From Reactive to Resilient: A Leader's Tale of Emotional Growth
PAULA SHANNON | FOUNDER, WHOLE LEADER LABDo you tend to hear about an issue and immediately make a move to fix it? Do you get a kick in the gut as you listen to a challenge and immediately start thinking of what must be done to resolve it? How often do you create space to understand the emotions in the room and the important pieces of information that your teammates might possess?
The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and manage our own emotions and understand the emotions of others. It is crucial to being a good boss and to be a great leader. When leaders are self-aware, we can navigate emotions calmly and make better decisions. This ability enhances our resilience, allowing us to bounce back from setbacks and create a positive atmosphere for our teams.
For many of us, the challenge lies in understanding our emotional landscape. Without this understanding, we tend to struggle with connectedness, face challenges in team dynamics, and ultimately limit our effectiveness.
Addressing Common Leadership Challenges
All of us in leadership positions have experienced high-stakes situations that challenge our emotional stability. It’s essential to be aware of how our emotions impact not only our performance but also the dynamics of our teams. Often, we may unknowingly project our stress, leading to disengagement. I often remind myself that as a leader I need to be the thermostat rather than the thermometer. I have witnessed how quickly culture suffers from a thermometer leader.
Through my experience, I’ve seen how leaders transform by committing to personal development in their emotional intelligence journey. They learn to pause, reflect, and respond thoughtfully instead of reactively. This shift creates a space for deeper connections and encourages open dialogue.
Strategies for Enhancing Emotional Intelligence
To empower your leadership through emotional intelligence, consider these actionable strategies:
Cultivate Self-Awareness: Begin with reflective practices such as journaling. This allows you to introspect on your feelings, triggers, and reactions. Understanding your emotional state is the first step toward improvement.
Develop Social Awareness: Pay attention to the emotions of others. Engage in active listening during conversations. Acknowledge and validate their feelings; this fosters a connection that can inspire collaboration and trust.
Practice Emotional Reasoning: Use your emotional insights to guide decision-making. Recognize that emotions can provide valuable information about situations and relationships. This apprach enhances problem-solving and helps navigate complex dynamics.
Focus on Self-Management: Utilize techniques like mindfulness to reduce stress and maintain composure. Being calm and collected sets a standard for your team and promotes resilience.
Empower Others: Encourage emotional intelligence in your team. Share your insights and practices to foster a culture of emotional awareness and support. This collective growth enhances the overall team performance.
Sharing a Bit of My Leadership Journey
As I reflect on my leadership journey, I realize that a significant turning point in my positive impact on teams and organizations occurred when I began to focus not only on what we achieved and what I was doing to help us reach our goals but also on how I showed up and the extent to which the quality of my presence enabled or hindered collaboration, innovation, and progress.
One of the most important lessons I've learned is the need to manage my reactiveness. As a "ready, fire, aim" kind of person, my doing center has always been dominant. I've spent years working to bring my feeling center into balance with it, which required me to push myself to be more aware of what I was actually feeling in my heart and body. I learned to interrupt my gut instinct to respond and react by pausing and embracing curiosity.
Being intentional about who I wanted to be in meetings helped me to tune into the emotions of the individuals in the room and lean into curiosity to better understand what was truly on the hearts and minds of those around the table. As I learned to be more humble, curious, and present, new perspectives emerged, and I gained a deeper understanding of the tensions in the challenges we were facing.
By pausing and disrupting the tendency to react or respond immediately, I created space to manage myself, which also created more space for others. My decision-making improved, and more importantly, I shifted the heavy burden I often carried alone to others, creating shared responsibility and empowering those who needed to make and own the decisions to do so.
My journey to become a more present, curious, and wise leader by deepening awareness of self and others, giving space to consider multiple perspectives, and managing how I showed up more intentionally helped me to become more resilient as the demands increased and the rate of change accelerated. Learning about the social neuroscience of emotional intelligence allowed me to see the connections between my behavior, performance, and decision-making. As a result, I improved my leadership skills, enhanced relationships, and experienced improved well-being.
PAULA SHANNON
With a distinguished career spanning almost three decades in urban public education, Paula Shannon has held senior and c-suite leadership roles, working diligently to foster educational excellence and innovation. Her journey through the evolving landscapes of Providence, Syracuse, and Tulsa has been marked by her commitment to driving systemic changes that positively impact students and educators.
Now, as the founder of Whole Leader Lab, Paula brings her passion for nurturing leadership potential to the forefront. Her executive coaching and consulting practice is designed to meet the unique needs of both emerging talents and seasoned executives in education. With a holistic and personalized approach, Paula empowers leaders to achieve their goals, inspire change, foster innovation, and lead with empathy and integrity, ultimately making a lasting impact on their organizations and communities. Certified in various leadership assessment tools, she leverages her extensive experience in strategic planning, organizational transformation, and stakeholder engagement to guide leaders in developing resilience, enhancing decision-making skills, and building high-performing teams.
Follow Paula today:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paularshannon/
Website: https://www.wholeleaderlab.org
Interested in being a future guest blogger? Reach out today! (Click here) We’d love to have you as part of “The Kind Voice!”
Are you receiving our weekly e-newsletter full of motivation, encouragement, and positivity? Subscribe today!
Eager to help with character development and growth?
Check out the FREE resource: Character Development
Looking for Gen Z/Gen Alpha workshops? Keynote speaker? Read the testimonials from others’ experiences. Watch short clips from a most recent keynote! Would love to help you and your team; reach out today!