihood of your emotions taking over.
   
   Always approach changes in the workplace with an open mind and positivity, and this tone can be passed on to your team.

3. Understand how your team works and how individual workers function
   
   Everyone works effectively in their own way and it is important you are able to bring these qualities out of the people you manage.
   
   You need to understand the dynamics of the workers in your team or department, as it can assist you in identifying how to navigate different situations and communicate to workers in the best way possible.
   
   You should always approach your colleagues and workers with empathy, understanding, and utilise your active listening skills. The term ‘put yourself in someone else’s shoes’ has never been more relevant!

4. Build strong connections with your workers and the dynamics of the team, and don’t avoid conflict
   
   Lastly, relationship management is key for any leader, but it can be difficult to approach, as this is the area that requires you to confront difficult situations – like feedback about yourself as a leader or resolving awkward and uncomfortable clashes in the workplace.
   
   Avoiding difficult relationship dynamics can actually cause further issues, so you need to make sure not to shy away from these situations.
   
   Provide workers the opportunity to give feedback, whether that is in one on one meetings or in regular staff meetings, and make sure to leave your ego at the door – all feedback should be welcomed.
   
   And if an issue in the workplace does start to escalate, approach it calmly and transparently so everyone can walk away happy and feeling like their issue was resolved. 
   
   In turn, you will create strong relationships with your employees resulting in better workplace outcomes.

Emotional intelligence is really important in a leader, as you set the tone for your workers and the facility or service you work for. So working on this skill can help you become a further asset to your organisation.

How do you practise your emotional intelligence skills? Tell us in the comments below.