`There is no `I' in team' goes the management-speak, a phrase so trite that it found its way dripping in irony into the sitcom The Office. Here, lead character and paper merchant Wernham Hogg’s Slough branch manager, David Brent, epitomised the very worst sort of insecure, narcissistic, self-absorbed executive. Nonetheless like all great comedy, The Office was satire on the truth and the reality that, in a rapidly changing world, 'playing the boss' is about as effective as King Cnut's belief that his mere imperious self-importance and authority could stop the tide in The Wash from coming in. It didn't. So much for the big 'I am'.
There is a huge difference between the behaviours of 'boss' and 'leader'. How might you identify however, heaven forfend, you are not a bit of a Brent never mind in danger of being regarded as the management equivalent of a complete Cnut? Of course it's about more than the fact that a boss says 'I' and a leader, naturally, says 'we' – an approach so clearly lacking in the book of Brent.
However, that's just the beginning. A boss commands; a leader asks. A boss drives employees; a leader coaches them. A boss depends on unquestioning authority; a leader generates goodwill. A boss inspires fear, whereas a leader generates enthusiasm. A boss looks for where to place blame and a leader sorts out the problem. A boss might know how something is done, but a leader takes the time to show others how to do it. A boss uses people; a leader develops people. A boss puts themselves first; a leader puts the team first. A boss takes credit and a leader gives credit. You get the idea, I hope.
Why is it, then, that many company and departmental heads – and even entrepreneurs – fail to be able to break out of this increasingly ridiculous and counter-productive posturing 'boss' behaviour? The answer is that they lack emotional intelligence.
You may have never heard the term, though I think you will a lot in 2014 as companies struggle to break through and maintain competitive edge in the digitally-enabled global economy. The five components of emotional intelligence, as defined by its originator Daniel Goleman, are: empathy, self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation and social skills.
In case you're now thinking this might be lentil-knitting New Age flim-flam, it's worth sticking with it. Goleman compared those who excelled in senior roles with those who were merely average. He found that close to 90 percent of the difference in their profiles was due to emotional intelligence, rather than cognitive ability to build on the traditional requirements for success. These are: raw talent, a strong work ethic and driving ambition.
To start to get an idea of the level of your own emotional intelligence, you might start by asking yourself whether you like people. Do you ask lots of questions after you've been introduced to someone for the first time before talking about yourself? Do you know a lot about your colleagues or employees? Not just their jobs but their backgrounds and lives? If so, you are showing empathy. Highly empathetic people build strong relationships over time – another key indicator of high emotional intelligence.
To use Goleman's term, 'self-regulation' – that ability to withstand distractions and concentrate on the most important task at hand – is also one of the great foundations of emotional intelligence. In a noisy and uber-connected world, it's difficult to develop self-awareness and strong relationships if you are mentally 'all over the place'. In business, the devil is always in the detail. Being able to sense how others are feeling, particularly from their facial expressions and body language and acting upon these signals, is important. If you have high emotional intelligence you'll find your intuition about people and business is rarely wrong.
It's likely also that you have high emotional intelligence if you are inherently self-motivated. Were you ambitious and hard-working even as a child, getting on with stuff and taking responsibility for the sheer pleasure of it? If so, it means you were probably on the right track early on. How you deal with mistakes and setbacks says a lot about who you are. Individuals – entrepreneurs in particular – with high emotional intelligence know that if there's one thing they must do in life, it's to keep going. This includes 'doing the right thing' no matter what. This can also be regarded as 'authenticity', now also a crucial aspect of corporate identity and behaviours.
So, there you have it. You can congratulate yourself on your ass-kicking-I'm-the-boss-and-you're-not attitude. Either that, or grow some emotional intelligence. The choice is yours, but be sure to make the right one or soon others may soon be making choices for you.
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