Benefits of Emotional Intelligence for Leadership

Self-Assessment

Emotional intelligence is important for people management because it helps them learn more about the people who they manage. It is a skill nowadays that managers need to have if they want to improve the working environment.The framework that I will use to explain emotional intelligence is Goleman framework which includes self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills.

In an article by D Mayer, J. and Caruso, D. (1993) emotional intelligence is described as “a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ emotions”. It provides information on peoples own emotions, determine other people emotions and to use people’s emotions in problem solving. It says that people with high emotional intelligence will be aware of their abilities and emotions. They are leaders who can effectivity manage people because they can deal with different situations that happen in the work place.

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D Mayer, J. and Caruso, D. (2002) describes Emotional intelligence as “the capacity to understand and explain emotions”. It says emotional intelligence is a four branch model. The first two branches are perception and facilitation and they relate to people emotions. They are the ability to perceive emotion and use it properly. The other two areas are called understanding this involves people and the other branch is management and it is about emotions and decision making. This article talks about how Emotional intelligence can be used sometimes in the wrong a manager who thinks about emotions accurately and clearly will be in a better position to manage people better. It says that a manger who thinks about emotions will be in a better position to get the best out of them of their workers.

Goleman, D. (1998) says a “good solid leader knows what emotional intelligence is and be able to use it effectively”. A person can have the best ideas, does the jobs they are asked to do very well but if they don’t know what emotional intelligence is they will not be a good leader. The article says that emotional intelligence is now a trait that someone needs to have and it can be learned if people are willing to put in the time. It will be something that benefits not just the person but also the company they work for.

According George (2000) emotional intelligence “taps into the extent to which people’s cognitive capabilities are informed by emotions and the extent to which emotions are cognitively managed”. The article describes emotional intelligence as having 4 aspects. An evaluation and explanation of and expression of emotion, use of emotion to strengthen cognitive processing and decision making, understanding about emotions, and management of emotions contribute to effective leadership. It says that emotional intelligence is important for a person to have to be a good effective people manager/Leader. It also says that managers who can perceive people emotions and respond to them can help the organisation improve and become more efficient.

Self-Awareness

Goleman D (1998) describes self-awareness “as having a deep understanding of ones emotions”. It is a person who understands themselves and their surroundings. They know what their strengths and weaknesses are. They know what their beliefs and are aware of their emotions. According to Cote (2017) self-awareness “refers to how well people know themselves”. This is how a person or a manager may react in certain situations. A good manager will have high self-awareness and will be able to deal with their emotions, have good communication skills, can help reduce stress on their.

I learned that I have a high self-awareness which means I am aware of my emotions and others peoples emotions. I know what my strengths and weaknesses are and when to speak. I communicate well with other people because I am a good team player. An area that I need to improve in is my self-confidence and by doing this by setting myself targets like asking two questions on summarising what someone says.

Self-Regulation

Self-regulation described by (mindtools.com) is someone who stays in “control and does not make rushed decisions”. They are able to adapt to different situations due to having high level of self-regulation. Goleman D (1998) says self-regulation is a component that “frees us from our feelings”. It’s a skill that people have that in bad situations they don’t just lose their mind and start shouting but instead think of ways how the next time they can improve.

I learned that I have good self-regulation because I can be calm when under pressure. I try to take the positives out of situations when something goes wrong. I am someone who tries to think how I can improve and help others. I focus on getting things done by been efficient.

Social Skills

Goleman D (1998) highlights social skills as the ability to manage relationships with others”. It is just about making friends and having fun it’s about creating relationships with people but also been able to get people to work as one to and as a team. Social skills highlighted by Ensari, P. (2017) is “individuals interact in mutually beneficial ways”. If a manager has a high level of social skills it means that they are good communicators and can interact with people and deal with any setbacks that arise. People who not have good social skills they may be poor communicators.

My level of social skills is good because I am a good communicator and I take the time out to get to know people on a personal level not just as a work colleague. I try to build relationships to make working with people easier because you can learn how they react in good and difficult times.

Motivation

Goleman D (1998) describes the component of motivation as “someone who are driven to achieve beyond their own expectations and others”. It’s a component that all leaders have. Self-motivated leaders always work towards their goals, and always keep work to the highest quality. Mayor, Salovey, Caruso (2002) highlights motivation as People who are able to control their emotions regardless of what is happening around them in a positive or negative way. This would lead to a positive behaviour which leads to a person having high motivation.

