The UK Business Leadership Crisis – Time for More EI in the HQ

The majority of UK organisations have concerns about their ability to fill critical leadership roles, with only 14 per cent confident about their` available talent pipelines`. This is one of the lamentable findings contained in recent research by Right Management resulting in a report, Talent Management: Accelerating Business Performance - based on a survey of more than 2,200 HR professionals.

This horrific conclusion is echoed in separate research by Investors in People – on the Framework Governance Group of which I sit - that suggests 12 per cent of employees can find `nothing they admire` about their managers. The survey of more than 1,000 UK employees also found that managers not giving due recognition is the most disliked trait, with 19 per cent citing this as the biggest problem. Being approachable at 36 per cent is the quality employees most appreciate from their managers, with strong organisational skills, cited by 34 per cent, seen as the next most important.

No wonder then that too many organisations continue to face talent shortages, skills mismatches and weak leadership pipelines that threaten the success of their business. The good news for UK plc is that the Right report also found that more than over half (54 per cent) of its organisations see developing leaders as the main priority for 2014, above the global figure of 46 per cent.

Make no mistake, investing in good relationships between managers and staff are vitally important to an organisation's success. The IIP survey revealed that 24 per cent of those who get on with their boss felt it made them work harder, and 23 per cent said it would make them stay at the company longer. Of those who said they didn't have a good relationship with their manager, 43 per cent said they considered looking for a new job as a result, and 36 per cent feel less motivated to do a good job for the company.

Boss versus leader

But for me any discussion around company leadership has to be based in understanding the difference between the behaviours of 'boss' and 'leader' some of which the Right and IIP reports reveal. For me 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 are clearly failing to be able to break out of this increasingly ridiculous and counter-productive posturing 'boss' behaviour? The answer, I think, is that way too many lack emotional intelligence.

You may have never heard the term, though I think you will a lot in 2014 and beyond as companies implement those management initiatives to develop leaders as they struggle to 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.

Excellent versus average

In pioneering research 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.

Before the HR department descends on you as part of a talent management initiative or your people start to vote with their feet, 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.

Self-awareness and self-regulation

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 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. If you don’t want to be one of those executives in which your team finds nothing to admire or want to be more sure about your leadership pipeline going forward growing some emotional intelligence in yourself and your organisation could be the best thing you’ll do all year.