Surveys keep telling us that there is a ripple effect when we are not engaged at work and when our careers’ aspect of wellbeing suffers. The conclusion is simple and straightforward: Your employee wellbeing impacts their level of engagement. And there are various research out there to prove this. One of such is the most recent Gallup research.
It seems that in our workplaces across the MENA region we also have pretty high levels of reported daily experience of stress, sadness and anger at work – being the second highest as per the report.
So let’s say you are a leader interested in taking an action to create better workplaces, for yourself and everyone else. You might be wondering where to begin? Organization’s cultures set the context for everything that a company does, therefore, how do you as a leader contribute to it?
If you are thinking towards leadership and company cultures as some of the causes, you are on the right path, as it leaves a lot of space for leadership to reconsider all aspects that contribute to creating our sense of wellbeing at work.
Important to remember – even as a leader you probably do not have full control of the events and corporate decisions, but you do have a choice over your own leadership style.
Leadership is a hard work and it is even harder if we do not consider and reevaluate our leadership styles, and change it even when we need to.
Everyone has a leadership style, but if you are a leader be honest with yourself and ask yourself these questions. To increase your self-awareness ask yourself these:
- What are my leadership strengths?
- What are my biggest challenges?
- Do I modify my knowledge? Am I learning from my own and my colleagues‘ experiences or am I repeating the same mistakes?
- Am I aware of how my team members see me and my leadership style?
- Why am I a leader? What motivates me and what motivates each of my team members?
- Do I promote growth and wellbeing of the organization and my team?
Leadership and emotional intelligence go hand in hand. If you do not have these answers, it is important to be honest about it and try to find them.
Even more important- Do you have strategies in place when you are angry or sad? Do you know how to navigate those challenging emotions and gain energy to move forward? Do you feel “stuck” or make poor choices when feeling strong emotions and overwhelmed? Do you know where you won’t compromise no matter what?
There is no one single magic formula for great leadership, but when leaders are self-aware they are more likely to prioritize organizational health. They do not ignore their emotions, but understand them and include them in decision making processes, every day.
We can never be too old to choose to learn, to change, to grow.
Complex roles as leadership I believe require deep understanding of ourselves, understanding of interpersonal dynamics, ability to build and sustain relationships and make wise choices, as equally as being highly knowledgeable in your field, in what you do.
When we use our EQ effectively, we are better able to communicate with others, to motivate and influence people. This is why Harvard Business Review says emotional intelligence is “the key to professional success”, as it helps with communication issues, low employee morale, low motivation, conflict and many more leadership top challenges.
You can be trained in any EQ skill, they are all learnable, but most important is that you are willing to put that knowledge into practice. You can also get your personalized EQ in Leadership report to gain deeper insights into what motivates you, what your strongest aspects of your leadership style and how it works for you and your teams. It is a validated psychometric assessment that delivers a feedback and a path to help people in leading others.
Author: Ana Toroman, Talent Development Consultant
Being a part of training and development education programs across companies in the Middle East, I help people develop their potential through learning key social skills for career building, with a particular interest in emotional resilience in the workplace. Having started my career in HR and education and working as a Corporate Trainer & Coach in Dubai, I work on self-development strategies for both teams and individuals. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn here or follow me on Instagram on HR and Wellbeing page here