A truly effective leader must possess adequate social skills to be effective. I am talking about leaders using a six dimensional approach while dealing with his superiors and subordinates. These are: Emotionally expressive; emotionally sensitive; controlling emotions; being socially expressive; and having social control.
Emotionally Expressive
A leader should be able to express his emotions fully to the subordinates, both verbally and non-verbally. When a leader is able to emote his expressions clearly, he is bound to inspire and motivate his team members. A simple classic example of this is when political leaders motivate people to vote for them. They inspire them to act in a way that brings the desired result for them. Emotions can make a huge positive difference in one’s career!
Emotional Sensitivity
A leader should be able to read, decode and gauge responses of each of her team members. The communication may be entirely non-verbal. However, leaders must be able to decipher the meaning accurately, if she wants to maintain career success. For example, a leader can decode the expressions of an unhappy employee or an employee who is looking out for alternative avenues of his expressions. Unhappy employees can easily sabotage the success of a team or even an organization. Ever gone to a restaurant and had terrible service from one waiter and months later that restaurant was gone? It sounds pretty simplistic, but I told 10 of my closest friends about how upset I was about the service there. I heard others with the same feelings, who undoubtedly told their friends too.
An emotionally sensitive leader should have detected the unhappiness of that employee and her customers. This may have made a huge difference in the success of that organization for sure.
Control of emotions
A highly effective leader remains completely in charge of her emotions. She doesn’t react spontaneously even in the worst situation. Rather she is able to think about the situation in an unbiased manner.
Sometimes, it means stepping away from a stressful or potentially stressful situation and thinking about what to do. It takes approximately 20 minutes to physically calm down and allow a human body to normalize and distress. Investing the time to not act in haste may save both money and valuable relationships!
Social Expressiveness
All work and no play makes Jack (or Jill) a dull boy (girl in Jill’s case). Well, this holds true even more so in organizations. It becomes a leader’s responsibility to keep the work atmosphere light by sharing a humor and occasions to laugh with the coworkers. I am not suggesting that work should be taken lightly. I know that deadlines and tight schedules can be better met, when you do it with a smile and people who enjoy being around you.
Social Sensitivity
A leader should be able to understand the verbal communication in the present context. He should be able to weave the conversation and channel it in a positive direction, with the best interest of the organization in mind. For example, if there is disagreement with members within your team on an issue, it becomes the primary responsibility of the leader to re-channel the conversation in a way that the focus doesn’t shift anyone from the organization’s ultimate goals. Focus on getting relationships repaired in an authentic and meaningful way first. Shake hands and move forward!
Social Control
A leader must interact with every member of her team on a regular basis. Some experts suggest, every seven days at least! This may be challenging because coworkers usually have differing backgrounds, intellectual capacity and values. Given the situation, effective leaders must tactfully deal with her team members modifying her behaviors to suit the team member’s values and background.
Studies indicate that a leader that possesses all the six social skills have greater effective leadership quotients. Employees almost always react to a leadership based on her behavior as a leader. Leaders who can perceive the verbal and emotional cues of subordinates can and must change to be proactive in dealing properly for each individual situation. She/he must modify her/his actions or inaction accordingly, to satisfy the demands of each and every follower. It is a natural result, that the leader will garner support from team members with this simple concept. Ultimately a leaders’ social and emotional control has a positive impact on performance, the leader’s reputation, team members, as well as the organization.
