The Ultimate Leadership Pair: Emotional Intelligence & Growth Mindset

Photo by Mikael Blomkvist from Pexels

Working with diverse teams in the trade sector can often feel like navigating a grey zone—each challenge, person, and situation brings something new. In these moments, the ability to lead effectively requires the right tools. Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and a Growth Mindset are the most potent tools every leader needs.

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is our emotional knowledge about ourselves and others. When applied to ourselves, EQ involves being aware of our emotions and having the skills to manage them effectively. EQ encompasses recognising and influencing another person's emotional state when applied to others.

We can build our EQ skills by improving each of the key areas:

• Increase our self-awareness,

• Build on our self-regulation skills,

• Become curious and observant of others to increase our social awareness,

• Continually learn new communication and leadership tools to support effective relationship management,

As leaders, EQ is not just a skill but a powerful tool that empowers us to navigate the grey area of understanding, working alongside, and supporting diverse team members. It enables us to create psychologically safe work cultures and enhance the quality of our relationships, thereby boosting the team's well-being and performance.

What is a Growth Mindset?

A Growth Mindset is the belief that our abilities and intelligence are not fixed but can be developed and improved with practice and effort. This mindset focuses on learning from mistakes, so we empower ongoing growth through failure instead of letting it stop us.

While tradespeople know most jobs don't go as planned, a Growth Mindset is a game-changer. Instead of seeing mistakes as failures, we can view them as opportunities to refine our skills and learn for the next time.

Building a Growth Mindset requires being mindful of the story we tell ourselves when we make a mistake. We need to practice recognising when we view a failure as a sign of our permanent inability instead of as a lesson to help us learn. Acknowledging mistakes can feel difficult if we're uncomfortable with making them. Still, the more we practice a Growth Mindset, the more we grow, improve, and feel emboldened to take on more challenges to support our personal growth.

How they make the Ultimate Leadership Pair:

When we combine EQ with a Growth Mindset, we better equip ourselves to handle leadership mistakes gracefully. With EQ, we can manage our own emotions when errors occur, and with a Growth Mindset, we view those mistakes as valuable lessons that contribute to our ongoing development.

Because of the inherent grey zone of leadership, mistakes are not just likely but inevitable. Whether it's a communication blunder, a misunderstanding, or a failure to recognise brewing issues within the team, these mistakes can impact the team's performance or relationships. However, when we embrace a Growth Mindset and develop our Emotional Intelligence, we can learn from every mistake and become stronger and better equipped to lead our teams with confidence and empathy!

How will you build your Emotional Intelligence and practice a Growth Mindset to show up as an everyday leader this week?