Emotional Intelligence and Leadership
It was Daniel Goleman who first brought the term “emotional
intelligence” to a wide audience with his 1995 book of that
name, and it was Goleman who first applied the concept to
business with his 1998 HBR article, reprinted here. In his
research at nearly 200 large, global companies, Goleman found
that while the qualities traditionally associated with
leadership—such as intelligence, toughness, determination, and
vision—are required for success, they are insufficient. Truly
effective leaders are also distinguished by a high degree of
emotional intelligence, which includes self-awareness,
self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill.
These qualities may sound “soft” and unbusinesslike, but
Goleman found direct ties between emotional intelligence and
measurable business results. While emotional intelligence’s
relevance to business has continued to spark debate over the
past six years, Goleman’s article remains the definitive
reference on the subject, with a description of each component
of emotional intelligence and a detailed discussion of how to
recognize it in potential leaders, how and why it connects to
performance, and how it can be learned.
Every businessperson knows a story about a highly
intelligent, highly skilled executive who was promoted into a
leadership position only to fail at the job. And they also
know a story about someone with solid—but not
extraordinary—intellectual abilities and technical skills who
was promoted into a similar position and then soared.
Such anecdotes support the widespread belief that identifying
individuals with the “right stuff” to be leaders is more art
than science. After all, the personal styles of superb leaders
vary: Some leaders are subdued and analytical; others shout
their manifestos from the mountaintops. And just as important,
different situations call for different types of leadership.
Most mergers need a sensitive negotiator at the helm, whereas
many turnarounds require a more forceful authority.
I have found, however, that the most effective leaders are
alike in one crucial way: They all have a high degree of what
has come to be known as emotional intelligence. It’s not that
IQ and technical skills are irrelevant. They do matter, but
mainly as “threshold capabilities”; tha...
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know intuitively that leaders need to manage relationships
effectively; no leader is an island. After all, the leader’s
task is to get work done through other people, and social
skill makes that possible. A leader who cannot express her
empathy may as well not have it at all. And a leader’s
motivation will be useless if he cannot communicate his
passion to the organization. Social skill allows leaders to
put their emotional intelligence to work.
It would be foolish to assert that good-old-fashioned IQ and
technical ability are not important ingredients in strong
leadership. But the recipe would not be complete without
emotional intelligence. It was once thought that the
components of emotional intelligence were “nice to have” in
business leaders. But now we know that, for the sake of
performance, these are ingredients that leaders “need to
have.”
It is fortunate, then, that emotional intelligence can be
learned. The process is not easy. It takes time and, most of
all, commitment. But the benefits that come from having a
well-developed emotional intelligence, both for the individual
and for the organization, make it worth the effort.
Emotional intelligence is a new way of thinking about success in life and especially in leadership. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to identify, use, understand, and manage emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and defuse conflict. Emotional intelligence impacts many different aspects in daily life, such as the way we behave and the way we interact with others. The benefits of higher emotional intelligence are it easier to form and maintain interpersonal relationships and to fit in to group situation. And it’s also better of understanding their own physiological state which can include managing stress effectively and being less likely to suffer from depression.
Emotional intelligence (EI) plays an important role in every worker in organization or corporation, especially someone with the authority or power inside the organization. A leader has to become a source of inspiration and catalyst for the employee to improve their working condition. One true leader has the ability to read what people want even though it never being told (Meghan, 2014). This will allow the employee to build a good connection and relationship between the leaders, thus improve how the organization being conducted. Some people may denied that emotional intelligence did affect ones’ performance, but big corporation such as Google and Microsoft have implemented emotional intelligence in their working condition as a way to improve the organization performance. Chadha (2013) emphasize that there are 4 key element in emotional intelligence; self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness and relationship management. Within these four elements, one element that truly related between a leader and employee is relationship management.
The transformational leadership characteristics of idealized influence, inspirational motivation, and individualized consideration are heavily linked with Daniel Goleman’s theory of emotional intelligence (Barling, Slater, & Kelloway, 2000). Emotional Intelligence has gained great prominence in the study of its relationship with leadership effectiveness. By understanding one’s own emotions, managing and controlling these emotions, as well as understanding the emotions of others, research shows that leaders can have great influence on an organization’s success (Goleman, 1997; Goleman et al., 2002).
The purpose of the paper is to guise available variables around Emotional Intelligence and School Leadership Effectiveness. Emotions are our state of being or mood, how we feel at a particular time. Intelligence is the ability to think and reason; therefore, emotional intelligence is to be aware of one’s state of being or moods and to also be cognizant of the mood of others (Mayer et al 2007). Thus being emotionally intelligent can lead to better decision making, better managing which leads to better leadership (Blell 2011).Thorndike defined social intelligence as “the ability to understand and manage men and women, boys and girls – to act wisely in human relations”. Gardner included interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences that are closely related to social intelligence in his theory of, multiple intelligences.
