In order to be an effective leader within an organization, there are many different characteristics a leader should possess. It’s important for leaders to be able to properly evaluate a business environment, manage tasks efficiently, promote strategic thinking, and manage change. Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, explain that while all of these traits are important, effective leaders must also have a high degree of emotional intelligence (p. 98). If leaders did not have emotional intelligence, they would essentially struggle being a leader.
Some people may ask, what is emotional intelligence? Is it someone who is emotional? Is it someone who is smart? What does emotional intelligence even mean? While emotional intelligence can be defined in various ways, it can be referred to a person’s ability to recognize, understand, manage, and reason with emotions (Cherry, 2019). A person who is in a leadership position must have an awareness of their emotional intelligence. Leaders must also be aware of how important emotional intelligence can be for day to day functioning within the work environment. Could you imagine a workplace where no one could recognize, control or evaluate feelings or emotions? Well I can, but it’s in a robotic environment and not a human environment. Humans need to express their feelings and they should feel valued and wanted.
Moran, Abramson, Moran, 2014, explain that there are five components of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills (p. 93). Self-awareness is the ability to recognize and understand someone’s moods and emotions (p. 93). For example, you walk into a room and meet a stranger and quickly sense that something doesn’t seem right. This can also be known as your intuition and ties back to emotional intelligence. Self-regulation is the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods (p. 93). This is being able to adapt and work with different people in different situations while remaining calm and rational. Motivation is the ability to work for reasons that go beyond money or status with strong drive to succeed (p. 93). Setting and achieving goals, even when faced with failure, it’s important to always stay motivated. Empathy is the ability to understand the emotional makeup of another person (p. 93). This is the ability to experience and relate to the thoughts and emotions of others. Having this trait can make people feel a part of a team and increase productivity. Social skills are explained as managing relationships with others, building networks and leading teams (p. 93). Having effective communication with others and cooperating with your teammates are all examples of social skills.
An example that I would like to share in regard to emotional intelligence is with my co-workers. I work with union and salaried individuals, they all range from 1 year of service to 30 years of service. I’m self-aware of my emotional intelligence while interacting with my co-workers. How I talk to person “A” may not be the same as how I talk to person “B.” I thoroughly enjoy asking others for input on all work decisions, because it’s important to gather everyone’s thoughts before making a decision. Another component that I use often is self-awareness, I like to take checkpoints to recognize and understand my own character and how I’m feeling. This keeps me in line when I’m writing difficult emails, I always save it as a draft and then go back to it later to make sure I didn’t allow my emotions to flood into my emails. I try to practice being mindful of my own feelings and reactions to others, which also helps me to become more empathetic.
“Understanding your emotions, controlling them, and understanding other peoples’ might be the most important asset in working with others” (Sanfilippo, 2019). Many factors come in to play in regard to emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is a powerful tool that includes the ability to use emotions to increase motivation and focus, but it also includes the ability to detach from very powerful short-term emotions when needed to better focus on the tasks at hand (Sanfilippo, 2019). Leaders must be mindful of their emotional intelligence in order to build trusting relationships.
References:
Cherry, K. (2019). 5 ways to become more emotionally intelligent at work. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/utilizing-emotional-intelligence-in-the-workplace-4164713
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences (9th ed.). Oxford: Routledge.
Sanfilippo, M. (2019). How emotional intelligence is linked to career success. Retrieved from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10429-emotional-intelligence-career-success.html
Hi Miranda,
You certainly picked a popular topic. I was in leadership for over 12 years before deciding to finish my degree, and I first learned about emotional intelligence about six years ago. Then it was called emotional quotient similar to an intelligence quotient in which a numerical score represents one’s emotional intelligence. I thought most of my life that intelligence, striving to be the best, always having the answer was extremely important, and nothing more mattered. How wrong I was. Today, many studies have found that emotional intelligence far outweighs intellect when it comes to the workplace. Author Daniel Goleman as cited in Truninger, Fernández-i-Marín, Batista-Foguet, Boyatzis & Serlavós, (2018), argues that emotional intelligence is superior to predicting future performance.
