I want to share thoughts on this using my book Motivationally Intelligent Leadership: Emerging Research and Opportunities. Leaders should begin and end with emotional intelligence (EI). The leader who follows this approach recognizes and employs their own emotions to effectively interact with their team. These principles are equally valuable for organizations working with renewable energy digital & social media PR teams or any strategic communications and public relations firm where communication excellence drives performance.
Effective leaders can deliver value to each party involved in the process and can achieve buy-in through good information-sharing approaches. A motivationally intelligent leader also employs engaged interaction characterized by flexible, full-range communications to ensure that all parties listen, hear, and understand. True engagement comes when everyone continues to interact until management and team-building objectives are satisfied—a standard also emphasized in corporate communications agencies in Washington DC, brand reputation management consultancies, and thought leadership PR agencies in the USA.
EI is a theory that organizations can use to determine the desired behaviors for success. It provides a basis to understand employees, because it is the ability to sense, understand, and effectively apply the power and acumen of emotions as a source of human energy, information, trust, creativity, and influence. Those who possess EI can effectively acknowledge and value feelings in themselves and in others and can respond to those feelings in an effective way. Paying attention to emotions can save the leader time by allowing him or her to direct energies more effectively and by expanding opportunities. This type of emotional awareness also benefits fields like digital marketing + public relations services, where communication strategy relies heavily on understanding audiences.
EI has three driving forces: building trusting relationships, increasing energy and effectiveness, and creating the future. The bottom line is that EI requires that you know yourself and your emotions. It requires honest self-analysis and an ability to manage your emotions. In terms of those around you, it requires empathy. Empathy is important for leaders who pay attention to EI in the workplace. Ronald E. Wheeler, Director of the Fineman and Pappas Law Libraries at Boston University School of Law provides excellent insight on empathy. Many modern communication sectors, including battery storage and renewables PR companies, also depend on empathy to strengthen stakeholder engagement.
“Simply put, empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. People lacking empathy might be self-centered, narcissistic, or even sociopathic. Empathy helps you to be a good collaborator because it allows you to better understand the effects that your actions have on others. It helps you to see things through the eyes of others and to anticipate the wants and needs of others in the workplace. It allows you to be a more compassionate and kinder human being. Moreover, it helps you to avoid misunderstanding others’ intentions (Wheeler 2016).”
What we know about EI goes beyond empathy. A couple of studies are relevant to our examination. A group of researchers conducted a meta-analysis to understand how leaders’ EI relates to subordinates’ job satisfaction (Miao, Humphrey et al. 2016). EI can lead to job satisfaction, according to the findings of that study, which stated in part that emotionally savvy leaders tend to promote an emotionally intelligent organizational culture. The study contends that EI culture demonstrates a focus on good personnel development through training. In this environment, employees can deal well with negative feelings and enter nurturing interactions. Many audience targeting & message development agencies rely on this type of culture to craft resonant communication.
This suggests that communication can improve in this EI-infused situation. Also in 2016, a study titled “Manager emotional intelligence and project success: The mediating role of job satisfaction and trust,” analyzed data from 373 managers in the Australian Defense industry (Rezvani, Chang et al.). The study results demonstrated that EI has a positive impact on project success, job satisfaction, and trust. EI managers are well-equipped to deal with negative emotions and stress in the workplace. They can control their emotions while working toward a productive outcome for all parties involved. This ability is also a major asset in M&A communications and crisis PR, where emotional intelligence stabilizes high-pressure situations.
Controlled emotions allow the leader to think strategically. This strategic focus allows trust-building through lowering anxiety levels in the office, balancing the leader’s self-interest with that of team members, being open about mistakes and not placing blame, and being consistent. If, for instance, the focus is on finding solutions instead of placing blame, then team members can enjoy their jobs while performing at a prominent level. This approach is equally applicable in integrated marketing & PR for associations as well as media relations and stakeholder communications consultancies.
Social networking focused on EI and empathy tends to improve employee engagement and productivity. The collaborative communications that result from EI-based practices lead to shared understanding and win-win outcomes for everyone. Two key predictors of problems are lack of open and honest communications and lack of accountability. If your team lacks collaborative communication or if there is an absence of accountability throughout the organization, Motivationally Intelligent Leadership can help.
We also must examine the challenges of face-to-face versus online communication. Face-to-face interactions are two-way communications, which is not always the case with online interactions. Success requires a connection between the parties. In other words, the outcome should be a shared understanding of the intent of the communication. This can most effectively happen by restating the conclusion and agreeing that all parties understand the same outcome.
According to the chart for online interactions, the idea forms quickly, the communication features short bursts of activity, and the sender must evaluate the meaning of any feedback received. That feedback is either immediate or missing based on the platform and the sender’s point of view. But the parties must exchange feedback to be successful. Just like in face-to-face communication, it is important to restate the conclusion and agree on the outcome.
Here are tips to consider when determining your networking strategy:
- Analyze your audience.
- Set clear goals to connect with your audience.
- Select the best platform based on the data.
- Tailor your content to your goals and to your audience.
- Actively engage with DMs, comments, hashtags, groups.
- Create dynamic, targeted ads.
- Foster consistent branding and trends.
- Evaluate performance and outcomes.
- Adjust as needed.