What do you do if your career success in Servant Leadership is hindered by a lack of emotional intelligence?
Servant leadership is a style of leadership that emphasizes serving the needs, interests, and goals of others over imposing one's own agenda or authority. This type of leader empowers, inspires, and develops their followers, creating a culture of trust, collaboration, and innovation. To be an effective servant leader though, more than just good intentions and a vision are required; emotional intelligence is essential. Emotional intelligence is the capacity to understand, manage, and express your own and others' emotions in positive ways.
Emotional intelligence plays an important role for servant leadership as it allows for effective communication with diverse people and situations, building strong relationships with followers and stakeholders, motivating and influencing others to reach common goals, dealing with stress and feedback constructively, adapting to changing circumstances, and learning from mistakes. Without emotional intelligence, connecting with your followers may be difficult; you could also face resistance or criticism from those who perceive you as insensitive or incompetent. This could impede your career success, as well as the performance and well-being of your team and organization.
If you feel that your emotional intelligence is hindering your success as a servant leader, there are practical steps you can take to improve. These tips can help you become a more effective and respected servant leader.