I’ve come to understand that intellect alone is not enough if you desire a leadership position. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care (Tredgold, 2020).” Great post!
All the best,
Kathy
References:
Tredgold, G. (2020). 55 Inspiring Quotes That Show the Power of Emotional Intelligence. Retrieved 21 February 2020, from https://www.inc.com/gordon-tredgold/55-inspiring-quotes-that-show-the-importance-of-emotional-intelligence.html
Truninger, M., Fernández-i-Marín, X., Batista-Foguet, J., Boyatzis, R., & Serlavós, R. (2018). The Power of EI Competencies Over Intelligence and Individual Performance: A Task-Dependent Model. Frontiers In Psychology, 9. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01532
Thank you Christina! Thanks for sharing a great example of the importance of emotional intelligence!
-Miranda
Thank you for the feedback!
I find myself looking back at emails and I wonder “How did I even type this?” I’m so glad that you were able to deliver a much more positive message in your email.
-Miranda
Hello,
Thank you for reading! I will have to check out this article. I would have to say that some additional aspects of emotional intelligence and theory would be having a clear understanding of perception. The self-awareness theory is probably the most important for me, because having the ability to recognize and understand my own personal emotions will help me to recognize other people’s emotions.
-Miranda
Miranda,
This was a fantastic post! I believe that emotional intelligence is very important in the professional environment. Noting that I work in a car dealership as the Client Relations Manager, I always find that it is extremely important for me to have the ability to get feedback from those that I work with. Just recently, our General Sales Manager has been in a bad mood so everyone has been having a difficult time working with him. One of the girls that I work with was talking to him and was upset by the way that he had dealt with a certain situation. When she had come back into the office, I could tell that she was upset by the interaction with him and I had asked her if she was okay.
It is very important in our line of work to stay positive and happy. When we are talking to a customer, we want to be able to approach the conversation positively and to get a customer excited about a new car. However, if we are upset by something, then we would not be able to convey that type of emotion. When we talked, I was able to talk with her about ways to put aside what had happened, and that is one example where I was able to utilize my emotional intelligence. I was able to address the situation and know that something was wrong, and then I was able to fix it to where we were able to continue to have fun doing what we do. Great post!
I appreciated your thoughtfulness in how you draft an email. This concept allows you to frame what message you’d like to convey, then come back to it to re-evaluate whether the message still holds the same meaning to you.
Just two days ago, I used the same method you did when writing an email. Originally, my message was that of frustration, because someone had made an error that directly related to their inability to read details in an email sent over six months ago regarding an important date on our schedule. After letting the message sit in my Drafts folder overnight, I revisited the message the next day. After re-reading and making a few edits, I think I delivered a much more positive message that earned the outcome I was looking for.
Miranda, I appreciate your post and information regarding your work experience, as this helps me to understand your argument regarding emotional intelligence. This is so true, especially when working with others to reach a common goal. An article you may be interested in is by researchers Stacher and Rosse who convey aspects of procedural justice, to improve emotional intelligence of management and eliminate bias. As described in the text, Stacher and Rosse state, ” (a) procedures should be applied consistently across persons and over time, (b) the decision should be free of bias stemming from the decision maker’s self-interest, (c) the decision must be based on accurate information, (d) mechanisms for correcting poor decisions must be available, (e) the concerns of all parties should be fully represented, and (f) procedures must conform to prevailing ethical and moral standards” (2007). What are additional aspects of emotional intelligence and theory that you could, personally, apply, if this were your responsibility?
References
Stecher, M. D., & Rosse, J. G. (2007). Understanding Reactions to Workplace Injustice Through Process Theories of Motivation: a Teaching Module and Simulation. Journal of Management Education, 31(6), 777–796. doi: 10.1177/1052562906293504