Emotional Intelligence and Effective Leadership Essay Example

one communicate effectively, empathize more with others, overcome various obstacles and resolve conflicts effectively.

Emotional intelligence deals with interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence while intelligence quotient refers to a person’s general knowledge (Robbins, & Judge, 2015). Intelligence quotient involves taking some standardized tests aimed at determining one’s ability to think and reason. An IQ score is used to compare the thinking and reasoning capacity amongst different individuals of the same age. IQ scores have a direct relationship with factors such as morbidity and mortality. Human resource managers and school administrators use such scores during job evaluations for applicants and educational placements. EI, on the other hand, deals with human emotions and how best to handle such feelings, especially amongst employees to boost their productivity in the organization. It also entails the ability to identify and manage your emotions and those of others.

Today’s labor force is more informed and empowered than any other time in the history of human beings. Therefore, leaders now need to manage carefully such a workforce for maximum productivity. With such a well-educated and skilled labor force, leaders need emotional intelligence so as to clearly communicate the organization's vision and given employees a clear sense of direction. Emotional intelligence will allow leaders to give their staff room for growth in their careers through growth and mentorship programs. Leaders high in emotional intelligence will develop a sense of team spirit and inclusion amongst staff in the organization thus thoroughly motivating them (Robbins, et al. 2015). Highly motivated personnel have high productivity, and this goes a long way in boosting the organization's profitability.

Leaders low in emotional intelligence tends to be insensitive and arrogant. Such leaders are

often considered uncaring, and other workers in the organization would rarely want to work with these leaders. The same applies to proud people who mostly think they know everything and that they cannot learn anything new from anyone. These leaders antagonize employees and greatly low their work morale. A lack of emotional intelligence also makes leaders rigid and less receptive to change. Strict leaders hardly change their way of thinking and their approach to tackling different situations. They thus tend not to be team players, and this creates a toxic working environment which significantly lowers productivity within the organization.

Emotional intelligence has four components self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management (Robbins, et al. 2015). The self-awareness concept enables one to realize his or her emotions (Jiang, 2014). A leader who is self-aware will always know how he feels and know how his emotions and actions affect the people around him. In leadership, self-awareness requires a leader to have a clear picture of his or her strengths and weaknesses which take a lot of humility. A leader can improve self-awareness by keeping a journal. Here, the leader can write down his thoughts which can significantly improve his self-awareness. Leaders can also enhance their self-awareness by reacting well especially when they are angry. When experiencing anger and other strong emotions, leaders should take the time to examine why they are experiencing such feelings.

The next component is self-management. This part dictates that leaders shouldn’t involve themselves in verbal attacks or making a rush or emotional decisions (De, Morval, Sheitoyan, 1993). This concept requires leaders to refrain from stereotyping people and in activities that can compromise their values. Leaders

should thus always be flexible and responsible for all their actions. To improve self-management, managers should know their values and always take responsibilities for their shortcomings instead of blaming others. Leaders can also enhance their self-management by practicing calmness, especially in challenging situations.

The third concept of emotional intelligence is social awareness. This concept involves taking other people’s feeling into consideration (Kumar, 2010). Social awareness calls for the understanding of other people’s perception by empathizing with them. The concept is crucial when creating communication amongst different individuals. People without this idea tend to behave with ignorance and shyness.

The last exciting concept is the relationship management concept. Relationship management entails much more than just being friendly. This concept requires that leaders take the worst possible situation and turning it into the best possible response that one can give (Ledingham, & Bruning, 2000). When disputes occur amongst employees, relationship management will help in such cases. A leader who’s fully aware of such conflicts can quickly solve such challenges.

The social skills element of emotional intelligence is very crucial for any leader. This concept aims at ensuring that leaders become good communicators who are essential to the success of any organization. Such leader also has the best listening skills and are thus in the best position of solving disputes within the group. Leaders with good social skills are flexible and can thus adapt quickly to different situations within an organization. So as to significantly improve the social skills of leaders, an organization can adopt various strategies such as by requiring the leaders learn how to praise others. This approach will significantly improve the leaders’ social skills as they will be

necessary to appreciate their staff which requires good communication skills.

In conclusion, the implementation of emotional intelligence in different organizations has played a great role in managing the modern day workforce which is very educated and well informed. Leaders high in emotional intelligence have proved to be very efficient, and this has greatly helped organizations achieve their goals. Such leaders are also great managers and are thus able to motivate their staff significantly. Staff motivation has played a great role in improving the employees’ performance thus improving the organization's productivity. According to psychologists, emotional intelligence is more important than intelligence quotient and all organizations that want to succeed should embrace it.

References

• “Cultivating emotional intelligence” (3 min 36 s), located at http://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-tutorials/Cultivating-emotional-intelligence/124087/144439-4.html?org=strayer.edu
• Batool, B. F. (2013). Emotional intelligence and effective leadership. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 4(3), 84-94.
• De, W. M., Morval, J., & Sheitoyan, R. G. (1993). Self management in organizations: The dynamics of interaction. Seattle: Hogrefe & Huber.
• Jiang, Z. (September 01, 2014). Emotional Intelligence and Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy: National and Gender Differences. Journal of Employment Counseling, 51,3, 112-124.
• Kumar, V. B. (2010). Social awareness, self awareness, personality development and current affairs. Mumbai India: Himalaya Pub. House.
• Ledingham, J. A., & Bruning, S. D. (2000). Public relations as relationship management: A relational approach to the study and practice of public relations. Mahwah, N.J: L. Erlbaum.
• Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2015). Organizational behavior (16th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. (Note: Refer to Chapter 3.)