Emotional Intelligence (EQ) in HR and its relationship with HR Leadership

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is related to, among other factors, 80% of Success in Life, and IQ is as large as 20%, as per the renowned Harvard Psychology Guru Daniel Goleman - his best seller book named Emotional Intelligence in the last decade of the last century in 1995.

The components of emotional intelligence are four in number as per Goleman Model:

Knowing Own-selves and Others & Managing Self and the Relationships. EQ is the power behind (HR)-Leadership! (Goleman).

Why it is important to possess EQ for being a Leader?

Bringing Humanity into the Workplace necessitates “People-do-work –Together” building in Teams, whereby good working Teams require strong ties amongst team members, and the state of affairs inevitably demands strong leadership skills for task completion!

Emotional Intelligence is a tool necessary to cut the emotions out of the office and official environment, who should/are focused on the Outcomes, rather not the Reasons behind the Failures but for the OEF-Operational Efficiency Feedback- purpose(s) only, to avoid that in future. This learning needs to be from our OEFs and the other sister concerns and/or Competition out there present in the Market(s), both local and Global.

This does not associate that “Leaders(s) are not Humans in possession of no emotions, but on the contrary, reasonably the Leaders behave as the sane-approach-keeping humans; that they are not supposed to be driven through the Emotional Trauma of Oceanic Waves inside human machinery called Hearts and Brains” they keep Work and Emotions apart.

HR does do this in a way that emotions do not disturb or disrupt the working of their own and that of others, rather Leaders in possession of emotional intelligence utilize-cum-channelize the emotional energy in positive and outcome-based direction, for their benefit, and others around them; and for the value addition towards Organizational HR goals completion.

Leaders have higher EQ than ordinary people; consequently, they have the following characteristics related to emotional intelligence:

• Ability to recognize own and others’ emotions
• Ability to understand own and others’ emotions
• Better mental health
• Being a good team member
• Making people socially skilled
• Empathy and social skills
• Understanding of nonverbal communication and clues
• Strong understanding of emotional signals of socio-cultural settings
• Self-control in situations of life
• Capability to resolve conflicts
• Openness toward received feedback
• Intrinsic motivation to pay attention to solve problems

Military Perspective (2021) on EQ and HR Leadership

It is well-admired military men fact that: “(HR)-Leaders are those who never panic in any situation(s) in Life; in both Personal as well as Professional” (Armed forces Perspective, 2001). And the employees, battlefield soldiers, and the humans, in short, are those who never panic are emotionally intelligent, and can face situations in life with a calm and witty state (possessing EQ) of the human thinking brain, commonly known as the mind.

Human Competency framework as per Emotional Intelligence:

The human Competency framework of Emotional Intelligence comprises four quadrants of human behavioral attributes, also known as components of emotional intelligence:

Self-Awareness: Leaders are usually having emotional self-awareness

Self-Management: Leaders do have emotional self-control, adaptability, achievement, and a positive outlook

Social-Awareness: Leaders must have empathy and organizational awareness

Relationship Management: High EQ is meant for leaders to possess - Inspiring leadership skills, influence, conflict management craftsmanship, good teamwork, and higher collaboration aptitude

Whereby, Inspiring Leadership is falling under the domain of the Relationship Management quadrant of the Competency framework of Emotional Intelligence, hence mentioning therein an important relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership!

What does Research in HR have to say about EQ and Leadership?

What is more in research in HR about EQ, the HR Research as of 2021 July shows there still needs to be looked into the EQ concept so far and there is a requirement for the development of EI/EQ training for coping with the ever-conflicting results for this developing concept!

What does Leadership and Organization Development Journal have to say about Emotional Intelligence and Leadership in the HR domain?

Leadership and Organization Development Journal says about Emotional Intelligence and Leadership in the HR domain that in the era of the COVID-19 global hit pandemic when looking into the research zone for Virtual World Teams (VWTs) of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs): it is seen that the outcomes so far as of 2021, disclose the facts of the perceived leader emotional intelligence and virtual team effectiveness sub-factors positive relationship, and this relationship is mediated by transformational leadership behavior of human resource.

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