Leadership and Emotional Intelligence - Essay Example

Leadership and Emotional Intelligence Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Leadership and Emotional Intelligence Introduction Leadership positions are ideally supposed to attract individuals that are charismatic and confident. It is however important to note that many leaders also possess emotional intelligence in varying degrees. This trait distinguishes a good leader from a pool of leaders. Emotional intelligence encompasses the ability of an individual to understand and manage emotions around him or her. An individual with such a quality is able to develop variety of skill which includes an ability to manage relationships, techniques of navigating the social networks and the ability to influence and provide inspiration to others.1 For an individual to qualify as an effective leader he or she must poses a very high level of emotional intelligence. As an attribute of good leadership, it plays an essential role in influencing output, competence and teamwork. The main objective of this paper is to explain important reasons why leaders should always aim at improving their emotional intelligence. Reasons for cultivating emotional intelligence in leadership Self awareness A high level of emotional intelligence in a leader is essential since it increases a leader’s ability of recognizing emotions. The ability of a leader to understand himself, is a vital skill since such a leader can obtain a clear thought of his strengths and weaknesses without any challenges.2 Great leaders are those who can perceive emotions as they arise, upon the recognition of such emotions, they become aware of the possible actions that they can take to ensure that necessary solutions are developed. Proper understanding of self awareness equips a leader with the necessary skills that he can use to ensure that he or she effectively addresses problems and develops a strategy on how to deal with future complications.3 Other than being able to conduct an accurate self assessment that will enhance a leader’s ability to act out of humility, a leader who is emotionally intelligent had the ability to develop self confidence. This helps in realizing a sense of self worth including the belief that the said leader can act on an issue and succeed in it. Such a leader does not personalize the behaviours of other people or make an assumption about their intentions. Instead, he acts in an objective manner since he or she is focussed on achievements, developing initiatives and courage in the pursuit of his or her goals.4 Rating of a leader’s level of self awareness can be said to have a relationship of the leader’s level of impulse control and tolerance to stress. A leader who easily explodes in anger will not be considered as one who is self aware. This will give other employees in an organization the room to draw conclusions on concerning their perspective of how he or she handles challenging and stressful situations.5 Emotional management Self awareness enhances a leader’s consciousness of his or her feelings. Other than developing such awareness, a leader has a responsibility of learning how to manage his or her emotions. This means that the leader must learn or possess self regulations skills. Leaders with high levels of emotional intelligence, who have developed awareness on their strengths and weaknesses, should be able to control themselves in terms of the way they react to different situations that directly or indirectly affect them.6 Such leaders are unlikely to rush in the process of making decisions or allow anger and frustration take over their conduct. It is therefore important that individuals in any leadership positions keep their emotions in check as a way of ensuring that they maintain the respect that their positions demand. Emotional management can also be said to be an act of self management. This is attributable to the fact that an emotionally intelligent leader is always impeccable with his words and he chooses how to respond to any situation without raising questions relating to his or her personality.7 Emotional management, as a characteristic of emotional intelligence in leadership, also inspires adaptability traits. A leader who possesses a high-level of this attribute is open in the sense that he or she is flexible to new ideas. The leader employs persistence in his or her pursuit for goals despite the existence of different setbacks.8 Self regulation in the way a leader interacts with other members of an organization is also important in determining the level of emotional intelligence that the said leader possesses. As a leader a project manager is expected to regulate him or herself in an effective manner by rarely engaging in instances of verbal attacks, he does not base his opinions about other people on existing stereotypical beliefs; instead he maintains an objective perspective in all situations. 9 It is important to note that for a project manager to improve on his or her ability to self regulate, there are strategies that the said leader must accomplish as a way of ensuring that he or she develops a high level of emotional intelligence. One of the strategies entails developing an awareness of the said leader’s values. This will help him or her realize the areas in which he or she cannot compromise. This is only realizable through an elaborate examination of the leader’s code of ethics.10 A project manager must also learn to hold him or herself accountable. This is through learning to admit individual mistakes and accepting the consequences that arise from the said mistakes. Self regulation also demands that a leader practices the art of calmness. This will help the leader on how to act in stressful situations and the best practices that they can implement to ensure that they are fair and objective in the decision making process. Effective Communication Self awareness and emotional management are considered as valuable attributes of an individual is able to clearly express his or her thoughts. A project manager with a high level of emotional intelligence is one who understands the best way by which he or she can pass information. Such a leader has the ability to know what to say and how to say it as a technique of ensuring that he or she inspires and motivates those who are top receive the information. As an essential skill in leadership, effective communication can be a determining factor on whether a team understands the information that is passed or not.11 A leader with a high level of emotional intelligence has the ability to ensure that there is an effective channel of communication. This is one way of ensuring that other members in a workplace understand the procedure involved to ensure that there is an understanding of the management structure and the job description of each