Risks of low Emotional Intelligence

No doubt emotional intelligence is more rare than book smarts, but my experience says it is actually more important in the making of a leader. You just can’t ignore it.” – Jack Welch

Low Emotional Intelligence presents significant risks for organizations. Leaders and employees with low emotional intelligence have a higher tendency for derailing behaviours that may expose the organizations to risks. Listed below are several examples and research inputs on the impact of low emotional intelligence.

– CEOs/Leaders with lower Emotional Intelligence have a negative impact on the corporate financial performance, have poor relations with the shareholders and will not be able to lead the organization effectively to achieve top line and bottom-line growth.

– Leaders with low emotional intelligence will not be able to facilitate a high performance organization, sustain positive relationships between team members and will have a negative impact on the business social performance.

– Lower Emotional Intelligence has a negative impact on patient relations and patient satisfaction in the healthcare industry. In a research it was found that 80 percent of Oncologists completely missed the opportunity to show empathy to their patients and led to lower patient satisfaction impacting the image and profitability of the hospital.

– Leaders with low emotional intelligence tend to shoot down new ideas and create an unhealthy work environment that prevents innovation and creativity. They don’t create a safe environment where employees feel comfortable to take calculated risks. Employees do not feel free to speak their mind with leaders having low emotional intelligence leading to a culture of fear and employees don’t share the hidden risks to the organization due to this fear and this leads to surprises for the organization.

– Leaders with lower emotional intelligence have higher tendencies for emotional outbursts, find it difficult to cope with emotionally charged situations, tend to have more arguments with the fellow team members and are not sensitive to the emotions of others in their teams.

– Leaders with lower emotional intelligence are not receptive to feedback and are likely to take negative feedback as personal criticism. They will find it difficult to make their team members feel heard and understood and struggle to show sensitivity to others.

So leaders with lower emotional intelligence have significant negative impact on the bottom line, organization and team performance, innovation & creativity, culture and relationships and are poor role models. The good news is that emotional intelligence can be improved by creating self awareness, helping leaders to know their strengths and development areas and developing a smart action plan to develop them.

If you have leaders who are exhibiting poor emotional intelligence, the best option is to invest in their development and help them increase their emotional intelligence. If you are a leader who has challenges with emotional intelligence, the best option is to invest in yourself to get over your derailing behaviours. In both these situations, as an organization or as an individual, it’s important to see that there are Organizational and Career risks ahead and the best way to respond is by taking an action today.

Risk proof your organization and leaders by investing in their emotional intelligence. The best time to take a decision is now as any delay increases the exposure to risks for yourself and your organization.

We are the distributors for EQ-i, the world’s most scientifically validated emotional intelligence assessment with capability for generating a Leadership Report to understand the EQ Dimensions of Authenticity, Coaching, Insight and Innovation. We deliver the EQ Leader program to help leaders learn emotionally intelligent behaviours and we deliver hybrid approaches using a combination of assessments, coaching and training.

Contact us at info@taliber.com for more information on how we can risk proof your organization & your career.

Thanks

Dr. Ragland Gamaliel,

Director – Institute of Organization Effectiveness