Be intunewith yourteamLike an orchestra conductor,a corporate leader with highemotional intelligence is ableto draw out the best fromevery team member

SMART people do not always make great leaders. If a persons emotional intelligenceis not as high as his mental abilities, he may lack self-awareness and the ability totune into the needs of others.

Emotional intelligence consists of a set of 25 traits that enables people to usetheir emotions appropriately and to recognise and respond to the emotional needs ofothers, says Dr Richard Boyatzis, a professor of Organisational Behaviour ajdPsychology at Case Western Reserve University in the United States.

He is also a founding member of the Consortium for Research on EmotionalIntelligence.

Those 25 traits, including self-control, optimism, achievement orientation,empathy and teamwork, are divided into four clusters: Self-awareness Social awareness Self-management, and Relationship management

According to Dr Boyatzis, outstanding performers frequently demonstrate at leasthalf of the traits from all of these clusters.

Spreading the messageEmotional intelligence first became a hot business topic in 1995, when Dr DanielGoleman published his book of the same title.

The basic message was that success is strongly influenced by personalqualities such as perseverance, self-control and the ability to get along with others.

Since emotions precede cognitive functions, they are a critical part ofdetermining what we think, says Dr Boyatzis, who co-authored Primal Leadership:Realising the Power of Emotional Intelligence with Dr Goleman.

Emotional intelligence is the counterbalance to intelligence, according to MrMichael Callans, president of Wonderlic Consulting, a cognitive testing and selectionconsulting company in the US. Its a more important predictor of life success, hesays.

Without emotional intelligence, a project manager will not be in tune with theemotional needs of the team. When a leaders emotional response isnt appropriatefor the situation, followers lose confidence, Mr Callans says.

Inspiring the teamHigh emotional intelligence can mean the difference between mediocrity and greatsuccess. A managers ability to motivate and impact people determines how he isperceived and embraced.

People are drawn to leaders because they are inspired by them or motivated bythem, not because they gave them raises or good projects to work on.

A large part of emotional intelligence entails knowing how to identify anddevelop talent in others and how to connect with them through coaching andmentoring. To do that, leaders must first recognise their own emotional strengths andweaknesses.

Moulding the talentThe ability to identify and mould talent is critical to a companys success, and thecompany relies no its managers to have the emotional intelligence to make thathappen.

The good news is that unlike a persons IQ, emotional intelligence is alearnable trait, says Ms Katherine Green, an emotional intelligence coach.

She works with clients who have been promoted to management positions anddo not have the people skills to communicate effectively.

Through intense sessions, performance reviews and feedback, she can oftenimprove their emotional IQ within weeks, assuming the client has a personal interestor investment in changing his behaviour.

Making the changeLehman Brothers, the US-based investment banking giant, sees the value of emotionalintelligence and incorporates it into a significant chunk of its four-year-old leadershipdevelopment programme.

Says Ms Janis Becker, the programme manager at the company: Lehmanbusiness results are widely viewed to be a consequence of the culture, and its throughleadership that we articulate and pass on the culture.

One of the core elements of our leadership initiative is to build self-awareness and gain a deeper understanding of who you are as leader, your style, yourstrengths and how you impact others.

Participants reflect on their own dreams and visions and how they canconnect with their work and their people at a deeper, more personal level.

See the difference

Ms Becker reports dramatic changes in a few leaders, who have altered the way theyrelate to employees as a result of the course.

Programme participant Gary Weinstein, managing director and chiefadministrative officer of investment banking at Lehman, said: I spend more timecalling people, bringing them in and thanking them. I make a conscious effort torecognise and appreciate peoples efforts.

People really respond to this in a positive way, I see it in their faces and I seeit in their performance.

Article contributed by Sarah Fister Gale, based on material in PM Network, TheProfessional Magazine of The Project Management Institute. For more information,please visit www.pmi.org