Emotionally Intelligent Leaders and Their Impact on Followers - Essay Example

? Emotionally Intelligent leaders and their Impact on Followers Introduction As cited by(Peter et al., 2004)Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the capability of an individual to understand and manage his emotions and psychological needs in order to carry out his activities effectively. It also consists of perceptions of people in the surrounding and analyzing their emotions in order to manage relationships and have an efficient workforce. According to (Goleman, 1995) there are five important characteristics of Emotional Intelligence; self- awareness, self-regulation empathy, motivation and having good social skills. These have become increasingly important elements of Emotional Intelligence in every organization. It plays a vital role in leadership and management and has an influence on the employees working in an organization. In the first part of the paper, we will focus on critical review of emotional intelligence in leadership and how they have an influence on employees. In the second part, a reflection for practice will be presented with evidences from literature and evaluation of EI scores. Critical Review of Literature Leadership & Emotional Intelligence at Workplace Research indicates that leaders who constitute high level of emotional intelligence in the workplace are getting better outcomes and increased work performances by the employees. Building and sustaining relationships is an important aspect of management and the recognition of these emotions through self management and relationship management enhances the emotional intelligence of leading bodies. These may also help leaders respond better in various difficult situations and be able to understand the complexities in situations. An increased amount of self awareness through emotional intelligence causes empathy and understanding among the leaders and the subordinates as stated by Collins(2011). Even though it has been believed that personality and psychological traits may appear to be somewhat stable (Costa, 1992) but in reality this may not be the case, managers can improve their leadership skills by understanding their strengths and weaknesses through self-awareness and self-regulation and understand and enhance a leadership style, Jennings(2012)which may have a profound impact on the environment. However, there can be few unanswered questions which need to be examined like determining a natural style for an appropriate situations and ways to achieve the desired impact of that leadership style. It is also necessary to measure and see if these levels of emotional intelligence will have a positive impact on employees or not. Some scholars argue to that emotional intelligence may not perceived as too important for senior managerial positions Crandall(2007)while some claim it is difficult to attain intelligence as it is a part of an individual’s personality. Some scholars believe that emotional skills can be developed and enhanced through learning and experience (David R. Caruso, 2004). Higher levels of emotional intelligence in leadership give rise to higher productivity in the organization in the following areas; Participative Management When a leader shows empathy in building relationships with the employees then they welcome and acknowledge feedback from employees relating to any task. They also value interdependency between work groups. Leaders executing emotional intelligence in the workplace are always seen as good listeners and always implement change by getting input from employees and subordinates, cooperate with the workforce to understand their emotions and foster good working relationships in the workplace (Lorne & Robert, 1991). Self Awareness, Straightforwardness & Composure As cited by Gallagher(2012), when emotional intelligence supersedes, the leader or the manager has a clear understanding of their strength, weaknesses and they are able to control their expressions and responses in stressful situations. In return, the employees may feel at ease during work and be comfortable to react in these circumstances. The manager may also convey his messages and exercise control over the employees by maintaining harmony and staying composed. Gonzalez(2012)& Rothstein(2012) have the opinion that leaders advocating emotional intelligence have more control over their impulses and they are more likely to recover from difficult situations by maintaining straightforwardness and composure. Balance between Personal Life and Work It is necessary to prioritize work and other personal activities in such a way that there is a balance between the two and none is neglected. When managers have higher rating of emotional intelligence they are more inclined towards social responsibility and have empathy with employees. They relate to emotional and psychological needs of the employees and take definitive steps to create a balance between the work and personal life so that they do not have an effect on each other as stated by Northouse(2010). Employee Grievances One of the effective leadership and management attribute is listening to grievances and problem solving through confrontation and various programs, dealing with all the issues fairly and being able to recommend solutions to the problems to build an effective work force. Leaders who exhibit these relationship building techniques through emotional intelligence help employees assert themselves, to be open about their beliefs so that they are better working relationships and which gives rise to higher productivity in the organization (Bhandarker, 1990). Change Management A manager containing leadership ability having more emotional intelligence decreases the ambivalent and resisting attitudes of the individuals when a change is being introduced in the organization. This is because there is coordination and communication between the management and the employees. The change is not being enforced on the employees, rather an understanding is developed focusing on the reasons of the change and its benefit on the employees as well as on the organization. Through mutual trust and understanding a positive change can be initiated in the organization which is built through social responsibility and interpersonal relationship (Annabel, 2009). Impact of Emotional Intelligence on employee’s wellbeing and