Story by South Australian Business Chamber Employee
What it means to be a ‘leader’, whether in the workplace, on the sporting field, or in your community, is a term that has been defined and redefined since the beginning of time, but the Emotional Intelligence Training now being offered by the South Australian Business Chamber has changed my approach to leadership forever.
Emotional Intelligence as defined within the Chamber’s Training guide is the ability to recognise, understand, manage, and effectively use emotions in oneself and others – it involves a set of skills and competencies that enable individuals to navigate their emotions, interact with others empathically, and make informed decisions based on emotional and rational factors.
While it has always been logical to employ and empower staff based on their intellectual strengths, this course helped me understand that it is becoming more imperative than ever in the modern workplace to assess one’s emotional intelligence in determining their suitability for a role, especially when it pertains to leadership positions.
Currently, most workplaces contain close to five generations of employees with differing work styles, communication styles and motivation styles. With the sixth generation (Generation Alpha) on its way very soon, it is crucial that leaders within organisations have the skills to navigate these intergenerational differences to lead a productive and harmonious workforce.
The Emotional Intelligence training course challenges participants to not only reflect on their leadership style but are encouraged to take a step back and analyse the emotions behind their leadership style, and if these can be strengthened or altered to suit leading a diverse workforce across generations.
Self-reflection is always a daunting task, especially in a room of individuals you have never met before. But as an aspiring leader it was encouraging to be supported by the facilitator and fellow participants to share personal leadership strengths and weaknesses, to ultimately understand the many challenges faced across all industries and the skills needed to lead within these industries.
This full-day course has transformed my perspective on leadership within my own workplace and the importance of effectively harnessing your emotions and those of others to help build strong and empathic relationships to increase motivation and in turn overall performance.
Whether you are a current leader or an aspiring leader, what it means to ‘lead’ a workplace is changing, and the South Australian Business Chamber’s new Emotional Intelligence in Leadership course, can be the catalyst to ensure you are a modern leader for a modern workplace.
To learn more about the power of Emotional Intelligence in leadership see the full course outline here.