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My own level of motivation is high because I am someone who is driven to learn and develop to become better each day. I am someone who wants to fulfil my potential no matter what I am asked to do I try my best and work as hard as I can to achieve my aims and objectives. An area that I want to improve in is to motivate myself to complete my assignments on time by freeing up time each day and using it wisely.

Empathy

Goleman D (1998) highlights empathy “as thoughtfully considering people feelings to make intelligent decisions”. A good leader shows empathy by taking other people feelings in to account. A Gentry, J Webber and Sadri, (2016) describes empathy as “the ability to experience and relate to the thoughts, emotions, or experience of others”. A person who shows a high level of empathy takes in to account if someone is having a problem and try’s to help them get through it by talking to them and giving them feedback.

My empathy towards people is good but it is an area that I can work on. I sometimes can be so driven to get things done on time I forget about other people emotions and I just focus on the getting the tasks done. One of my weaknesses is that I find it hard to read people in these situations and it is something I am working on by setting up one to one meeting to get to know them better personally.

In conclusion emotional intelligence is something that is important to have because it’s a tool that can be used to help a leader or manger get a better understanding about their workers. Emotional intelligence is an area that can be worked on as Daniel Goleman said in his article what is a leader. I learned by doing the different exercises that my emotional intelligence overall is quite good because I am someone who knows what my strength and weaknesses are and I am aware of people’s emotions and my own. My strengths are that I am someone who can be trusted and a good team player and I like to receive feedback about myself. My weaknesses are that I have problems reading people on different occasions and I sometimes can display my feeling and emotions but the majority of the time I can control them. I sometimes lack confidence in myself and I need to work on this so my emotional intelligence can improve further.

Bibliography

• Goleman, D. (1998). What makes a Leader. [online] Cdn.ymaws.com. Available at: https://cdn.ymaws.com/aect.siteym.com/resource/dynamic/forums/20130118_183018_26306.pdf [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].
• Côté, S. (2017). Enhancing managerial effectiveness via four core facets of emotional intelligence: Self-awareness, social perception, emotion understanding, and emotion regulation. 46th ed. [ebook] ELSEVIER, pp.140-147. Available at: https://ac-els-cdn-com.ezproxy.library.itsligo.ie/ [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].
• Mayer, J. and Salovey, P. (1993). The intelligence of emotional intelligence. Intelligence, [online] 17(4), pp.433-442. Available at: https://eclass.teicrete.gr/modules/document/file.php/IP-ERLSF116/Mayer-Salovey.1993-libre.pdf [Accessed 24 Oct. 2018].
• Salovey, P. and D Mayer, J. (1990). Emotional Intelligence – Peter Salovey, John D. Mayer, 1990. [online] Journals.sagepub.com. Available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.385.4383&rep=rep1&type=pdf [Accessed 19 Oct. 2018].
• D Mayer, J. and Caruso, D. (2002). The effective leader: Understanding and applying emotional intelligence. [online] Mtpinnacle.com. Available at: http://www.mtpinnacle.com/pdfs/The%20effective%20leader-%20Understanding%20and%20applying%20emotional%20intelligence.pdf [Accessed 19 Oct. 2018].
• George, J. (2000). Emotions and Leadership: The Role of Emotional Intelligence. Human Relations, [online] 53(8), pp.1027-1055. Available at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/3461333/wk_3_EI_and_leadership.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1540477007&Signature=9SCMH0wgrEDUh%2BMF1sviWYi5KWU%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DEmotions_and_leadership_The_role_of_emot.pdf [Accessed 19 Oct. 2018].
• A Gentry, W., J Webber, T. and Sadri, G. (2016). Empathy in the Workplace A Tool for Effective Leadership. 2nd ed. Centre for Creative Leadership, pp.3-5.
• Mindtools.com. (2018). Emotional IntelligenceDeveloping Strong “People Skills”. [online] Available at: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCDV_59.htm [Accessed 29 Oct. 2018].
• Ensari, P. (2017). How to Improve Emotional Intelligence and Social Skills among Adolescents: The Development and Test of a New Microexpressions Training. [online] Pdfs.semanticscholar.org. Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6937/38e6d4dd83d2f0395f40d1c81b9faec2887b.pdf [Accessed 29 Oct. 2018].