The traits of a great leader: Emotional Intelligence

Editor's note: This is the second in a four-part series of columns on leadership..Darren has been a high performing commercial lender for many years. The opportunities he presents to the loan committee are solid and his analysis is thorough. Feedback from clients indicates that Darren is supportive and communicative throughout the whole process, and these clients tend to become enthusiastic fans of the bank. Given his stellar individual performance over the years and a recent retirement, he is offered a leadership role as EVP of lending over his peer commercial lenders. Darren has been working toward this goal throughout his career and accepts the position..Darren soon realizes that something isn't working. He continues to produce while his team seems to be floundering. They are asking him a lot of questions that he feels they should already know how to answer, and they are impeding the time he needs to manage his own portfolio. He holds weekly meetings and seems to do all the talking. Loan quality and morale are down, and the CLO is concerned. .What is Darren missing? While I could argue the answer is leadership training in general, the particular aspect I'm going to focus on in this column is our second great leadership characteristic: Emotional Intelligence or EQ. Those with high EQ have a superpower that not everyone possesses, but it can absolutely be learned with focus and intentionality. In a nutshell, EQ is the ability to recognize our own emotions and adjust our behavior to work more effectively with others. This also means we are aware of others and accurately pick up on their emotions. .Back to poor Darren. He is simply not picking up what his team is laying down. They are feeling terribly frustrated over Darren's lack of direction and his unwillingness to slow down long enough to address their concerns and develop their skills. If he does stop to help, he asks harsh questions, and team members walk away feeling incompetent. Darren's lack of EQ is pulling down his team. What can he do to stop this train before it completely derails? .Leaders can build emotional intelligence, which starts with becoming more self-aware. Using a reputable personality assessment is a great way to understand your own personal style. I like the Everything DiSC assessment, but there are several options including Emergenetics, Myers-Briggs, etc. Once you have reviewed the findings yourself, review them with your significant other or a close friend as they may see things in the assessment you didn't. This process can help uncover blind spots. Another way of becoming more self-aware is asking for feedback. Getting it from someone who you do not always agree with is more likely to bear fruit if they are willing to be honest. Once you have gained more self-awareness, practice taking a pause before reacting in situations. Regulating your own emotions allows you to respond to situations versus reacting. .In addition to self-awareness, EQ means understanding what our people need from us in the moment and adjusting our behavior to have a positive impact. Let's assume Darren was self-aware in his workplace focus on action and results but he wasn't aware of how his behavior impacted his team. They were looking for him to slow down and coach them, and he assumed they were all like him and keeping pace. If Darren were practicing awareness of others, he may have noticed a change in behavior, a decrease in quality of work, or how the room went silent when he entered. Individual producers can be leaders, but it takes coaching, practice and EQ for them to slow down, shift gears and focus on developing their team. You may ask yourself, "Why do I have to change?" As a leader, it is our job to adjust our approach to get the most out of our teams. The needs of the team come first..How do you want those whom you have had the great fortune to lead to remember you? .Christy Baker is a facilitator and coach focusing on organizational health and strategies for Omaha-based Revela. She provides group training and individual coaching and is a former COO for an Iowa-based community banking group. She can be reached at christy@revelagroup.com. Visit RevelaGroup.com/podcast to learn more.