Emotional Intelligence & Its Importance For Leaders Essay

Much has been written about leadership and the qualities that fuel leadership such as intelligence, toughness, determination, credibility, vision, etc. Often left off are the lists softer and more personal qualities, but recent studies have proven that they are equally important. Researchers have proposed a new term called ‘Emotional Intelligence’, and it may well help differentiate the outstanding leaders from the merely adequate ones. Emotional Intelligence must somehow combine two of the three states of mind: cognition and affect, or intelligence and emotion. It has been described by many as the ability to understand and perceive emotions and to be able to generate emotions in order to aid the thought process, and to be able to effectively regulate emotions so as to ensure intellectual and emotional growth (â€Å"EI†). Both nature and nurture feed into emotional intelligence, which is what management literature suggests. Emotional intelligence if deployed wisely and compassionately, spurs leaders, the followers, and the entire organization to superior performance; conversely, if naively or maliciously applied, it might paralyze leaders or allow them to manipulate followers for personal gain, which would lead in employee dissatisfaction and lack of commitment. Mayor and Salovey proposed a four step EI model which can assist leaders in integrating emotion and thinking. Identifying Emotions is the first step which is the ability to recognize how you and those around you are feeling (â€Å"EI†). Using emotions to facilitate thought which is the ability to generate an emotion, and then reason with this emotion, (also called Emotional Facilitation of Thought, or Assimilating Emotions) comes second(â€Å"EI†). The last two are Understanding Emotions and managing them. Understanding Emotions not only includes understanding complex human emotions but also emotional â€Å"chains†, i. e. how emotions transition from one stage to another, whereas, Managing Emotions allows you to manage emotions in yourself and in others(â€Å"EI†). However, according to Daniel Goleman, there are five components to emotional intelligence; †¢ Self-awareness †¢ Self-regulation †¢ Motivation †¢ Empathy †¢ Social skill (Goleman, 1998) Self-awareness is the trait where emotional intelligence actually begins, leaders with higher degree of self-awareness are never hesitant to talk about and discuss their weaknesses and it is this attitude that later brings upon a positive change in them as they are able to improve upon their weaknesses with time. This helps a leader in bringing about change as he is someone who knows his limitations and knows when and where he can actually stand-up and deliver for the rest of the workforce and be a motivator for them, i. e. when can he lead by example. Thus he knows which tasks and changes can actually be brought about in an organization and which ones cannot be. The second trait is self-regulation, and that leaders with this trait can control their emotions and impulses better and channel them for good purposes. This brings about an openness to change in their attitude and behavior, and increases their trustworthiness and integrity, and also helps them remain comfortable in ambiguous situations and scenario. It has a trickle down effect, as no one would want to be known as a hot head in an organization where the boss is known for his cool and calm attitude. Motivation is perhaps the most important trait and the most obvious one that a leader is judged upon. It’s the motivation abilities of a leader that gives the sub-ordinates the notion that the leader has a strong drive to achieve. It portrays the optimism of the leader to the followers, such that they know that their leader would still be optimistic when facing failure, so it has to do more with the mind than anything else. It is the positivity of the mind, it emanates from the mind of the leader and leads its way to the minds of the followers. For a leader empathizing does not mean conforming to other people’s emotions. Rather, it is the ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people. Empathy is the trait that enables a leader to be an expert in building and maintaining talent. It enables him to treat people according to their emotional reactions. With the businesses and economies globalizing, leaders have to lead and manage people belonging to different cultures which is the major reason why change management in such a scenario is very difficult, however, if only a leader can empathize with his followers, it makes the job half as difficult as before. Good leaders generally maintain a large circle of acquaintances. They start off with smaller network of acquaintances and build newer acquaintances from the existing circle. Thus they are not only good at building networks but also finding common ground between individuals in difficult situations and scenarios and build rapport with them. This also improves their persuasiveness and the ability to build and lead teams. True emotional intelligence is not about manipulating people. Emotional intelligence means knowing what you and others are feeling and acting ethically, with a social conscience. Leaders with higher EQ seem to have â€Å"it† together; they are a graceful balance of intellect and emotion. Such leaders possess the ability to inspire their followers, and make them feel good about themselves. All of which is achieved while maintaining their own integrity and sense of personal worth. Hence, no one is diminished by being in their presence. Leadership combines courage with emotional intelligence, courage to ask tough questions, challenge people’s assumptions about strategy and operations, eliminate the existence of the bias caused by conforming to other people’s beliefs and hence risk losing their goodwill. All of this demands commitment, commitment to serving others; skills required for diagnostic, strategic, and tactical reasoning, the resilience to get under the surface of tough realities; and the heart to take criticism and grief, and remain optimistic all the way. A leader has to be aware that surviving will be difficult if one gets into the trouble of a dissonance existing between the inside and the outside – something that is referred as a â€Å"disconnect†. If a single theme runs through this issue, it’s the importance of keeping the two aligned. Every leader ought to want a more supple emotional intelligence, and â€Å"Leading by Feel† is a great place to begin (Mayer, 2004). REFERENCES 1. Goleman, Daniel (1998). What makes a Leader? Harvard Business Review 2. EI. Retrieved April 16, 2008, from emotionaliq. org Web site: http://www. emotionaliq. org/EI. htm 3. Mayer, John (2004) Leading by Feel. Harvard Business Review