Emotional Intelligence and Leadership - What Makes a Good Leader - Coursework Example

Emotional intelligence and Leadership - What makes a good leader? Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code and Name: University: Date of submission: Emotional intelligence and Leadership - What makes a good leader? Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to identify, perceive, evaluate and control one’s emotions, that of others, as well as of groups. It is a relatively young behavioral model which rose to prominence with the publication of Daniel Goleman’s book, Emotional intelligence, in 1995 (Goleman 1998, p. 3-4). The principles of emotional intelligence present a critical method of assessing and understanding people’s behaviors, styles of management, interpersonal skills, attitudes, and potential. EQ is also a key factor in planning of human resources, job profiling, interviewing, recruitment and selection, development of management, customer relations and service, and many more. Consequently, this model is increasingly gaining relevance in organizational development, as well as people development. Emotional intelligence is applied in various leadership styles as described by Daniel Goleman. These leadership styles have different impacts on the emotions of target audiences, and leaders can adopt one style or develop an effective mix fit for approaching the current situation. Goleman identifies visionary leadership style as that leadership that aims to drive followers towards a common vision. The visionary leader tells his/her followers where to go, but does not propose the ways and means of getting there. Therefore, this motivates the followers to struggle forward by open sharing of information, which provides them with knowledge power. The flip-side of this style is that the visionary leaders may fail to make a motivational impact on experts and peers who are more experienced. People might need to find strengths and/or weaknesses and tie them to career actions and aspirations. In such circumstances, coaching leadership style is vital in order to connect people’s wants to the organizational goals. This leadership style is effective in instances where delegation of challenging assignments, demonstration of faith, and high levels of loyalty is crucial (Antonakis, Ashkanasy & Dasborough 2009, p. 247). The affiliative leadership style mainly focuses on creating people connections, thereby ensuring harmony throughout the organization. It also emphasizes collaboration, and focus it interest on emotional needs as opposed to work needs. The question that nags lay men and researchers alike today is whether emotional intelligence can be learnt or it is innate. There is no enough research to substantiate this question, but some researchers in the field of psychology contend that EQ can indeed be learnt and strengthened, while others argue that, just like personality, EQ is innate, and it establishes well during early adulthood. A recent study by Delphine Nelis, a cognitive scientist, which involved 40 college students led to the conclusion that it is possible to enhance some facets of EQ through coaching and reinforced feedback, both in the short and long runs. In order to meet today’s multiple work-related challenges, leaders consider EQ as an indispensable ingredient. Business researchers and analysts agree that EQ helps leaders to conquer today’s evermore demanding leadership roles, which a decreasing number of people seem to fulfill. It gives them a competitive edge (Antonakis, Ashkanasy & Dasborough 2009, p. 252-256). In the historical leadership models, emotional intelligence does not fit. Today, EQ takes central stage in the leadership circles because today’s workforce is more enlightened and liberal to accept the historical autocratic style and leaders have to apply their EQ to lead workers effectively. In addition, leadership today matches the ever growing sensitivity to independence and democracy in the workforce. Modern-day, therefore, need to have a great deal of EQ to succeed in the dispensation of their duties (Ashkanasy 2009, p.161-185). The intelligent quotient (IQ), which is the conventional intelligence, is too limited: there are people who are academically endowed, but interpersonally and/or socially incompetent. Emotional intelligence considers a wider variety of variables, and this makes it a reliable measurement tool for one’s overall competence. Although there are a lot of literature that support the belief that emotional intelligence is innate, my research has led me to feel inclined to the school of thought that it can be learned. This must be true because EQ research shows that EQ increases with age – it is learned as growth and development occurs. However, this has to be accompanied by motivation, extensive practice of what is learnt, timely feedback, and reinforcement of the learnt skill (Antonakis, Ashkanasy & Dasborough 2009, p. 247). High levels of EQ in a leader is important because, among other things, helps him/her perform better in areas such as participative management to build relationships and encourage interdependency between and within groups. Leaders also get a chance to listen to workers’ inputs before they implement change in order to foster healthy and cohesive relations. Emotionally intelligent leaders are also self-aware. They possess an accurate comprehension of their strengths stress, and problematic relationships