Strong performance management requires soft leadership. Soft meaning the ability to be empathetic, listen, reflect and ask clarifying questions as in ‘soft skills’ rather than soft meaning squishy or ineffective. Strong performance management requires more than just intellect and technical knowledge--emotional and social intelligence are what make the difference.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to process emotional informational quickly and accurately, to recognize one’s own emotions as they happen, and to immediately understand their effects on oneself and on others. Effective performance management is instrumental in insuring that the critical projects in your organization get implemented in a timely basis. But intelligently using emotion to consistently build relationships and achieve group goals is far more difficult than say, learning how to read a balance sheet or do financial forecasting. An organization needs to first recognize this fact, and then make a concerted effort to develop and nurture the skill of emotional intelligence in its leaders.