individual. Effective communication enhances a leader’s authority especially when the said leader uses his communication and interpersonal skills to inspire hard work and motivates professionalism among employees.12 Motivation A project manager with a high level of emotional intelligence is self motivated. As a leader who draws motivation from within, he or she is exemplified by the high quality of work that is undertaken. As a principle of good leadership, motivation represents the desire to achieve certain goals irrespective of obstacles or setbacks that a leader may be experiencing. Emotional intelligence of a leader helps in motivating the leader towards raising the performance bar, and the behaviour of keeping scores as a way of monitoring improvement.13 Such leaders are also engage in healthy competitions with themselves and their peers. They set goals and specific objectives on how to realize such goals. In addition, motivated leaders also ensure the presence of methods that they can use to quantify the extent to which they are realizing their goals. It is however important to note that if this principle of motivation if unchecked or allowed to overpower other traits such as self awareness and self regulation, then it could easily undermine an individual’s leadership profile.14 Despite this challenge, one cannot qualify to be an effective leader unless he is driven by ample motivation. For a leader to succeed, he must possess the trait of motivation as this is what inspires him or her to work his way through the acquisition of leadership roles. The acquisition of leadership roles can only be realized through a persistent sense of quest and the desire to continuously generate results. Motivation also encourages the acquisition of problem solving skills which is an essential attribute trait that every successful leader must possess. Motivation also inspires a leader to develop an attribute of optimism. A strong leader with a high level of emotional intelligence has the ability to see opportunities where other may be seeing challenges. Such a leader assumes that all problems can be solved and he or she is motivated to grab the available opportunities and find the probable solutions to existing.15 There are also those leaders who are less motivated the execution of their responsibilities as a result of low levels of emotional intelligence. Such leaders need to institute certain measures as a ways of improving on their motivation. Re-examination of their job description will help the leader in realizing the aspects he or she loves about his or her career. This will help a leader in remembering the reasons why he or she took the job. A leader must also know where he or she stands in relation to this leadership role. This will help in determining how motivated the leader is. In situations where a project manager experiences challenges, the motivation principle requires that the manager identifies at least one good aspect about that situation. The recognition of something positive about a situation characterized by the possibility of failure may lead to an adoption of an optimistic mindset.16 Empathy As a pillar for emotional intelligence in effective leadership, empathy is critical in the management of any successful team. Project managers who exhibit this behavioural trait possess the ability of understanding another person’s situation from a personal perspective. Such leaders play an essential role in helping others overcome their challenges while at the same time challenge those who seem to be unfair, provide constructive feedback and ensure the provision of relevant advice to those who are need of it. Leaders who have a high level of emotional intelligence earn an immense amount of respect of other employees within their department since they demonstrate that they care by upholding the principle of empathy.17 As a pillar of emotional intelligence, empathy is one of the most misunderstood in the corporate sector. It is assumed that it that requires that a leader adopts someone else’s emotions and personalizing them. Despite this misunderstanding, empathy has a well defined professional purpose in management since it describes the role of a leader in developing an intuitive understanding of the employees’ emotional needs and using his or her communication skills in the provision of the necessary solution. Empathy is essential to project managers since it provides a way of maintaining and strengthening the existing bond between employees in a workplace.18 Social skills This pillar reflects on a leader’s interaction with the external world. It encompasses a leader’s ability to foster relationships geared towards the realization of specific ideals that the said leader endeavours to promote. This is only possible through likeability, trust and respect for the leader and other individuals. Without proper social skills a project manager cannot be able to establish any viable goal. Goleman noticed that since the foundation of social skills arises from positive relationships, it may be difficult a leader’s level of emotional intelligence base on his social skills.19 Conclusion Leadership abilities in individuals vary depending of the level of emotional intelligence exemplified by different leaders. Managers that abide by the pillars of emotional intelligence such as self awareness, self regulation, effective communication, emotional balance, motivation and social skills receive appreciation from co-workers. It is important for project managers to note that the way they handle stressful situations among other issues, play an essential role in determining the respect and admiration that they receive from other employees. In addition, the level of emotional intelligence that these leaders possess will be vital in the determination of the goals, objectives and the eventual success of an entire project. A high level of emotional intelligence is therefore a prerogative measure to ensure effective leadership. Bibliography Anordstrom, Anna, H. 2010. Effective Leadership Communications with Emotional Intelligence,UK, Baywood publishing Co., Inc. Cooper, Robert K., and Ayman Sawaf. 1998. Executive EQ: emotional intelligence in leadership and organizations. New York: Berkley Pub. Group. Goleman, Daniel. 2013. Primal leadership: unleashing the power of emotional intelligence, with a new preface by. [S.l.]: Harvard Bus Review Press. Mersino, Anthony C. 2007. Emotional intelligence for project managers the people skills you need to achieve outstanding results. New York: American Management Association. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=214576. Pahl, Nadine. 2008. The role of emotional intelligence in leadership. Norderstedt: GRIN. Singh, P. N., and Neeraj Kumar. 2011. Employee relations management. 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