This week I wasn’t sure what to write about, so I turned to youtube. I searched the word “leadership” and came across a seminar with the title Emotional Intelligence: How good leaders become great. While watching and listening I was trying to figure out how to relate this to the topics we have gone over so far. Soon it became obvious that our own emotions affect those around us and vice versus. In the Skills Approach Katz said there are three skills that leaders need; technical, human, and conceptual (PSU WC, L, 5. P, 4.). Emotional Intelligence and the human skill can go hand and hand.
According to Northouse the Human skill is “the ability to work with people. …the ability to recognize why people are stressed and the ability to potentially reduce that stress by adding more information or resources to the situation” (PSU WC. L, 9. P, 4.). Stress is an emotion that everyone feels. The important thing is to be able to realize that feeling in yourself and others. In the seminar the speaker Mitchel Adler defines Emotional Intelligence as “The ability to make healthy choices based on accurately identifying, understanding, and managing your own feelings and those of others” (Emotional Intelligence, 2014). In order to be a good leader one must usually be able to connect with their followers in order to accomplish goals. If we can identify, understand and manage our own feelings it will increase our skill working with others. Being able to understand why a situation bothers you and able to calmly explain that to the person that is upsetting you is a hard thing to accomplish. However, if we are in tune with our own bodies and know how we react we can manage our own feelings and those of others.
The major components of emotional intelligence are self-awareness, self-management and social awareness (Emotional Intelligence, 2014). Self-awareness is the ability to know your strengths and weaknesses (Emotional Intelligence, 2014). Being able to know what you can and cannot bring to the table is important. Knowing that you lack in a certain aspect allows you to find someone that balances your weaknesses in order to accomplish common goals. Self-management is impulse control, adaptability and flexibility (Emotional Intelligence, 2014). Controlling our own behavior helps our relationship with those around us. You must control your emotions in a healthy manner in order to build healthy relationships. While social awareness is the ability to read social cues in others (Emotional Intelligence, 2014). Such as being able to know when someone is sad, and being able to talk to them in a way that makes them feel better. These are all important aspects of being able to connect with others. When we can identify why a certain situation makes us feel a certain way, we can use that in building relationships.
During the seminar Adler says his favorite quote, which is “When we feel good about ourselves we have more to give to others” (Emotional Intelligence, 2014). When we are aware of our own emotions it allows us to be more open to situations. In order to feel good about ourselves we have to figure out what triggers certain emotions and what the correct way to handle that emotion is. When someone makes you angry, it isn’t appropriate to hit them. Figuring out what made you angry in the situation and being able to communicate that emotion frees ourselves from stress building up, making us feel good about ourselves.
Emotional Intelligence is not an easy thing to come by. It forces you to take a good look in the mirror and reflect on who you are as a person. It makes us realize what our strengths and weaknesses are as a person. If we can improve on our emotional intelligence it will allow our human skill in leadership come that much easier. With the human skill being part of the skills approach it is something that we can all work on in our daily lives.
References
Pennsylvania State University World Campus. (2016). PSYCH 485 Lesson 4: Skills Approach
- (2014). Emotional Intelligence: How Good Leaders Become Great — UC Davis Executive Leadership Program. Retrieved June 28, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA15YZlF_kM