Picture this: You’re an executive at a late-stage startup that has raised millions of dollars in funding rounds, and each month brings incredible growth. Your audience loves your product, sales are booming, and employees and investors are happy. The sky’s the limit.

Then, a new competitor steals your thunder. Your CEO gets frustrated, and the company pivots to a strategy that’s moderately successful. But top employees start to leave unexpectedly and drops in productivity and innovation negate any gains made. Significant financial losses follow. What happened?

Exit interviews show that people feel the CEO is not an emotionally healthy leader. He’s regularly lost his cool and taken his anger out on others, direct reports feel like their opinions and ideas are ignored, there’s a lack of positivity in the workplace, and belief is waning in the long-term viability of decisions made at the top.

Unfortunately, the consequences of not leading with emotional intelligence can torpedo many a high-performing business. And it’s a widespread problem, with just 22% of leaders demonstrating real strength in this area. Fortunately, it is something that leaders can work on, and the benefits that they and their companies can reap are worth the time and investment.

How Empathy and Emotional Intelligence at Work Make Leaders Better

Emotional intelligence is “the ability to recognize, understand, and deal skillfully with one’s own emotions and the emotions of others (as by regulating one’s emotions or by showing empathy and good judgment in social interactions),” according to Merriam-Webster. Demand for social and emotional skills in professional settings, like empathy and emotional intelligence at work, is expected to grow 26% in the U.S. by 2030. These skills are must-haves for anyone who wishes to be a successful, emotionally healthy leader, and the foundation of building trusting, positive relationships that increase productivity and contribute to a better bottom line. They’re often the difference-maker between a leader who people want to follow and a manager or director who simply checks whether work is being completed.

An emotionally intelligent leader makes logically sound decisions because they act calmly, maintain focus, and use innate or learned emotional regulation strategies, leading to higher levels of personal and professional achievement. They have tremendous self-awareness as a leader and a firm grasp on their strengths and weaknesses, which enables more effective collaboration.

An emotionally healthy leader also tends to have better mental wellbeing and show more resilience. One study showed that individuals with high emotional intelligence were 25% less likely to have anxiety and 30% less likely to experience depression than those with lower emotional intelligence. If that weren’t enough, another study showed that these individuals’ salaries are higher. By modeling strong emotional intelligence and creating a culture that encourages and helps develop it, an emotionally intelligent leader and members of their team hold the potential to make $29,000 more per year than people without these skills.

What Leading With Emotional Intelligence Means to Your Team

High performers will line up behind an emotionally healthy leader and give their best because that leader sets the tone for success. Here are some of the key differentiators that distinguish companies with these individuals at the helm:

• Accountability is expected. Leaders with emotional intelligence and a sound mindset respond calmly and meaningfully to criticism, admit mistakes, make changes to their thinking and planning when necessary, and demand the same from those they work with. Employees don’t feel burdened by a company that gets stuck in a rut of its own doing or leaders who place blame for failures on undeserving parties.
• Teamwork and selflessness are central to daily operations. Demonstrating self-awareness as a leader includes having the humility to ask for help, not being afraid to hire employees with stronger skillsets than your own, and sharing or delegating tasks that you can’t handle alone. Leading with emotional intelligence and self-awareness naturally contributes to a culture that thrives on teamwork and elevating the best ideas.
• There’s civility in the workplace. Tensions among co-workers are nothing new, and resolving disagreements is part of a leader’s job. But with 44% of U.S. workers believing incivility will increase at work this year, according to the Society for Human Resource Management, companies that instill the importance of conflict resolution as a leader are more likely to keep the workplace respectful. An emotionally intelligent leader uses patience, empathy, and active listening to defuse strained situations and strengthen team dynamics, which helps deter incivility. What’s more, with a quarter of the workers in SHRM’s survey prepared to leave their jobs over a lack of civility in the workplace, conflict resolution as a leader can help improve employee retention.
• Inclusivity is prioritized. An emotionally healthy leader understands that gathering multiple perspectives from a diverse workforce strengthens problem-solving, brainstorming, creativity, and innovation. Ensuring all workers feel seen and encouraging the open sharing of new ideas and feedback promotes positivity in the workplace that prevents a culture of fear, and it leads to higher levels of engagement and satisfaction as well as the recruitment of top talent.
• Employees are consistently recognized. More than three-quarters of workers surveyed by Nectar said they’d be more productive if they were recognized more frequently. People who lead with empathy and emotional intelligence at work find ways to show employees that they’re valued, which contributes to more engagement, a stronger growth mindset, and higher levels of innovation and creativity.
• Resilience will see the company through turbulent times. An emotionally intelligent leader can regulate their emotions and steer a steady course through uncertainty and major company events. Whether undergoing a merger or acquisition, entering a new market, or shifting their business model, they can maintain positivity in the workplace and ensure steady change management practices that don’t disrupt forward momentum.

4 Emotional Regulation Strategies for Better Leader Development

While being or becoming an emotionally healthy leader may prove a more natural practice or process for some people than others, adopting new behaviors and emotional regulation strategies can help develop emotional intelligence in anyone.

1. Start with building keener self-awareness

Self-awareness as a leader is complex: You must be aware of your strengths and weaknesses as well as what you’re feeling and expressing in the moment with your tone and body language. Not having a handle on any of these things may impact the motivation and productivity of your peers and subordinates.

Practice introspection and take stock of your current emotions, naming them and identifying whether they serve you well as a leader. Look outward for help in understanding where you excel and have opportunities for growth, surveying several individuals from different areas of your work life.

2. Practice empathy for others

Considering other people’s opinions and perspectives is an exercise that any leader can conduct to improve their empathy and emotional intelligence at work. By proactively starting conversations with others, having an open mind, practicing active listening and authenticity, and being curious, you can gain valuable insights into the emotional and social needs of those you work with. Focus on putting yourself in their shoes, showing genuine concern and validation, offering supportive solutions when they’re facing a challenge, following up, and creating a culture that supports mental health and wellbeing.

3. Control your emotions with mindfulness

Even an emotionally healthy leader can struggle with their response to stress and negativity. Mindfulness helps you center yourself in your environment, becoming more aware and attentive to what’s going on around you, and letting thoughts go without judgment or action. Taking five minutes to breathe deeply and release harmful thoughts can help you regain control of your emotions and collect yourself before continuing with your day.

4. Prioritize constructive communication

Leading with emotional intelligence frequently requires taking a beat before voicing an opinion or reaction, including in constructive communication. This form of dialogue encourages the positive and respectful sharing of ideas or opinions, or resolving of conflicts, in a solution-oriented manner. Leaders can practice better emotional intelligence by pausing before they react negatively to unwelcome news or a dissenting opinion, considering the merits of opposing viewpoints before moving on to another topic or getting defensive, and spending time to understand what’s being said or asked before responding.

Leaders are also more likely to build trust and respect with their teams when they acknowledge stumbles along their path to becoming a more emotionally intelligent leader. Honesty and transparency are equally important to this journey.

Mastering the Mindset of an Emotionally Healthy Leader

With all that leaders must juggle, from inspiring productivity and positivity in the workplace to navigating conflict resolution as a leader and making decisions that decide the direction of their business, building a healthy, resilient mindset is crucial. At The Pacific Institute, our consultants lead coaching sessions that get to the core thoughts and beliefs that can propel or hinder a person’s success and help them become the emotionally healthy leader they strive to be.

To explore our solutions and which ones might be right for you, speak to a member of our team today.