Integrating Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

Ask a room of individuals on what they would identify with leadership and you come across a myriad of answers that range between motivations, strategy, building culture and leading individuals. A precise action that would be undertaken by the leader would be to achieve results.

There has been a mystery to find the right mix iterating and reiterating between various attributes and skills that would be involved around the leader. The rise of life coaches, mentors, advisors and leadership teachers has added madness to the mix. Adding to this, the complexity of the human workforce has made the pursuit of the right skill a journey of a lifetime.

Research is yet to quantify the exact set of leadership patterns that would yield results to a group of individuals. However a study that was undertaken by a consulting firm Hay/McBer drew a random sample of 3,871 executives out of a sample size of 20000 individuals. The research addressed six effective leadership styles that originated from emotional intelligence.

Each of the six different components are seamlessly mixed to lead a team. Just as a golfer would select from an array of clubs to meet the demand of a particular shot, so would be the leader’s role to identify the best practice to address a scenario. Leadership would thus become a function of choice than of individual personality.

The emotional competency that was expected through the random sampling included?self-awareness, self -regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill. This matched with leadership bore practices that were revered by the sample size.

Anyone who practices leadership consciously or unconsciously undertakes these six styles of leadership. The best leaders know how to choose between a set of flexible practices. They are ...

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Source : HBR’s 10 Must Reads – Managing People by Daniel Goleman

(Adapted from Seal Education Newsletter)