Influence & Emotional Intelligence

This post was adapted from a recent presentation given titled Sustainability Professionals: Build Your Influence with Emotional Intelligence.

When you think of leadership, do you ever think of the intersections it has with emotional intelligence and influence? Honestly, leadership is something that can be present in anything you do. When thinking about the qualities that make someone a good leader, you may think of the usual things: good communication, flexibility, willingness, clear focus, a plan, for example. Anyone can be a leader and demonstrate these skills, which all relate to emotional intelligence even if they are not always explicitly referred to as such! Do you ever consider how a leader may influence others? Have you ever considered some skills that may be helpful in expanding your influence in your work? Whether that be in a practice, program, or task that you are working on. Influence refers to the ability to work together with others towards a common goal or vision. By definition, emotional intelligence is “a set of emotional and social skills that are used in effective and meaningful ways.” This is taking into account your own feelings, emotions, and changing mindset, as well as those from other people. Emotional intelligence is the common denominator to good leadership and influence! Keeping in mind the circle in the image included above, it is important to note that emotional intelligence also relates to well-being. Although we aren’t focusing on it in greater detail here, it is important to note that well-being is key for sustainability leaders to maintain the momentum for the work that they do. 

You may be thinking, how would I determine my emotional intelligence? There are tools for that! You can check out some online resources to get a better understanding of how this works for you. Of course, these are soft skills that you can always build upon by yourself and based on the feedback that other people give you. Feedback is a good thing to seek out from people who you trust and who will provide you honest feedback. When trying to better yourself, you are not necessarily looking for the nicest friend, boss, or coworker. You want someone that will suggest things you need to work on rather than telling you that your leadership and emotional skills are great and do not need work. Look for someone that will respond to you in a kind and respectable manner, of course.

Knowing who you are emotionally brings about a level of self awareness, which is also referred to as the building block of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is very important when considering how to bring about long term, positive change in whatever you are doing. A good leader can learn, grow, and  be influenced by others, in addition to influencing people's actions, thoughts, and ideas! Trust is required and must be maintained in order for influence to work as it should. INFLUENCE STARTS WITH YOU!

Keeping emotional intelligence in mind allows for:

• self- awareness (all about YOU—being aware of your feelings, your values, your purpose, what motivates you)

• empathy (recognizing, caring about, and understanding the views of others—their why, thought processes, reasons)

• self-expression— (sharing how you feel without taking away from the thoughts/feelings of another person, how you communicate with others in a way that allows them to gain trust in you)

Collaborating, adapting, and connecting.  These three things are important aspects of sustainability leadership, as highlighted in Leadership for Sustainability by R. Bruce Hull, David Robertson, and Michael Mortimer. For each of these, emotional intelligence is particularly useful. 

• Collaboration is important because you are often working with other people. This can be seen in the work you are doing like developing new programs, policies, protocols, for example. Emotional intelligence, particularly empathy, self-awareness, and self-expression, is important for collaboration. They all help a person determine how they interact with other people which is very useful in collaborating.

• Being open and resilient to change creates an understanding that not all things will go according to plan, and that is okay. Adaptability is a skill that some may not think about often. Take a moment to think about the past year and a half. Although not easy, the world as a collective had to adapt to ongoing changes and I am sure that this also happened in your personal life as well! What we all knew to be normal was disrupted and our routine was shaken up a bit. Having a mindset of adaptability is extremely important, yet tough because we are creatures of habit and order and expect things to go as planned. Emotional intelligence supports resilience particularly stress tolerance, flexibility, and optimism. Without knowing these things about your own emotional intelligence, change and being adaptable may be a little more challenging.

• Making and forming connections is key to building relationships with others. Having a good relationship with the people, groups, or organizations you are working with creates a healthy working environment. This connection piece can be seen in one of two ways—connecting people together or with resources. Both have value and can be helpful regardless of what you are working on. The emotional intelligence skill of interpersonal relationships is especially relevant here.  Interpersonal relationships and skills are very important when establishing and maintaining trust with the people you are connecting with.

In sustainability work, everything is interconnected--there are always many moving parts. In order to be effective in whatever you are doing, it is good to understand the emotions, talents, and needs of everyone to make sure that everyone is in the place they need to be to work toward the common goal. Ensuring that everyone’s strengths are being leveraged creates an environment that is productive. 

How can you enhance your emotional intelligence, influence and leadership this week?

1. For self awareness, write down the strongest emotion you experienced this week and some thoughts about how you felt. What did you feel? What brought about this feeling? Create a space for yourself to reflect and really give this a try. This will bring you closer to your emotions and a step closer to strengthening your emotional intelligence.

