Leadership traits were interesting to learn about. Different traits do seem to predict a leader’s level of effectiveness. I specifically wanted to focus on emotional and social intelligence in my post this week. Emotional and social intelligence are absolutely key to successful leadership. Without these traits, a leader will never be able to get the most out of their employees. Emotional intelligence in a leader involves self awareness, understandings situational emotions, and results in strong communication. In my own experience, I have found that low emotional intelligence has led to serious breakdowns in the workplace with leadership, specifically with one leader I had when I was a store manager.
Understanding an employees situational emotions as a leader is of the utmost importance. As a shop manager I would report to my district manager. She was very good with numbers, business ideas, and marketing, etc. She never seemed to act with any emotional intentions. This was great for getting things done and keeping the business flowing, but it led to many breakdowns in communication, and ultimately led to me deciding to leave the company. We have to remember that when in a position of power, as a leader, it is crucial that we never forget that we are not just in the business of fashion, food, or whatever it may be, but first and foremost, the business of people. In Northouse (2018), a study involving FedEx was centered on the idea that “emotions drive people, and people drive performance”(Northouse 2018, p. 100). If your team is not happy and does not feel supported, then they will lose trust in you as a leader and give up on the job at hand, even if it is just on an emotional level. In my case, if my district manager would have remembered to consider my emotions and feelings, then I would have felt supported and in turn would not have reached an emotional burnout and decided to quit. My district manager lacked the situational understanding of my emotions. She did not seek to understand my life circumstances and how that could be impacting my experiences at work, and she never adjusted her support to help me or validate me. This is a good example of how a lack of understanding the situational emotions of employees can backfire and lead to a breakdown in performance and workplace harmony.
Self awareness is the other big piece of emotional intelligence and social intelligence in the workplace. As a leader, it is one thing to understand where your employee is coming from, but it is another thing altogether to understand oneself and how ones own emotions can be playing into design making, and how one carries themselves in their communication. Many people have seen how their bosses can act out when they are having a hard time in their personal lives, but someone who has true emotional intelligence and self awareness, will never let this come into play with their role as a leader. A strong leader is someone who is “more sensitive to their emotions and impact of their emotions on others” and when they know themselves they “will be leaders who are more effective”(Northouse 2018, p.102). In the case of my district manager, she was going through a significant break up and also had a major flood in her apartment. She was also spread extremely thin with a regional manager workload even though she was just a district level manager. She would come into work anxious and then openly discuss her struggles and anxieties. Then, she would start picking out any issue she could find to critique staff on, and never gave any positive feedback. This behavior was directly tied to her personal issues as she was clearly impacted by them enough to discuss what were considered inappropriate topics coming from a leader in her position. She was not doing anything to take care of herself and because she did not understand her own emotions and how to regulate them, she would take out her stresses on her team, ultimately causing the professional relationship to deteriorate.
When it comes to the traits of emotional and social intelligence, a leader must have these to be successful. Humans will always be driven to behave in certain way because of their emotions at some point in their work life. While professionalism is something most employees strive for, a leader must always be ready for emotion to come into play. Leaders must seek to understand a situation and why an employee feels and acts the way they do, otherwise communication can crumble. A leader must also be self aware, and regulate their own emotions before interacting with their team. In my experience with the district manager, there could have ben many different conversations had and the interactions could have ben more professional and better fit for the situations at hand. Emotional intelligence and social intelligence must be part of a strong candidates skills when considering them to be a leader, in order to ensure effective and respectful communication.
References
Northouse, P .G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
As a leader there is an expectation of working with people, as such emotional intelligence is a quality that cannot be overlooked. a leader with high emotional intelligence has the potential to foster a positive work environment, inspire collaboration and contribute to the organization’s success.
I think the insertion of the quote from our textbook about performance is very appropriate for your situation. In my own blog post I was pretty much depicting the same sentiment, when the morale is down, there is no motivation to perform. I once had a supervisor say to me, “organizations don’t burn people out, people do”. Leadership is a tale as old as time and as Northouse said “[it] is about seeking adaptive and constructive change” (p16), I hope your ex-employer did for the sake of the other subordinates under them.
Northouse, P .G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.