Emotional Intelligence training: the 10 essential skills managers need in their professional toolkit

As a manager, how do you get those around you to buy into your vision, perform at their best, achieve their objectives and enjoy their work?

It is a timeless and complex challenge.

Do you opt for an approach that strikes fear into your team, where the boss is untouchable and their word is law? Or do you try to keep everyone happy by letting your team dictate its own direction -- often at the expense of important and strategic business goals?

Neither method is likely to result in positive results.

Instead, years of research has repeatedly shown that the most effective managers consistently demonstrate high levels of Emotional Intelligence.

The good news is that, through Emotional Intelligence training, these skills can be learned and developed. Emotional Intelligence is not something you simply have or don’t have. It is a series of learnable skills that make up what we call Emotional Capital.

In this post, you’ll discover the 10 Emotional Intelligence competencies that make up Emotional Capital and see how you can measure and improve them to drive better performance for both yourself and those you manage.

What is Emotional Capital?

Emotional Capital is a concept that outlines arguably the most effective leadership and management toolkit available in the modern working environment. 

Managers embracing Emotional Capital must have three areas of focus: their own feelings, values and intuitions (their inner focus); the feelings and values of those they manage (their other focus); and the forces and systems that shape their day-to-day efforts and that must be considered when devising the best strategy to move forward (their outer focus).

If, as a leader, you excel at these areas of focus -- and specifically across the Emotional Intelligence 10 competencies RocheMartin’s research has identified -- then you are set to achieve significant success.

Every personal interaction you have, and every decision you and your business makes, is likely to be built on emotion. By developing your Emotional Intelligence, you position yourself to create customers that emotionally buy into your brand and organisation. You help employees feel psychologically safe in their professional environment, encouraging them to feel invested in their work and recognised for their accomplishments. And you build and manage your own emotional energy with an effectiveness and efficiency that leaves you well placed to inspire those around you.

The 10 competencies in Emotional Intelligence training

Inner Focus

• Self-Knowing. Can you recognise how your feelings and emotions impact your opinions, attitudes and judgments?

Most successful managers understand and recognise how their feelings can affect their decisions and actions. Those with high self-knowing traits demonstrate strong emotional awareness. They see how their behaviour impacts others (and make changes when they need to). Their body language, tone of voice and facial expressions are all consistent and easy to read.

• Self-Control. Can you control your emotions until you have thought things through?

Emotionally intelligent managers take the time to step back from a situation and give themselves the space to think rationally. This prevents their behaviour from being governed by moods and emotions. A manager who demonstrates calmness, level-headedness under pressure, and discipline is likely to have strong self-control.

• Self-Confidence. Can you respect yourself and like the person you see in the mirror?

Self-confidence shapes what you make happen in your life. Without it, you may struggle. With it, you are capable of achieving almost anything. Leaders and managers with high levels of self-confidence like themselves, set themselves high standards, evaluate their competence to build a picture of themselves that they can express through their behaviours, and remain calm in challenging situations.

• Self-Reliance. Can you plan by yourself, make important decisions, and take responsibility for your actions?

Once you recognise you are a self-directed individual and accept the responsibility of leadership, a range of consequences fall into place. If you are high in self-reliance, you will positively impact your team by instilling confidence and inspiring them on a day-to-day basis. Successful self-reliance relies on three components: understanding and accepting your independence; having a self-belief and confidence in your judgements; and taking responsibility -- and accountability -- for the things you have agreed to do.

Other Focus

• Empathy. Can you recognise, understand and appreciate other people’s feelings?

Empathic managers are adept at understanding and taking into account other people’s thoughts and feelings. They use attentive listening to build rapport, demonstrate curiosity about others, and establish strong emotional connections with others by focusing on and validating their feelings.

"Empathetic connection is the spark that drives sales, energises productive, creative teams and makes a leadership talent dance"

Dr Martyn Newman, Founder and Chairman, RocheMartin

• Relationship Skills. Can you consistently establish collaborative and mutually-rewarding relationships?

If you can engage the hearts and minds of your peers, colleagues and team members, you are likely to create a unit that delivers consistently superior service and performance levels. Strong and rewarding business relationships are normally built on the understanding that both parties are treated as equals, that the other person in your relationship will also ‘win’ if they work with you, and that they also have the freedom to contribute to the relationship rather than simply having terms enforced upon them.

• Straightforwardness. Can you communicate your thoughts and feelings in a straightforward manner?

Managers with high levels of straightforwardness consistently provide clear directions, feedback and encouragement. They are calm and authoritative, demonstrate strong self-control, allow their values to shape how they communicate, and often achieve successful outcomes because of their ability to acknowledge others while still gaining widespread buy-in for their message.

Outer Focus

• Adaptability. Can you react well to change, adjust your feelings and behaviours, and welcome new ideas?

Changing circumstances do not concern effective managers, because they are capable of adapting their thinking, feelings and actions in response. They are open-minded about new ideas, flexible in their approach to potential challenges, and accept that there are some things we simply cannot change.

• Optimism. Can you see opportunities and focus on possibilities where others may only see challenges and roadblocks?

Optimistic leaders know where they are going. They look for -- and find -- the benefit of every situation. They see valuable lessons in every challenge. And they put negative emotions to one side, because their only focus is on completing the task they have targeted. We define optimism by three emotional traits: opportunity sensing, positivity, and resilience.

• Self-Actualisation. Can you maintain enthusiastic commitment to long-term goals and remember the big picture?

Learning how to manage and develop your own emotional energy is arguably the fundamental pillar of ongoing productivity and sustained high performance. To have high levels of self-actualisation, you will need a passion for what you do and you will take care to build an appropriate work/life balance. You will also regularly set goals, devise plans, and commit to implementing those plans in full.

How to get a true insight into your Emotional Intelligence

As a manager, it’s important to take time to reflect on each of these 10 competencies. Where do you excel? Which ones do you need to develop and improve?

But while this self-directed exercise is undoubtedly valuable, it also has its limitations. To gain a full and complete understanding of your Emotional Intelligence, investing in the Emotional Capital Report (ECR) is the only sensible way forward.

Supported by 20 years of academic and psychological research, this short profiling tool accurately measures your level of personal emotional capital. Your results are contained in a 19-page personalised leadership report that also includes a wealth of practical, easy-to-use strategies for building your key leadership skills step-by-step.

Request a demonstration today.