2. Self expression is pretty similar to self awareness but they have their distinctions. To practice self expression, consider being transparent and outwardly sharing how you feel rather than just keeping it to yourself. Do you have an opinion on something that other people do not share? Of course you do. Having different viewpoints and opinions on topics makes people unique and can bring about great conversation. You can learn and grow from people as long as everyone’s feelings and emotions are respected. Self expression allows you to stick up for yourself and your opinions without taking away from the feelings of others. Have you ever scrolled on social media and saw a post or comment thread about something you were passionate about? Were you nervous to respond to the post out of fear that you will be judged for your thinking or anything? The next time this happens I challenge you to express your thoughts on the post. This can be difficult, but will get you into the mindset to start expressing how you feel about certain things. It is also important to note that in order for this to be the most effective, you have to know how and when it is a good time to express your emotions. 

3. For empathy, talk to a friend about something you know they have a different opinion on.  Listen and understand their “why”.  This could be something as simple as what’s better, the beach or the mountains! Oftentimes, we hear what people are saying but are not actively listening to what is being said. Really think about the other person's feelings, thought processes, and emotions. This will be a good tool to always go back to.

4. Another exercise to do to practice empathy is to try not to be too judgemental or critical. Everyone has their own biases, but when practicing empathy it is important to recognize them and set them aside the best you can. Doing this really will allow for you to understand where the other person is coming from. This can be practiced in everyday life such as during conversations, in the workplace, or with family, for example.

Blog written by guest blogger Tyrah Cobb-Davis, a current master’s student at University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) pursuing a degree in Geography and Environmental Systems. She is a trainee in the Interdisciplinary Consortium for Applied Research in the Environment (ICARE) program, a program that strives to engage the local community in environmental research and bring more diversity to the environmental field. More information about her can be found on LinkedIn. 

Emotional intelligence for well-being & leadership

I recently presented to the Environmental Law Institute’s Emerging Leaders Initiative about the connection between emotional intelligence, your well-being, preventing burnout and leadership capacity. You can see the slide deck here.

Emotional Intelligence, Well-being, Burnout Prevention and Leadership

All of these are relevant in the remote work era just as they were when we worked in the office. Some of them may be more relevant now (e.g., burnout prevention, alignment with your purpose, doing what's meaningful to you) and how you lead may need adjustment (e.g., communicating and connecting with colleagues virtually).

Emotional intelligence is defined as a set of emotional and social skills that influence the way we perceive and express ourselves, develop and maintain social relationships, cope with challenges, and use emotional information in an effective and meaningful way. 

EI is like the hub of the wheel. To do the work you want to do and have the impact you want to have, you need well-being and capacity to lead. EI helps you with that. EI relates to how well you handle stress. It relates to your wellbeing, to the strength of your relationships, all of which relates to your leadership. EI can help you identify your purpose and find meaning in your work because you know yourself better and you can communicate with your employer about your needs. And knowing yourself and your emotions can give you a heads up that you are close to burnout and it's time to make change and advocate for yourself. 

Well-being

Wellbeing is the experience of health, happiness, and prosperity and includes:

• Good mental health

• High life satisfaction

• A sense of meaning or purpose

• Ability to manage stress

--Davis, Tchiki, Psychology Today, January 2, 2019. What Is Well-Being? Definition, Types, and Well-Being Skills

There is a correlation between four specific EI skills and your wellbeing.

1. Self-regard: Ability to respect and accept yourself, strengths, weaknesses and all. For wellbeing, this includes believing in yourself and living according to your values.

2. Optimism. Ability to to look at the brighter side of life and maintain a positive attitude even in the face  of adversity (while not being naive). For wellbeing, it includes ability to recover from setbacks and claim a happy state.

3. Interpersonal Relationships. Ability to establish and maintain mutually satisfying relationships that include trust and compassion. For wellbeing, these relationships serve as a buffer from negative events. 

4. Self-Actualization. Ability to realize your potential capacities. For wellbeing, this includes willingness to learn and grow on a journey aligned with personal values.

Purpose and Meaning

When it comes to purpose, the idea is similar to values. If you are not working in line with your purpose or living according to your purpose, it could impact how you lead because you might not feel authentic. I could also impact your wellbeing.

Connecting EI to purpose and meaning: if you know yourself better through EI, then you can sense when you are not in alignment with your purpose. You may feel uncomfortable and EI can help you notice this. You will feel more empowered to make changes that put you in alignment.

Leadership Capacity

What distinguishes outstanding leaders from average ones? Emotional self-awareness and stress management.

Emotional self-awareness is the ability to recognize your feelings, differentiate them, know why you are feeling these feelings, and recognize the impact your feelings have on others around you. 

Stress-management refers to the ability to manage your emotions, particularly in stressful situations, and maintain a positive outlook despite setbacks. 

Other EI skills that are particularly important for leadership are: social awareness and empathy, interpersonal relationships, effective communication and self-expression.

• Social awareness is your ability to recognize others’ emotions and the dynamics in play within your organization, to "read the room".

• Empathy goes hand in hand with social awareness. Empathic leaders strive to understand their colleagues’ feelings and perspectives, which enables them to communicate and collaborate more effectively.

• Interpersonal relationships: no leader accomplishes great things on their own. 

• Effective communication and self-expression: how you communicate and how you express yourself are critical leadership skills. 

