Emotional intelligence alone doesn’t ensure success

For years, emotional intelligence has been sorely underappreciated in organisations and teams. While organisations placed immense value on cognitive abilities like IQ, analytical or technical skills, they have largely overlooked the importance of self-awareness, empathy, communication and relationship management.

Colin Ellis
4 min readJun 12, 2024

--

Finally, in the past decade or so, the tide has started to turn. Emotional intelligence has received long overdue recognition as a critical component of professional success regardless of the industry people work in.

The leaders of the world’s best cultures now invest regularly in emotional intelligence training. I’ve worked with many of them, to teach their managers how to be more attuned to the feelings of their employees and to create psychologically safe environments that provide the opportunity for great people to flourish.

There’s no question that this has been a positive shift. Research overwhelmingly shows that emotional intelligence enhances job performance, leadership effectiveness, and organisational climate.

And yet, whilst emotional intelligence is necessary it is insufficient (on its own) for individuals and teams to achieve their highest aspirations. This is something I always stress at the start of my culture programs, that being a good human is the start, but setting a new performance standard is where results and happiness are truly achieved.

Emotional intelligence means being skilled at perceiving, understanding, managing, and reasoning with emotions. It helps us build bonds, resolve conflicts, and bounce back from adversity. But it’s ultimately about being aware of and in control of feelings — it says nothing about what we actually do with those feelings.

Simply feeling motivated is useless without the discipline to act on it. Simply feeling empathetic is irrelevant without taking constructive steps informed by that empathy. Simply feeling self-aware is meaningless if we don’t channel that awareness into continual growth. Emotional intelligence appreciates emotions and provides psychological wellbeing, but it doesn’t directly spur behaviour.

Of course, the opposite is also true. Having real drive and ambition but no relationships will hamper progress and can lead to feelings of stress, anxiety and isolation.

The most successful professionals (and teams) balance high emotional intelligence with an equally high level of intrinsic motivation and discipline to do the work and to continually seek to get better at what they do. They are masters at both being aware of and directing their emotions in service of productive behaviour and excellent outcomes.

They recognise that our emotions deeply influence our mindsets, decisions and conduct, for better or worse, but without the motivation to apply it, it is like a Formula One car without an engine.

They do the work because they want to do it. They enjoy what they do; they understand why it’s important and they don’t wish to compromise the chance they have for success. They recognise that constructive discussions are necessary to get the best out of each other. They also understand that high-performance is something that evolves over time and while mistakes will be made, the goal is to not repeat them. They don’t point the finger of blame, they help others to learn so that performance can be maintained.

Of course, their high levels of emotional intelligence ensure that this is all achieved without undermining safety in the team. Successes are celebrated, targets are recalibrated and the work resumes.

For culture change to be successful it’s important that leaders and organisations invest in both elements. To achieve results, it’s important for everyone to care about their emotions, their wellbeing and that of others. But it’s also just as important that they set high standards for themselves in terms of performance and look to push each other to achieve the best results possible.

Author Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, in his book Flow, calls this an Autotelic Experience, saying that it ‘…lifts the course of life to a different level. Alienation gives way to involvement, enjoyment replaces boredom, helplessness turns into a feeling of control, and psychic energy works to reinforce the sense of self, instead of being lost in the service of external goals.’

Building a culture of care and discipline is not only possible, it is necessary for personal, team and organisational success.

Investing in middle managers is proven to lift engagement, boost productivity, increase belonging and, of course, improve the reputation of senior leaders who commit to developing their managers.

Ready to upskill your managers and make a difference every day? Set-up a chat with me by emailing my business manager Aileen: hello@colindellis.com or fill in this form and we’ll get back to you.

--

--

Colin Ellis

Global culture consultant | Best-selling Author | Keynote Speaker | Podcaster | Evertonian | Whisky Lover | Likes to laugh, a lot www.colindellis.com