Successful teams can exist in a multitude of different forms, with diversity, experience and creativity all playing a key role in helping teams become successful. We believe successful teams share one key commonality, leadership. Teams which are unified and focused on achieving results are organised and driven by a leadership team who know how to utilise their team’s strengths to gain the best possible results.
In industries dominated by process driven targets, Emotional Intelligence has in some respects been seen to be less important compared with other industries. This white paper aims to uncover the characteristics that leaders possess within a software/SaaS sales environment and to cross reference these traits with leadership skills in a more general context. From these findings we also aim to ascertain the extent to which Emotional Intelligence is a necessary tool for leaders to have in order to build and leverage high performing teams to achieve and exceed goals.
What defines a Leader:
All individuals can possess certain characteristics of good leadership skills, but not everyone has the ability to become a leader. This is because to become a leader requires several different attributes. By using a combination of our own experience and knowledge in recruiting in addition to research papers based around leadership and emotional intelligence, we have been able to provide a concise set of traits which we believe leaders should possess in order to help build a successful team:
- Adaptability: Leaders should be able to recognise and embrace change to drive forward new business models and ideas. The best leaders are courageous enough to abandon the past and old methods in favour of new and innovative ideas. These skills require leaders to be able to anticipate trends and have a forward-thinking vision to respond to changes whilst also creating trends in the process. Leaders should also be able to recognise that different people require different strategies when helping them develop.
- Influence: By recognising their role within the team, the best leaders try and guide their team towards an outcome whilst also developing them personally and professionally. This differentiates leaders from managers as they simply train their colleagues for particular roles and skills, whilst leaders show extensive trust in their team and help develop their own skills and qualities. This can be seen as a form of coaching where leaders know how to deploy the necessary tools to motivate their team to achieve great results.
- Self-Regulation: Strong leaders need to be able to recognise, control and channel their thoughts and feelings. Rather than reacting to situations in a confrontational manner whereby negative emotions are openly expressed, those who are able to self-regulate take a step back to think of potential mitigating circumstances which may have led to an underperforming team or situation, whilst also understanding the impact they have made personally. Strong leaders would then offer a robust solution after analysing past events. Leaders should all be able to self-regulate as those who are in control of their feelings are able to create an environment of trust, fairness and respect amongst their peers. As a result, this has a positive impact on the working environment and increases productivity, leading to a trickle-down effect whereby positive emotions transfer to other colleagues. This fosters mutual respect and trust across the team. Finally, those who have learnt how to express their emotions are better equipped to react and adapt to change. In an environment where sales approaches and technologies are forever developing, leaders who can embrace change and listen to executives and board members in order to provide new strategies and then implement these to their team in a clear and concise manner make for extremely valuable assets in any organization.
- Social Skills: The ability to build and manage meaningful relationships which positively impact an outcome for the business. Having the necessary social skills is therefore much more than simply getting on with your colleagues at work. Those who have good social skills are able to build a strong network of individuals from diverse backgrounds which are then able to provide different solutions to problems. Most organisations recognise social skills as a necessary tool for leaders to have, as managing relationships is a core component to this role. Social skills can therefore be seen as a combination of other EQ traits brought together to make an individual capable of getting the very best out of their team. It is also essential for collaborating with people, teams and other business units outside of a Leader’s direct reports to achieve team and broader company goals.
The above Venn diagram illustrates the three necessary skills which most organisations believe employees should possess. An equal combination of the three skill sets makes for the most impactful form of leadership.
These traits are intrinsically linked to emotional intelligence, however it is beneficial to explore what this concept means in more detail in order to understand how the best leaders utilise this skill for the benefit of their team and their organisation as a whole.
Understanding EQ:
Emotional intelligence has been a topic of discussion within organisations for approximately 25 years, with Goleman first popularising the phrase in 1995 after Mayer and Salovey first formulated the concept in 1990. Although the notion of EQ is well positioned in companies today and often plays a significant role in the interview process, the importance it has to play within the software sales industry is one which has been explored during our research. There are 5 key facets to EQ: Self- Awareness, Self-Regulation, Motivation, Empathy and Social Skill.