Burnout Prevention

Burnout occurs when the demands we face on the job outstrip the resources we have to meet them. Because it is more serious than job stress, the best solution is prevention.

Burnout is the purview of the employer. This is because the causes and the best solutions to burnout are related to your work environment. According to a survey of 7,500 full-time employees by Gallup, the top five reasons for burnout are:

• Unfair treatment at work

• Unmanageable workload

• Lack of role clarity

• Lack of communication & support from manager

• Unreasonable time pressure

As you can see, these are within the control of the employer. But employees can take steps to prevent burnout using EI. By understanding your emotions, you can identify when you're starting to burn out before it happens. And using your empathy, you can sense when others are on the verge, too. With that information, you can have conversations with leaders in your organization about preventing burnout. And as a leader, empathy is important to connect with others and understand what your team needs.

According to responses during the presentation, most in attendance found that they either had too much work, too little communication with their supervisor and colleagues, or both and this was impacting their wellbeing. Not everyone felt that they could have conversations with their bosses about this. For those reading this who are in leadership roles, please reach out to your people. Ask them how they are and find out what they need. And then act on what you learn. Asking how someone is and then doing nothing about it is hollow. They need to hear from you. They need to know that you care. Flex those EI muscles!

Seven “soft skills” to stay professionally relevant

According to a jobs report  by the World Economic Forum, the future of the workforce will require interpersonal and leadership skills (e.g., empathy, collaboration), and this is as true for global sustainability professionals as it is for other careers. The report emphasizes that “‘Human’ skills such as creativity, originality and initiative, critical thinking, persuasion, and negotiation will likewise retain or increase their value, as will attention to detail, resilience, flexibility and complex problem-solving. Emotional intelligence, leadership and social influence, as well as service orientation, also see an outsized increase in demand relative to their current prominence.”

These “soft skills” will help any professional and especially sustainability professionals to be successful in their careers, now and in the future. Students in the Virginia Tech Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability Executive Master of Natural Resources program hone their soft skills in a variety of ways—building and maintaining effective teams; resolving conflicts to mutual benefit; learning techniques for cross-sector negotiations; applying social theory insights to sustainability challenges, and more.

A Harvard Business Review article titled “7 Skills That Aren’t About to Be Automated,” describes seven “soft skills” employees should have to be competitive in the future. While the article is about skills that cannot be automated in the foreseeable future, these are very relevant skills to sustainability professionals. We review each of these soft skills below, as it applies to our field:

1. Communication, particularly storytelling and persuasive communication Communication is the bedrock skill for sustainability professionals. You will need to communicate with a wide variety of stakeholders, some who understand sustainability and some who don’t. Sustainability professionals must be able to persuade others of the importance of sustainability or of taking certain action or changing behavior. While not mentioned in the HBR article, this EHS careers article mentions the importance of public speaking and persuasion. Public speaking is another skill sustainability professionals could use to persuade.

2. Content or expertise about a given topic and communicating your understanding of the topic Although not a soft skill, sustainability professionals should have at least one area of expertise, whether that’s “sustainability” itself or a specific aspect of sustainability such as circular economy, life-cycle analysis, reporting, or some other area expertise.

3. Context and the ability to modify your presentation based on your audience It almost goes without saying that this is critically important to sustainability job seekers. Employers will want to know that you have the context necessary to effectively present your position throughout the enterprise and outside it as well.

4. Emotional competence Understanding the emotions of your colleagues and stakeholders about a given situation can be useful when presenting your case for forward movement. Storytelling is very important in evoking emotions to lead to your preferred action.

5. Teaching Understanding the skills and knowledge gaps of people in your organization and how those individuals relate to the needs of the organization will give you, as manager, the ability to focus teaching on those gaps. As a sustainability professional, you will be teaching throughout your organization and across organizations about what sustainability is, why it’s important and how to move in the direction of sustainable development.

6. Networks Being able to access a vast network of people is important when moving into a new position or seeking new employment. Most jobs come from your extended network rather than from job postings. We discuss approaches to networking during career coaching sessions, available to all our students.

7. Strong moral values While the article explains that Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robots are incapable of moral judgment, having strong moral values and ethics is essential for us as humans. For the sustainability professional, it is important because there will be many times in your career when you must make a judgment and having those values to fall back on will help you make the call. As a job seeker, being able to articulate those values will help you show a future employer your trustworthiness, integrity, and professionalism.

Another set of soft skills that we contend is important for sustainability leaders now and in the future, and ones that will further protect them from automation involves cross-cultural competencies and a global mindset. Sustainability professionals must understand the challenges and opportunities of multinational corporations as well as develop that part of one’s leadership repertoire related to diversity and cultural appreciation. That’s why all our students have an opportunity to collaborate with sustainability organizations around the world during the Global Study program modules.

To summarize, employers seek well-rounded, generalists as well as specialists. Employees should have strong interpersonal and leadership skills. Whether you are on the hiring or job-seeking side of this equation, it’s crucial to understanding the significance of these soft and—very human—skills for the future of work.