Highly effective leaders have an advanced ability to read the room, to sense what’s going on in the organization and to intuitively know what needs to happen next.
And they can do all of this with little to no data and no spreadsheets. This is called Leadership Intelligence, and if you’re going to lead effectively in today’s volatile and unpredictable environment, it’s an essential skill.
Leadership Intelligence involves:
-
Being able to ‘read the room’, (whether in person, or in Zoom)
-
Discerning the level of anxiety in the team,
-
Noticing how distracted they are by external forces.
Like Emotional Intelligence, or Relational Intelligence, Leadership Intelligence is a nuanced level of discernment that enables a leader to:
-
Create a healthy, sustainable culture,
-
Build a team who can function and even thrive in uncertain times.
What does Leadership Intelligence look like?
1. It can recognize sagging shoulders, and will step in to offer genuine encouragement
This does not mean becoming the personal counselor for the team. It means paying enough attention to their emotional well-being that you can tell when someone is struggling. And it means talking it through if necessary.
2. It can tell when a team just needs a change
When times are tough, sometimes team members can respond well to a change of responsibilities. Give people a new project or a temporary new assignment. The change of pace can sometimes do wonders.
3. It can spot needless irritations, and weed them out
Sometimes the removal of minor irritant can make a huge difference. You likely can’t fix everything, but there could be small improvements you could make that will result in improved morale. Is your team working remotely? Just boosting their wifi capacity can be huge.
4. It can listen to what is not being said, as well as what is being said
“Are you feeling okay about everything?”
“Yup, all good.”
Leadership Intelligence can read tone of voice to discern if there’s something deeper going on. Maybe they won’t say every concern that’s on their mind, but Leadership Intelligence can often hear it nonetheless.
So learn to pay attention to those vibes that don’t show up in a formal report.
They could be telling you more than any spreadsheet you’ll ever read.
