The statement that; “Emotional Intelligence is critical to the leadership” cannot be truer. It is for the simple reason that leaders have to deal with humans who are highly emotional, sensitive, and intelligent beings. It is indeed understandable that technical skills and knowledge are the fundamental requirements for the success of any leader. However, it should not come at the cost of soft skills. Even when a leader is “the expert” in his field and has the best technical expertise it needs to communicate it with “the people.” Thus, having the ability to connect with your team can easily act as a crucial factor in making or breaking the career, reputation and overall organizational success of the leader.
Emotional Intelligence is the ability of the conscious mind to be aware of the sensitive activities around it and of the possibility of putting one’s feelings and emotions in a situation. As per the author (Batool, 2013), emotional intelligence is related to the feeling of having compassion or empathy towards a situation or individual. The people who are equipped with emotional intelligence can better understand, regulate, and make out with the emotional situations and problems of dealing effectively with the other people’s emotions.
One very common example of emotional intelligence presented in the study of (Batool, 2013) is to disagree more than argue. It only occurs when the chance to express one’s thoughts is freely given to the people making them feel valued and preventing them from feeling unwanted, hurt or voiceless. It necessarily means that their opinion is accepted, but it means that their contributions are valued and listened to. Another example can be the use of self-control. There are many situations during which people tend to react in loud voices and disagree with emotions. One can convey their opinion and disagree with others, even with having a calm voice and self-control.
Emotional Quotient is the level in which one person identifies emotions in their self and others and develops the ability to control the emotional experiences for the aim of benefiting others and one’s self. Leaders need to have the emotional intelligence to aid the organizations in achieving objectives. A leader has the responsibility of achieving the objectives. Thus, using emotional intelligence is imperative to get the ability to achieve objectives. Having the ability of emotional intelligence provides the capability to withstand challenges and use opportunities effectively for its success.
An example of this can be that a leader can use the ability of emotional intelligence for using it in the decision-making process and for idea generation by connecting with everyone and giving everyone equal voice.
There are many reasons why emotional intelligence should be considered critical for leadership. Like, compassion is one of these many reasons. Leaders who are emotionally intelligent are the ones with more ability to be not scared of the emotions of others. They treat all people they come in contact with, consideration and kindness. An example of this can be the sending of condolence note to one of the employees to let him know his loss matters to the leadership as well.
Another reason according to (Batool, 2013) is that emotional intelligence aid in developing effective communication skills. A successful leader does not have a world-changing vision; he or she can have a simple aim of starting learning and development training in the workplace for the employees. He would be successful if all the team members are on one page and there are clarity and consistency in everyone’s mind and performance. It can only be attained from communication skills and not technical expertise. Thus, emotional intelligence helps here. Emotional intelligence helps leaders become good listeners and keep the emotions in check. The example of effective communication can be traced to all the historical figures like that of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Sam Walton, Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King, and Bill Gates.
Self-awareness is another reason which provides strength to a leader. The positives and negatives of a leader tend to become the positive and negatives about a company. Emotional intelligence helps in being self-aware of the weaknesses and strengths of oneself. It also enables the leader to be authentic in their operations. A leader who is authentic in his preaching does not preach what he or she does not practice.
In the study of (Robbins et al., 2013), emotional intelligence also enables the leader to have respect for others emotions, feelings, opinions and point of views. It enables the leader to earn respect in the light of other as well. It also develops the leader’s self-respecting ability. It is evident that a leader treats one person the way he or she treats themselves. It is a well-known fact that a leader needs to be respectful and have dignity for its fellow members to get the best out of them. An example of such respect is about Wal-Mart who has made respect of individual as one of the core values of their firm
A leader is a person to whom his followers (whether his team members, employees or subordinates) look up to for having the idea of how to respond to a situation. A confident leader exhales confidence which translates into its followers. A leader who panics in a crisis make its followers panicked as well, thus, having emotional intelligence help in having confidence.
According to a study conducted by (Robbins et al., 2013), leaders are constantly needed to make their work environment comfortable for its employees. Emotional intelligence helps leaders in not only meeting the individual requirements but also helps in addressing the needs of others as well. According to (Joseph, 2015) Incorporation of reward programs paid leaves, compensations, etc. can help motivate the employees and thus helping better lead the company for increased production, improved organizational behavior, effective service and higher customer satisfaction.
