I’ve been watching and listening to the birthday messages as we proudly celebrate the 90th birthday of our very special Queen. She has been described as a great role model (Prince William), how she has ‘carried out all her duties with extraordinary grace and humility’ (David Cameron), and those people who have had the pleasure of meeting her have commented how she put them at ease, was well informed and listened to their stories with genuine interest.
I also recall her stoicism as she stood for many hours during her Diamond Jubilee celebrations, watching the flotilla of vessels pass by her on the Thames, in the pouring rain.
Today I was running a short session on Emotional Intelligence (and how it can be more important than IQ) and realised that the Queen ticks many of the boxes when it comes to demonstrating the soft skills needed to be recognised as Emotionally Intelligent.
Here are the five components of Emotional Intelligence as described by Daniel Goleman, taken from my book Soft Skills for Strong Leaders.
1. Self-awareness - being aware of your own internal mood, your preferences, resources, and intuitions. This includes recognising your emotions and their effect on your behaviour, being aware of your strengths and limits, having a strong sense of self-worth, self-confidence, and knowing your capabilities.
2. Self-regulation - includes:
3. Motivation - understanding what drives you to achieve your goals, or to take action. It includes:
4. Social Awareness - picking up on what is going on for those around you.
5. Relationship Management - motivating others, leading and developing them. It also includes collaborating, confronting and facilitating relationships, influencing and persuading, and creating group synergy in pursuit of collective goals.
Which of the components do you excel at? And which could do with a bit more work? Try the Soft Skills Assessment here, appreciate your strengths and decide what you can do differently to develop the gaps.
Helen Isacke runs a programme of Soft Skills for Strong Leaders workshops for managers to help them develop their Emotional Intelligence. Contact 01628 488042 for more information
I also recall her stoicism as she stood for many hours during her Diamond Jubilee celebrations, watching the flotilla of vessels pass by her on the Thames, in the pouring rain.
Today I was running a short session on Emotional Intelligence (and how it can be more important than IQ) and realised that the Queen ticks many of the boxes when it comes to demonstrating the soft skills needed to be recognised as Emotionally Intelligent.
Here are the five components of Emotional Intelligence as described by Daniel Goleman, taken from my book Soft Skills for Strong Leaders.
1. Self-awareness - being aware of your own internal mood, your preferences, resources, and intuitions. This includes recognising your emotions and their effect on your behaviour, being aware of your strengths and limits, having a strong sense of self-worth, self-confidence, and knowing your capabilities.
2. Self-regulation - includes:
- Self-control - keeping strong and potentially disruptive emotions and impulses under control.
- Trustworthiness - maintaining standards of honesty and integrity.
- Conscientiousness - taking responsibility for your personal productivity and performance.
- Adaptability - being flexible when dealing with change.
- Innovation - being comfortable with new ideas, approaches and handling new information with ease.
3. Motivation - understanding what drives you to achieve your goals, or to take action. It includes:
- Achievement drive - stretching to meet or exceed a standard of excellence.
- Commitment - being aligned with goals of your team or organisation.
- Initiative - being ready to act when opportunities appear.
- Optimism - being positive and persistent in striving towards goals.
4. Social Awareness - picking up on what is going on for those around you.
- Empathy - sensing other’s feelings, and taking an active interest in their needs and concerns.
- Service orientation - anticipating, recognising, and meeting client’s needs.
- Leveraging diversity - developing opportunities through a variety of people.
- Political awareness - noticing a group’s emotional needs and relationships.
5. Relationship Management - motivating others, leading and developing them. It also includes collaborating, confronting and facilitating relationships, influencing and persuading, and creating group synergy in pursuit of collective goals.
Which of the components do you excel at? And which could do with a bit more work? Try the Soft Skills Assessment here, appreciate your strengths and decide what you can do differently to develop the gaps.
Helen Isacke runs a programme of Soft Skills for Strong Leaders workshops for managers to help them develop their Emotional Intelligence. Contact 01628 488042 for more information