You're sitting at your desk, poring over spreadsheet afterspreadsheet, making correlations, drawing conclusions and oftencoming up with more questions than answers. Reports flow in on newvendor possibilities and issues with existing ones that require youto analyze and determine the best course of action. Many tangiblematters come across your desk each day that are important or evencrucial to your credit union's overall success.

All of these matters also contribute to stress, an emotion thatmany people have trouble coping with, but (and because) it can be apowerful feeling. Feeling? Emotions? Those don't belong in theworkplace, especially not a financial institution.Wrong. 

There's no way around it. An interesting article by DanielGoleman, “The Emotional Intelligence of Leaders” that appeared inthe publication Leader to Leader, points out that your brainliterally can't work that way. Everything you know or ever willknow passes through a piece of your limbic system, the partresponsible for emotions, before it arrives at the cortex, the partthat performs logical analysis.

So, yes, the numbers on the spreadsheets make you feelsomething. That can range from “yippee” to “this is hopeless,” andyour reaction to whatever's going on filters down. Then yourmembers will be greeted by an angry teller or a nervous loanofficer. This is not the impression that should be conveyed tomembers, particularly by representatives of a financialinstitution.

Unlike your spreadsheets, the brain does not organize anythingin clean rows and columns.

According to Goleman, who is a psychologist and prolific author,there are five dimensions to emotional intelligence. If you areself-aware, you'll recognize that a particular situation may beparallel to something you've experienced in the past and that helpsform your response today. So when the results of a lending programare not going as planned, your brain automatically thinks back to atime when someone questioned your judgment now that you'requestioning your own. It doesn't feel good. Unless you're willingto acknowledge and accept it, the results can be a meeting thatturns into a scream-fest because the boss is unwilling to lookinward and instead points fingers at everyone else. If you'recertain you're on the right path, you should be able to lead others down it.

Bullyingdoes no good, so being able to manage your emotions is a greatasset to any organization as a whole. Society for Human ResourceManagement surveyed and discovered that 51% of companies reportedworkplace bullying, which can negatively affect morale and healthcare costs among others. There is a practical side to all thismushy stuff.

Workers who are better able to deal with stress alsodemonstrated higher profitability per square foot, according to astudy of a retail chain that Goleman cited in his article.

That doesn't mean a raised voice every now and then from anormally mild-mannered executive can't be a positive and effectivetool. It just can't be the only tool. Regular explosions hurtmorale and become easier to tune out, which is counter to theintended effect. 

Being an optimist also helps, Goleman asserted. Optimists feel abit more in control and thus are able to regroup after setbacks.Optimists are more driven and outperform others, he wrote. Andeveryone watches how the leader responds. Self-awareness andself-control are crucial.

Demonstrating empathy and not self-interest is also important in leading anyorganization. That doesn't mean you have everyone in for a goodcry. But it does mean you need to be able not only to listen totheir words but also to read their body language and expressions.You can't afford to find out too late that things have gone south,degrading into apathy or even sabotage. In the virtual world theseconnections can be very difficult to maintain, but find creativeways to keep your fingers on the pulse of the people in yourorganization.

Finally, it's all about staying connected. Being a leader meansrecognizing a prevalent feeling among employees and talking aboutit first, the Goleman article states. If morale seems low, don'tlive in denial because you feel it's your short coming–it's notabout you (or it is but not in the way you're thinking at thatmoment). Addressing it will illustrate your self-awareness, yourability to manage emotions, your effort to motivate others and yourability to empathize, thus rounding out Goleman's five dimensionsof emotional intelligence.

Your credit union is not only as strong as its weakest link.Goleman says a great team creates something greater than any singleplayer could. Achieving what consultant Warren Bennis labeledorganized genius, Goleman wrote, is your team's emotionalintelligence.