386). Furthermore, research suggested that people who scored a high level of extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness to experience on the Big Five personality test have an advantage with regards to leadership effectiveness (Robbins, Judge, 2009, p. 386). However, according to the week 6 presentation, having certain personality traits does not mean you will be a great leader (Fischer, 2009). Instead, research shows that a high level of emotional intelligence is associated with effective leadership because the leader is able to show their ability to influence by caring about the people around them (Fischer, 2009). In an article by Business Perspectives & Research, a test was completed on the effects of emotional intelligence, in which these managers displayed, “superior performance to their lower EQ peers both in terms of contextual (teamwork and cohesiveness) performance and task performance (quality of job completed)” (Dabke, 2016). In my professional experience, the leaders who can show they truly care about their employees retain a higher level of loyalty and dedication with a positive attitude. This is also similar to a Bible story in John 13, where Jesus washes the feet of his disciples – his humility and servant attitude showed that he genuinely cared for his followers, which inspired a deeper covenantal relationship with him (ESV). ?This is quite
When comparing my Big Five Personality scores to the class average, I received a score of 6 and the average was 5.7, one score did not come to a surprise. My personality is reliant on my strength of conscientiousness. Individuals who score high in conscientiousness tend to be methodical, well-organized, achievement orientated, and ethically guided. The conscientious personality type has a strong correlation to leader emergence which I can attest is true. I often am the first individual in the group to take reigns because of my organization, self-discipline, and need to create a plan before acting.
Goleman and Cherniss (2001) postulates that emotional competencies are learned abilities. Social awareness or skill at managing relationships does not guarantee the mastery of the additional learning required to handle a customer adeptly or to resolve a conflict. It only prognosticates that we have the potential to become skilled in these competencies.
One type of aggressive behavior is passive-aggressiveness. Leaders that use passive-aggressive behavior have the same intent as aggressive leaders, but are more subtle in their approach. Passive-aggressive behavior is characterized by the following behaviors: disguised hostile humor, unclear feedback, the stirring up office politics, unclear explanations, the blaming of external factors instead of being accountable, having pointless rules, giving the cold shoulder, setting people up to fail, holding grudges, dropping hints without saying what they want, and not being invested in improving employees (Cain). The goal of passive-aggressiveness is to keep employees off-balance, never letting them know exactly what is expected of them, and never
There is an importance of leaders to first analyze the impact of their emotional manifestation. Leaders should own emotional intelligence. Those leaders that don’t possess emotional int...
There are many different positions in an organization that require different knowledge, skills and abilities. Supervisory and management positions encompass more than just technical knowledge, skill and expertise in their given area, but being leaders over others. This is of interest to organizations in having leaders who are able to motivate, understand and get their teams to work together. Many organizations are looking to improve their performance and productivity through finding and placing the right people in leadership positions. How the concept of emotional intelligence and its evolution has come to the forefront in assisting companies about leadership performance and decisions will be discussed along with the debate among researchers and the review of three assessments as to their impact and uses.
Emotions are frequent companions in our lives. They come and go, and constantly change like the weather. They generate powerful chemicals that create positive and negative feelings, which have a powerful effect on leadership. Some emotions can either facilitate leadership, while others can detract from successful leadership. This course, Emotionally Intelligent Leadership, has truly opened my eyes to the affects that emotions have on being an effective leader. Peter Salovey and John Mayer defined emotional intelligence as “the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s feelings and emotions to use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions” (p. 5). This definition in itself states that emotions, whether it be ones own emotions or those of others, is the underlying factor that directs the actions of a leader. Therefore, throughout the progression (advancement) of this course, I have learned the importance of the development of emotional intelligence for being an effective leader, and because of this I plan on developing the capacities that contribute to being an emotionally intelligent leader for my own success, now and in the future.
Great leadership doesn’t necessarily come from what you do, but instead from how you do it. According to Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee 's (2013) book, Primal Leadership, this "how" of a great leader comes through the heart or emotions. If leaders fail at driving emotions in the right direction, nothing they do, even if they get everything else just right, will be as successful as it could or should be (p. 3). This goes against many of the preconceptions of good leadership. I have always been shown that "good" leaders keep their emotions at bay and lead through intellect devoid of emotion because emotions can distort reality. However, the emotional task of the leader, according to Goleman et al.,
Rehman, R. (2011). Role of emotional intelligence among leadership styles, decision making styles and organizational performance: A review. Retrieved from: http://works.bepress.com/rashidrehman/2
Fernandez-Araoz C.(2001) The challenge of hiring senior executives, The emotionally intelligent workplace: how to select for, measure, and improve emallenge emotional intelligence in individuals, groups, and organizations, Jossey-Bass Ch.6
Sy, T., & Cote, S. (2004). Emotional intelligence: A key ability to succeed in the matrix organization. Journal of Management Development. 23(5). 437-455