and are, therefore, prepared to face such drawbacks. For leaders to effective and productive in the workplace, they need to strike a balance between their personal and work lives so that they do not neglect either of them (Antonakis, Ashkanasy & Dasborough 2009, p. 252). EQ is a primary factor that brings about this balancing effect in their lives by instilling the abilities of impulse composure, social responsibility, and empathy in them. In today’ society, the compliment, “What a remarkable personality!” in other occasions, people cast personality in a negative light, like “That conference was just but a personality contest.” This evokes the question of just how imperative is personality to the effectiveness of leadership. According to the dictionary, personality refers to a set of emotional and behavioral characteristics that distinguish a person. Personality encompasses how people present themselves to the world; as well as hoe others see you. Is this important for sound leadership? Well, I tend to believe so. The way one presents himself/herself to the public eye becomes the main asset for attracting a following. People are either introverts or extroverts, and there is a widespread notion/fallacy that extroverts make effective leaders. Introverts, conversely, are more contented with ideas than people. In my opinion, it is possible for both personalities to be successful because they have different merits. The most important thing for leaders in either category is to focus on their areas of natural strength and style and avert the drawbacks (Judge & Bono 2000, p. 761). Charismatic leaders extensively utilize their personal appeal to lead others. They usually come out as heroes, but their charisma may be both a curse and a blessing on society because it can be directed to benefit the company or nation or be used for deceptive reasons. One of the major advantages of utilizing the charismatic style of leadership is that it often gets things done, which is a powerful show of leadership. Charismatic leaders are also able to sense a disjoint between the expectations of the followers and what the organization is actually offering them. This skill enables them to design the vision that guarantees that the future will be better than today (Conger & Kanungo 1998, p. 132-137). The leader is also effective in making his followers see their place in the organization’s future. Consequently, the followers are more supportive of the organizational goals and objectives and of their leader. However, charismatic leadership style may sometimes fail because it relies heavily on the leader’s personal perceptions and charm, both of which are subject to “negative press” or rumors. Charisma cannot be passed on to others/shared because it is inborn. Organizations work in more compact teams today, be they leader-driven or self-driven teams. This is enhanced with the sincere hope that creativity, productivity, and the overall outcome will prosper in a team setting. While this approach conventionally works, bringing people from different backgrounds together will inevitably cause conflicts. Conflicts develop from the collision of perceptions, values, or goals in a setting where people are result-oriented. Many people instinctively view conflicts in a negative light, but every effective leader appreciates that conflicts must occur as long as people work together. This is the starting point to devising appropriate techniques for conflict resolution. In addition, an effective leader should tolerate and, in fact, encourage a reasonable level of positive conflicts (functional conflict) in order to energize groups so that they do not become complacent and fail to perform optimally (Bartram & Rimmer 2011, p. 259-263). However, the leader should be cautious in his/her conflict management efforts to avoid complete or partial disruption of entire group processes. Successful management of individual or group conflict can be extremely healthy and beneficial to the whole organization. Leaders will, now and then, be called upon to act in situations that require cross-cultural skills. With globalization, organizations are moving people and goods across national and cultural boundaries. The project leaders, therefore, must possess skills that will help him dispense his leadership duties and work in harmony with the native workers (Cecil, Pearson & Sandra 2011, p. 332-334). The leadership competences and skills vital for enabling a leader to work effectively in a multicultural environment include communication, personal, teamwork, and interpersonal skills. Cross-cultural competences and skills also enable the effective leader to incorporate the value of flexibility in his decision-making by appreciating and accommodating other people’s cultures. Effective leaders possess the quality of being good listeners and problem solvers. A lot of people use the word “power” all the time, but rarely do they stop to probe the deeper meaning of the word. At the workplace, a leader should not conform to this norm, rather he/she should study power’s nature and the way people use it: how people do things, the subconscious perceptions and attitudes that impact on personal interactions, what one needs to do on their way to their goals, and the best ways to influence workers (Burchielli 2005, p. 18-24). Leaders who comprehend power use it to get things and people going. Good understanding of power enables the effective leader