productivity In order to be successful few scholars(Gerald et al., 2004)have the opinion that managers need to incorporate in themselves elements of psychological and emotional intelligence to increase interaction among the workforce and administer their working performances taking into consideration their emotional needs, wellbeing and prosperity. For this reason, managers need to enhance their emotional skills to identify reactions and to make better decisions for employee’s wellbeing and to increase productivity. As cited by (Con et al., 2009) there are three models of emotional intelligence which need to be examined in order to study its role on employee’s wellbeing in the organization, which are as follows; Ability Model of Emotional Intelligence: This refers to an ability through which a person’s own feelings and emotions are monitored and compared with other person’s feelings and emotions in order to have an examination of the traits to perform an action. Traits Model of Emotional Intelligence: This is perceived as a model in which a non cognitive competency is focused like feelings of self worth, self-actualization and mood swings etc. Mixed Model of Emotional Intelligence: This refers to a combination of both the models i.e. The Trait Model and the Ability Model. Emotional intelligence for increased performance Through various studies it has been predicted that emotional intelligence in leaders gives a positive impact on workforce. The study which was conducted by Lisa, Gardner and Con. Stough (2002) applied transformational, transactional and laissez faire leadership styles in a questionnaire which targeted 110 senior managers and it was seen that emotional intelligence was mostly effective in transformational leadership style which indicated that there is a significant amount of relationship between managers which gave scores mostly on empathy, social skills and personality traits. Hence, these findings suggested that emotional intelligence among managerial positions gave better performances and desirable outcomes just as they were perceived by the leading managers. In difficult situations it is necessary that people in different managerial positions work together in a group to generate different ideas, suggestions and input so that there is understanding between the employees. Leaders in return, with their emotional intelligence need to listen and adapt any good suggestions provided by the employees to increase their morale and give a constructive feedback if there is any(Lisa & Con, 2002). Matthews(2004), Blell(2011)& Chakraborty(2009) regard emotional intelligence as a set of competencies which values people and workforce ethics through which leaders can regulate emotions within themselves and the environment towards learning capabilities and better outcomes. Psychological wellbeing Poor quality leadership without being sensitive to emotional needs of the employees gives poor mental outcomes and as it was quoted, “whereas, high quality leadership is related to both reduced incidences of these negative outcomes as well as increased wellbeing” (Barling & Carson, 2008 p. 2). This psychological wellbeing of employees at work has an increasing effect to generate positive energy working towards stress management and mental illness at work. This psychological wellbeing is part of mental health which is incorporating positive energies and avoids stressful situations. In order to have well-being of employees at work as stated by Etin(2012), Pavlovich(2013) & Junarso(2008)it is necessary there are job satisfaction, commitment and high morale with motivation and empathy. However, may scholars argue that there are differences in levels of satisfaction, commitment etc with the well-being of employees as level of productivity is different at every situation. To fill this gap Fayolle(2008), Hargie(2000)& (Hargie, 2005)argue that there is a need to be communication with environment to make employees adjust to the pressures of the work and work with harmony and cooperation. There are few evidences present which now show that productivity is inter connected with psychological wellbeing may give better productivity and increase satisfaction among the employees Reflection Paper In my opinion, in order to be a leader with effective leadership qualities it is necessary to have inclination towards emotional intelligence and develop a strategy which articulates capabilities and skills of the workforce through learning and talent development (LTD). Recent research emphasis is on aligning human resource management with organization’s business strategy with incentives so that there is more employee engagement. Employee engagement can only be carried out if there is increased self awareness, self regulation and empathy towards employees through social skills and motivation. Hence, I would engage employees through learning and development programs that assess them and make use of highly potential employees to work towards long term commitment and business success blended with practical knowledge application and development opportunities at the personal level. Learning & Training Strategy In my view, the LTD strategy should be aimed at how the organization can achieve a competitive advantage in the global economy taking into consideration the degree of technological advancement and participation of employees to work together in teams. Moreover, there is a need to adapt to the changes due to economic conditions so that organizational goals do not conflict with changes in the environment. As a leader I would take measures to have a concept of learning within the organization, to have interaction with the employees to see where they need help and allocate expenditure for such programs that would not just benefit the organization but employees as well in the long run (Rosemary, 2005). On the Job Training Many Scholars argue that workers who are not given opportunity to speak and give their opinions at work will give poorer working performances. Such workers and employees are subject to repeated tasks with no learning ability and most of them results in patronizing behavior by the management. Hence, for this reason through taking into consideration the welfare of the employees, I would coordinate with Line managers to practice coaching within the organization which are conducted in-house to value emotional and psychological