An emotional quotient (EQ) is as important as intelligence quotient (IQ) for leaders, according to the chairman of Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) Dasho Karma Tshiteem.

He said this while conducting a session on developing emotional intelligence at a professional development workshop on leadership for Australia Awards alumni in Thimphu yesterday.

The chairman emphasised that there are five aspects of emotional intelligence like self-awareness, self-management, motivation, empathy and social skills.

“The magical key of the entire emotional intelligence is awareness and living in the present,” Dasho Karma Tshiteem said. “Mindfulness means paying attention to what’s happening in the present moment in the mind, body and external environment with an attitude of curiosity and kindness.”

RCSC commissioner, Kesang Deki, shared the status of women in leadership positions in civil service while sharing her experience from a short course she attended on women in executive leadership development programme in Australia.

She stated that in 2017 of the 275 positions in executive and specialist position, only 32 are women in Bhutan. The figures have not changed much in the last three years.

Kesang Deki also shared RCSC’s strategies to promote gender equality in the civil service and interventions to promote women in leadership positions.

The team leader for Australia Awards South and West Asia, Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tony Crooks, conducted a session on decision-making as an attribute of leadership and said the important attribute is not always making the good decision but making a decision.

He said no one will make the right decision but it is important to do the best. “Decision-making is a skill that can be learnt.”

He also said the secret of success is making the right decisions by learning from making the wrong decisions.

Tony Crooks cited personal traps of leaders like trying too hard to play it safe, letting fears and biases interfere with analysis, getting lost in the minutiae, wanting to please everyone and trying to make decisions outside your realm of authority. “As leaders, focus on the outcomes.”

Leaders, he said, also get caught in system traps such as beginning with too little, inaccurate or wrong information, overlooking viable alternatives, wasting time considering alternatives that have no realistic prospects, failing to clearly define the result expected to achieve and failing to make any decisions.

Tashi Dema