to succeed in achieving their goals and inspiring workers under them to succeed. People can have power due to the knowledge that they possess-knowledge is power, if at all it allows you to influence people and/or conditions around you, and you are a reliable source. Like in the charismatic leadership style, sharing information is sharing power. Therefore, the leader who understands power will share information necessary for people to accomplish their goals and knowledge to understand how to do that. Any person worth of being regarded as an exemplary leader must commit him/her self to the pursuit of excellence. To this leader, second best is hardly an ingredient for success. Commitment to excellence drives one to setting and maintaining higher performance standards, both for the benefit of his organizational objectives as well as personal growth and development. Leaders who commit themselves to excellence are also proactive in upgrading the bar with an aim of recording excellence in multiple areas. Such leaders rarely compromise standards or values (Cox & Hoover 2002, p. 243). They demand excellence, both from their juniors and themselves. Excellent leaders have an obsession for getting every little detail exactly right. The excellent leader heavily draws from the advice that, if it is worth doing, it is worth doing right. Although the concept of emotional intelligence has not been researched on exhaustively, it remains an integral component of effective leadership that is increasingly gaining considerable support and application in many domains (Jordan 2008, p. 43). This concept is particularly applied in the business arena, where effective leadership depends significantly on the leader’s possession and mastery of emotional intelligence skills. For instance, leaders such as visionary, charismatic, affiliative leaders, among others, utilize emotional strategies extensively to win the support and adoration by their followers. It is only by prudent use of their EQ that they are assured of great success in their leadership roles. Leadership abilities differ from one type of leadership to another as well as the level of EQ. In general, junior workers in an organization are appreciative of their managers’ willingness and abilities to contain their anger and impulses, to be cheerful with life, to endure stressful circumstances and adverse events, and to cooperate as group members. Leaders who have high levels of EQ are participative, balanced, self-aware, and composed (Goleman 2004, p. 3-6). These values sharply contrast with ones associated with historical autocratic leaders, who use their absolute power on their juniors, and are not sensitive to their needs and aspirations. However, important as it may be, the nature of EQ (whether inborn or learned) still remains a contested debate, although most researches lean on the belief that it is learned. Emotional intelligence can not be used solely to define an effective leader. Other fundamental factors, such as personality, charisma, cross-cultural skills, power knowledge, excellence, and others, intertwine with EQ to create an all-rounded leader. In a nutshell, a good leader is he who influences the workers’ course, not by their authority, but by his ability to appreciate and identify with their genuine concerns and aspirations, while not compromising on the goals of the organization, using emotional intelligence. List of References Antonakis, J, Ashkanasy, NM & Dasborough, MT 2009. “Does leadership need emotional intelligence?” The leadership Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 1, p. 247-261. Ashkanasy, NM, Dasborough, MT & Ascough, KW 2009, Developing leaders: Teaching about emotional intelligence and training in emotional skills. SAGE Publications Ltd, London, UK. Bartram, T & Rimmer, M 2011, ‘HRM and the centrality of work in diverse settings,” Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources’, Vol. 49, No.2, p. 259-263. Burchielli, R 2005, ‘Human resource management practices in trade unions: Implications for strategy’, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 43, No. 1, p. 18-33. Cecil, A, Pearson, L & Sandra D 2011, ‘Extending boundaries of human resource concepts and practices: An innovative recruitment method for Indigenous Australians in remote regions’, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 49, No. 3, p. 325-343. Conger, JA & Kanungo, RN 1998, Charismatic leadership in organizations, Sage Publications, London, UK. Cox, D & Hoover, J 2002, Leadership when the Heat’s on, McGraw-Hill Professional, New York, NY. Goleman, D 2004, “What makes a Leader?” Havard Business Review, Best of HRB 1998, Viewed October 11, 2011, Goleman, D 1998, Working with emotional intelligence, Bantam Books, New York, NY. Jordan, PJ, Ashkanasy, NM & Daus, CS 2008, Emotional intelligence: Rhetoric or reality?   Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.  Judge, TA & Bono, JE 2000, Five-factor model of personality and transformational leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 85, No. 5, pp. 751-765. Shamas-ur-Rehman, T & Ogunlana, SO 2008 Leadership skills and competencies for cross-cultural construction projects, International Journal of Human Resources development and management, Vol. 8, No.3, pp. 192-215. William, P & Denney, J 2010, The Leadership Wisdom of Solomon: 28 Essential Strategies for Leading with Integrity, Standard Publishing, Michigan, MI. Read More