Just as you can improve your knowledge and intellectual intelligence, you can also become more emotionally intelligent—and a stronger leader as a result.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a must-have if you want to be an effective leader. Being aware and in control of your own emotions as well as respecting others’ emotions is critical as work, the workforce and workplaces evolve. Performance, productivity, outcomes and individual success all benefit from strong emotional intelligence.

Build your emotional intelligence over four quadrants

Psychologist Daniel Goleman created a widely used model of emotional intelligence based on four quadrants: self-awareness, social awareness, self-regulation and relationship management.

Goleman’s model is helpful in understanding that EI involves both inward (self) and outward (social) components. Effective leadership requires skills in each quadrant. The skills overlap—you’ll apply all of them when acting in an emotionally intelligent way.

Let’s look at how the four quadrants come into play in a typical scenario. Let’s say you’re in an important meeting with your manager, Janelle, to discuss an ongoing project to implement a new scheduling app. There have been some snags…

As you can see, displaying and practicing emotional intelligence requires you to be in tune with your own feelings and actions as well as those of the people around you. It means you respond thoughtfully to situations, rather than impulsively. And you make a conscious effort to handle interpersonal relationships with the care and consideration they deserve. Good leaders are good humans, too!

Want more guidance? More practice? Consider our leadership development offerings—designed for leaders at all levels and led by expert leaders and coaches. See more.