The name of this blog comes from our mission at INFLUENCE: “To empower people with clarity and confidence.”
Our objective is to provide brief but meaningful topics (under 500 words) that inspire, educate and empower leaders through resources both inside and outside of INFLUENCE. This week’s edition is provided by David Salmons.
A few weeks ago, we wrote about emotional intelligence (EI), defined as the ability to recognize, understand, manage, and use emotions to positively influence self and others. We noted then that a growing body of research demonstrates that EI accounts for up to 80% of the variance in differentiating star performers from their peers, which is a pretty big deal.
We’d like to build on that original post by responding to a question directed our way about one of the dimensions commonly associated with emotional intelligence, that of “motivation.” The specific question was: Why is motivation important to emotional intelligence (and how do we grow it)?
Just so we’re all beginning in the same place, let’s agree that motivation is key to emotional intelligence. Meaning, when experts describe the five dimensions of EI, motivation stands out because it powers up the development and use of skills associated with the other four dimensions – self-awareness, self-regulation, social-awareness, and social-regulation.
Maybe the simplest way to say this is, if we don’t have internalized reasons to pursue better outcomes, we probably won’t use our awareness and regulation abilities effectively.
And yes, we’re differentiating internal goals from external goals, which isn’t to say that external (SMART) goals aren’t important. They are. But to increase emotional intelligence, internal goals are important too. Here’s what that means and how it can work for you:
First, you can practice identifying what you want when you’re at your best. While this is somewhat like developing a personal mission statement, it’s more like an emotional audit of who you want to BECOME. For example, instead of just acknowledging that you want to lead an engaged team, you would identify who you want to BE in that role, and WHY it’s important to you.
Perhaps you’ll find that serving others centers you emotionally. Or that being highly productive brings you satisfaction. Or that being a calculated risk-taker makes you feel alive! These aspects of your best self, once identified, represent internal goals that become clearer as you visualize them in action.
This emotional audit then can be applied to any significant aspect of personal and professional life. In essence it provides an accessible album of motivating glimpses into your own potential that become richer and deeper as you practice, contributing to your ability to thrive. Which leads to the next step.
Second, you can practice applying your best self. In a less pressured scenario, this might involve asking: How can I move closer to my goals? What’s the ideal in this situation?
In a crisis, this often involves taking an intentional pause to acknowledge that you DO have a choice; and then, with a deep breath, focusing on the aspect of your best self that diverts an emotional hi-jack.
In extended scenarios, it might involve maintaining focus on a specific positive outcome so you can navigate through longer periods of potential overwhelm.
As you can see, without addressing motivation, we’re left with fewer anchors when emotional storms batter us.
In conclusion, as we noted last time, emotional intelligence is a huge topic! Today’s post is again just a sample of a larger science. And please remember, while some personal or performance characteristics are difficult to change, experts agree that emotional intelligence can be improved dramatically with practice.