Emotional intelligence has 12 elements. Which do you need to work on?

Esther is a well-liked manager of a small team. Kind and respectful, she is sensitive to the needs of others. She’s always engaged and a source of calm to her colleagues. Her manager feels lucky to have such an easy direct report to work with and often compliments Esther on her high levels of emotional intelligence, or EI. It’s strange, though — even with her positive outlook, Esther is starting to feel stuck in her career. She just hasn’t been able to demonstrate the kind of performance her company is looking for. “So much for emotional intelligence,” she’s starting to think.

The trap that has ensnared Esther and her manager is a common one: They are defining emotional intelligence much too narrowly. Because they’re focusing only on Esther’s sociability, sensitivity and likability, they’re missing critical elements of emotional intelligence that could make her a stronger, more effective leader.

There are many models of emotional intelligence, each with its own set of abilities. We define EI as comprising four domains: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. Nested within each domain are 12 EI competencies. These include areas in which Esther is clearly strong: empathy, positive outlook, adaptability, emotional self-control and emotional self-awareness. But they also include crucial abilities such as achievement, influence, organizational awareness, coaching and mentoring, conflict management, teamwork, and inspirational leadership. These skills should be just as much a part of any aspiring leader’s development priorities

For example, if Esther had strength in conflict management, she would be skilled in giving people unpleasant feedback. And if she were more inclined to influence, she would want to provide that difficult feedback as a way to lead her direct reports and help them grow. Similarly, if Esther had developed her inspirational leadership competence, she would be more successful at driving change.

How can you tell where your EI needs improvement? Simply reviewing those 12 competencies in your mind can give you a sense of where you might need some development.

We recommend comprehensive 360-degree assessments, which collect both self-ratings and the views of others who know you well. You can get a rough gauge of where your strengths and weaknesses lie by asking those who work with you to give you feedback.

These assessments are critical to a full evaluation of your EI, but even understanding that these 12 competencies are all a part of your emotional intelligence is an important first step. Coaching is the most effective method for improving in areas of EI deficit.

Even people with many apparent leadership strengths can stand to better understand those areas of EI where we have room to grow.