One might think what may occur if a leader is not emotionally intelligent. Leaders without the ability of emotional intelligence may not be able to understand the emotions of the employees, on their basis of opinions and consequently of their motivations. It may cause them lacking in the ability to lead their employees through change management or for fostering of innovation in employees. It is important to have emotional intelligence, without it, a leader might not be able to choose the right people for its team. The selection of wrong people may make the employees feel at the wrong place, having a lack of motivation, and undervalued. Furthermore, not understanding the motivational factors of the employees would also make the employees feel dejected and failed in their goals.
According to point of view of (Joseph, 2015), the use of emotional intelligence can help leaders to become better communicators. They can ensure that everyone understands everything that is required of them and thus works on disseminating crucial information while having less bias through actively listening to other’s opinions. Emotionally intelligent persons also tend to be more capable enough to work with different persons and their abilities, assigning responsibilities as per their relevant skills.
As per scholars, leaders who are motivated, have the undying energy for working towards their set goals. These are the leaders who work for an extra mile in ensuring the high quality and achievement of goals of organizations. These extra miles can be in the form of his free time, or him giving work priority over his obligations. Furthermore, these leaders with emotional intelligence are more empathic towards others and always try to put themselves in other shoes to consider the concerns of others, forming a strong understanding between the employees and the leader. Social leaders tend to be more welcoming because of this reason and have the ability to work best on the collaboration and interaction. They also tend to have better ability to solve social conflicts without being biased to one party, appraise more, and recognize accomplishments.
There are numerous studies as well, which shows the importance of emotional intelligence in leadership. Chopra & Kanji (2010) presented a study showing content analysis and reviews on the role that emotional intelligence plays in leadership regarding the work environments characterized by the diverse team. Another researcher considers emotional intelligence as a significant component of all leadership and managerial roles. As per study of (Hahn et al., 2012), the psycho-management investigation conducted by these scholars showed how emotional intelligence is used by these leaders to initiate urgency in the implementation of positive change.
It has also been witnessed in a study (Hahn et al., 2012) that emotional intelligence helps in the application of suitable communication tools which are also congruent to the cultural beliefs, and values of the organizational members. An analysis of the concept of emotional intelligence importance in the world environment and its diversity has shown that it is highly popular in the western countries as compared to the other countries of the world. The analysis has however been not enough to show how exactly emotional intelligence helps the organizations to be more competitive and performance oriented. This study (Lopez-Zafra, Garcia-Retamero and Martos, 2012) has found that considering the management and leadership as independent approaches has yielded results those leaders employing emotional intelligence in their organizations were more successful as compared to the ones using traditional leadership models.
Another survey conducted for the development of the leadership programs by Sadri (2012) has shown recommendations for incorporation of emotional intelligence to make the leadership capable enough in the diverse and dynamic workplace. Another study has shown convincing arguments for the incorporation of the emotional intelligence in the leadership styles and practices. The paper (Yunus and Anuar, 2012) critically discusses the difference between emotional intelligence considered as a trait or style of leadership depicting future research gaps.
Past studies have shown evidence that cross-border leadership and management effectiveness is more pronounced with the use of emotional intelligence influencing higher productivity and hence making the employees motivated enough to meet the organizational objectives. As per a study conducted in 2011 (Rockstuhl et al., ), the job satisfaction that is achieved by numerous numbers of factors and thus emotional intelligence alone cannot be attributed to the success of the leader. Past studies thus remain indecisive about the role of emotional intelligence in the wide spectrum of effective leadership. In another study, a gendered approach is utilized for the understanding of the emotional intelligence role in the diverse work environment and on the employee productivity (Lopez-Zafra, Garcia-Retamero and Martos, 2012).
