Emotional intelligence (EQ)

an excerpt from SportNZ

How much does EQ come into play in the CoL environment? Are CoL participants likely to develop it through the process of forming their 'student achievement challenge' or further down the track? Does this depend upon them having a set of particular dispositions in order to do so?

Emotional intelligence (EQ) through the simplest definition is ‘the ability to read people’ – their feelings, emotions, needs and perspectives.

Newman (2007) describes EQ as “a new way of being smart that is more important for success than cognitive intelligence (IQ) or technical expertise.” It involves two
 parts –

first, becoming aware of how emotions in ourselves and others drive behaviours and,

second, developing the skills to manage these emotions intelligently to leverage personal strengths.” (Newman, 2007).

We develop relationships with other people through reading their emotions, behaviours and feelings, therefore leader intelligence has an emotional component.

People skills are at the forefront of leadership. Goleman (2004), researching 200 global businesses, found that EQ, the ability to read people, empathise and understand, was key to effective leadership.

Leaders can build their EQ by:

ü Being curious 


ü Seeking the positive in every situation 


ü Learning from mistakes 


ü Focusing on the task not how they feel about the task 


ü Creating a positive response 


ü Taking responsibility for results 


ü Asking what is worth worrying about and can they do anything about it?