In a popular study conducted by Goleman (2004) which looked at over 300 companies regarding what characteristics are required to make a successful leader, he found that although intellect and cognitive ability are of course important factors, EQ separated those at the top of their respective industries. A counter argument is however presented which argues that cognitive ability is more important in certain industries where the regulation of emotions might not be a particularly advantageous trait. The research we conducted aims at uncovering which statement holds more weight in terms of leadership skills.
Our Research:
Based on our industry knowledge, experience and connections with some of the world’s most exciting software start-up firms, we were able to speak with over 100 sales leaders. We asked them seven identical questions, all of which were open ended to ensure each individual had the opportunity to openly express their views as thoroughly as they wished. This also meant that we were guaranteed to receive a vast array of different answers based on the same questions, as a result this has made for a rich set of findings which highlight alternative methods of leadership.
Our Findings:
Based on our findings, it seems that for the majority of Leaders we interviewed, Leadership was a calling. Often resulting from success as individual contributors, some felt the need to share their experience and success methods by taking accountability and ownership for a team. They were then measured against their team’s collective results and success. These types of Leaders clearly get their satisfaction and energy from coaching people to grow, achieve their human potential and outperform their industry peers. The majority of them also relished in seeing some of their previous direct reports go on to flourish in their careers outside of their team. Interestingly, some others said they fell into Leadership as part of the career growth track and natural progression we are taught to strive for at an early age, with some wanting to become CEOs. Unsurprisingly, we found that the clarity of purpose (the why?) seemed more profound in those who actively pursued a Leadership role to serve and coach others.
The environment Leaders created for their teams to succeed was a common topic, with most creating an inclusive atmosphere where every team member had a voice resulting from high levels of psychological safety as they felt accepted and respected. Being able to give an opinion, a different angle to an opportunity or problem is the essence of building a diverse team. It is only useful if these opinions and views are listened to and considered by the Leader. It was important to most of the Leaders that communication levels within and outside of the team were high as it was key for everyone to know the team identity, team objectives and be able to move in the same direction towards goals. One Leader in particular was very clear that his purpose was to get everyone over the finish line. At the heart of these successful environments, Trust was a core value with another Leader specifically referencing working relations, communications, high levels of integrity and most importantly, consistency across these areas. Interestingly, several Leaders quoted “care for your people”.
The core parts of a Leader’s role are to recruit, develop and retain team members. The ability to influence people and coach them to success is what sets great Leaders apart. Many Leaders agreed that active listening is essential so that people can express themselves whilst the listener gathers information, this of course was true with the teams and also with customers. This requires awareness and empathy in order to read a situation, tune into people and also for the Listener to control how and when they speak as they reflect. Many Leaders spoke about spotting people’s blind spots and areas to develop and how critical it is to help people recognise these areas and accept they need them developing. Without this, it is difficult to coach people to success. Truly listening to people, holding up a mirror to increase self-awareness to help them reflect always surfaces these areas for development. We find that the best way to test a Leader’s level of awareness during an interview is to ask, “what would your team say about you?” followed by “what are the areas you are not so great at and are working on personally?”. When a Leader knows themself and is very open with the team, it inspires confidence. At the end of the day, Leadership is a people business.
Conclusion:
Our study supports the theory that these core EQ traits are essential in leadership and additional studies show that organisations with more diverse and emotionally intelligent people deliver better results for their clients and shareholders. EQ influences everyday tasks in both personal lives and business. Many say that the best people win, not necessarily the best technology. However, if you can combine the best people with the best technology, that can be a powerful edge. At BoxHill Solutions, we strive to build and deliver emotionally aware high performing Leaders and teams for our clients to provide them with that edge.
References:
Goleman, D., 1996. What Makes a Leader. Harvard Business Review [online], January 2004.
Salovey, P. and Mayer, J.M., 1990. Emotional Intelligence: Imagination, Cognition and Personality [online], (Issue 9), 185-211.