The results of the study (Genderen, 2012) showed that gender roles were important for understanding the role of transformational leadership and also for emotional intelligence. However, this gendered role is thought more of as biased and not appropriate as it considers females to be more emotionally intelligent leaders as compared to the male counterparts. In another study past studies have been resourceful in showing the role of gender and emotional intelligence as variables for effective leadership. Another study (Moon and Hur, 2011) found that the women are preferably more emotionally intelligent leaders with their more social and communicative nature. Even with all this sentiment, there are numerous other studies as well who have found that men tend to be emotionally intelligent as well through which they influence their followers and guide them in achieving the targets (Rehman, 2011).
An example of increasing the frequency of interaction between the leader and employees can be to build a social media integration platform. Another example can be regularly scheduled excursion programs. These informal platforms and mediums can help the leaders and employees to interact and connect informally without the fear of becoming a victim of doubt. The Facebook workgroups are an example of such platform. It can help build confidence and social interactions with employees and leaders as well.
It is recommended that scholars should research on the role that emotional intelligence plays for making leadership successful and effective. Furthermore, organizations are needed to use emotional intelligence for making their leaders aware of the sensitivities and motivators of their employees. Even though there are gaps in academic studies regarding emotional intelligence being a part of effective leadership, it is undeniable to not consider it as a key qualification for becoming a leader.
In the end, it can be concluded that having emotional intelligence is critical for leadership in terms of improving soft skills, efficient communication skills, more empathy, more compassion, more authenticity, and more confidence. Having emotional intelligence gives the leader edge for catering with the diverse cultural backgrounds and values of the employees. It helps make workplace environment comfortable for the employees. A leader needs to have a strong social bond with the employees to better understand the factors which help them work better making the leaders lead them better. Constant interactions are needed in this respect to help leaders build these social bonds. It also helps the leader in better identifying any problem in the workplace. Having an understanding of each of the emotional personalities of his team, a leader can better recognize the problems in its early stages and thus solve it in advance. Furthermore, this is crucial for organizations and scholars to look for development of leadership programs which incorporates emotional intelligence as its critical component.
References
Batool, B.F. (2013) ‘Emotional intelligence and effective leadership’, Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 84-94.
Chopra, P.K. and Kanji, G.K. (2010) ‘ Emotional intelligence: A catalyst for inspirational leadership and management excellence’, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, vol. 21, no. 10, pp. 971-1004.
Genderen, E.V. (2012) ‘Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Style: A Comparative-Gender Study’, Review Of International Comparative Management / Revista De Management Comparat International, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 224-236.
Hahn, R., Sabou, S., R.Toader and C.Rădulescu (2012) ‘About Emotional Intelligence And Leadership’, Annuals Of The University Of Oradea, Economic Science Series, pp. 744-749.
Joseph, O.B. (2015) ‘The effect of employees’ motivation on organizational performance’, Journal of Public Administration and Policy Research, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 62-75.
Lopez-Zafra, E., Garcia-Retamero, R. and Martos, M.B. (2012) ‘(2012). The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership And Emotional Intelligence From A Gendered Approach’, Psychological Record, vol. 62, no. 1, pp. 97-114.
Moon, T. and Hur, W. (2011) ‘Emotional Intelligence, Emotional Exhaustion, And Job Performance’, Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, vol. 39, no. 8, pp. 1087-1096.
Rehman, R. (2011) ‘Role of Emotional Intelligence on the Relationship among Leadership Styles, Decision Making Styles and Organizational Performance: A Review’, Interdisciplinary Journal Of Contemporary Research In Business, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 409-416.
Robbins, S., Judge, T.A., Millett, B. and Boyle, M. (2013) Organizational Behavior, 7th edition, Frenchs Forest Australia: Pearson Higher Education.
Rockstuhl, T., Seiler, S., Ang, S., Dyne, L.V. and Annen, H. (2011) ‘Beyond General Intelligence (IQ) and Emotional Intelligence (EQ): The Role of Cultural Intelligence (CQ) on Cross-Border Leadership Effectiveness in a Globalized World ‘, Journal Of Social Issues, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 825-840.
Sadri, G. (2012) ‘Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Development’, Public Personnel Management, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 535-548.
Yunus, N.J. and Anuar, S. (2012) ‘Trust As Moderating Effect Between Emotional Intelligence And Transformational Leadership Styles’, Interdisciplinary Journal Of Contemporary Research In Business, vol. 3, no. 10, pp. 650-663.
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