needs. It has been seen that there has been an increase in in-house training but a decrease in job rotation and overshadowing of employees work. The concept of e-learning as increased as well. There are a small proportion of organizations which regard social learning practices as an important development strategy. Being a leader, it is my responsibility to reach out to employees at the personal level and conduct trainings where it is required (Butler & Leach, 2011). Leadership Development In order to bring about a change in the organization I will focus on improving my own leadership and management skills to sustain growth in the organization. Most of the organizations lack performance management, coaching and initiating training and development programs for senior staff members but through an approach where I can develop and enhance my own technical and social skills I can will be able to involve employees for the same. An effective leader acknowledges knows if he makes mistakes and through self-regulation should seek creative problem techniques. Hence, I can encourage employees to do the same by setting myself as an example and a role model, develop my leadership skills so that employees can act accordingly. This can be carried out by apprenticeships which are acting as an investment tool in the organization through which talented individuals can be sought (Bruce J, 2010). Knowledge Assets I believe man power is a knowledgeable asset for the organization. They are referred to as intellectual bodies that have the capability to learn and grow. They need to be valued and their knowledge and expertise should be utilized in the best possible way for the development of the organization. Hence, for this reason as a leader I would invest my capital on people and value their feedback and manage them effectively to get more productivity. ESE Scale Using EI scales I had the following scores; I am quite a bit confident in perceiving emotions as my most of the scores showed a positive range. As a leader I can identify when another person is feeling a negative emotion, identify my own positive emotion though I have an issue in notice the emotion by body language. The scores relating to confidence in using emotions to facilitate thought came very mixed. In some areas I tend to have issues in identifying my own emotions though I may facilitate few positive emotions for problems. My ESC scores show that I can recognize my own and others emotion through facial expressions but may have a problem to generate the right emotions for creative ideas to unfold. There is confidence seen to regulate these emotions but they are not in a higher level as most of the scores are coming on moderate level that even though there is confidence but at times I encounter issues in knowing the cause of negative emotion and also when helping other persons regulate these emotions within themselves. I feel that emotional intelligence can have an effect on leadership by having an influence on emotions which affect cognitive skills and activities. This is because there is awareness to take in information, to face consequences of emotions and there is an increased ability to understand and process information and make decisions effectively. Looking at my own scales I can predict that there is potentiality to improve if there are such development programs through which emotional intelligence can be enhanced. Furthermore, the perceived emotional intelligence (PEI) involves emotions through which there are less stressful situations and better interpersonal relationships. Emotional Intelligence & Transformational Leadership Through various studies I have analyzed that a transformational leadership approach is closely linked with all the components of Emotional Intelligence as the leader which is transforming his powers to subordinates have a mutual trust and respect relationship with main focus on individual’s development and achievement. In my opinion, such type of leadership fosters a climate which caters the individual’s needs and provides socio-emotional support in the organization. Emotional Intelligence and its Measurement I believe that measuring emotional intelligence is one of the difficult tasks as there are many factors which may have some influence on the person like the culture, the environment he is in and personal traits. Hence, when the intelligent tests were being conducted it was found that the results that were coming were not generated due to lack of intelligence but rather because of personality trait differences. For this reason I feel the validity of the results is questioned as there is no unit to measure emotional intelligence of an individual. For measuring psychological features measurement invariance is an important property. These tests are calculated by comparing the responses which are given from the questionnaire and the scores are compared with the normative scores. However, I feel the results are always inconsistent across various age groups but trainings can be done for individuals to develop higher level of emotional intelligence to have better performances in the organization. Conclusion I believe great leaders have the ability to move us, by igniting passion and inspiring us by good leadership qualities. In order to generate powerful idea with a vision and strategic approach a leader has to work through emotions. Through various studies I have found that leaders may fail achieve success in the organization if they fail to drive the emotions of themselves and the employees in the right direction. To get better results, these intangible like morale, motivation and commitment works wonders in the organization. Being a leader, I would apply the same in practice to have better productivity and take care of psychological well being of the employees. List of References Annabel, B., 2009. Leadership and Change Management. London: SAGE. Barling, J. & Carson, 2008. The impact of management style on mental well-being at work. J State-of-science review. London: Government Office for Science SR-C3 Foresight Mental Capital and Well-Being Project. Bhandarker, A., 1990. Corporate Success and Transformational Leadership. New Delhi: New Age International. Blell, D.S., 2011. Emotional Intelligence: For the Authentic and Diverse Workplace. Bloomington: iUniverse. Bruce J, A., 2010. 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