The Emotionally Intelligent Leader—PART 1

Are you an emotionally intelligent leader? What does it mean to be emotionally intelligent? Does emotional intelligence really matter to me as in individual? Well, before exploring in details the vitality of emotional intelligence and the impact of our daily emotions—positive or negation, I would want you to take a few minutes to ponder over these questions: Do I really understand my emotional make-up? Am I able to read others emotions and react positively to them? Do I find it difficult to get along with some people? Am I really open to change? Really, emotional intelligence is about understanding your emotions and that of others, so you can relate well with self and others. In my leadership forum on facebook (Elvis Leadership Forum), I posted an article titled: What every follower wants in a leader. In response to that article, one of the members, Tunji, asked me a question that goes: “Elvis this is a very good article. Personally my concern really lies around leadership. A leader’s mood has the ability to permeate through the organisation from the top and it can positively or negatively affect the organisation. I have seen it happen in the latter case and the outcome was really not pretty. How do followers remain motivated when some leaders lack the emotional intelligence to lead followers effectively?” In fact, the emotion that the leaders portray in an organization can be very contagious. Naturally, a leaders’ emotion, positive or negative, has a strong influence on employees’ productivity at workplace. When the leader exhibit positive mood or attitude that energizes employees, there will be high morale and energy.

To answer Tunji’s question as to, “How do followers (employees) remain motivated when some leaders lack the emotional intelligence to lead followers effectively”? I replied by saying that: Your relationship with your boss is one of the key elements to actualizing a fulfilled day at work. When you do not get along with your boss, you can never be fulfilled at work. Much as there are some bosses who are micro-managers and difficult to work with, we also have many others who aren’t difficult to deal with. Naturally, employees cannot change their boss’s behavior but they can find a meeting point or common ground on how to deal with them. This is where the employee applies emotional intelligence to deal with the situation. When an employee is emotionally intelligent, he or she can recognize the feelings of their boss or their colleagues, and thus, help promote a healthy collaboration and relationship of the team rather than react negatively to their actions. And likewise, an executive who is emotionally intelligent has the ability to motivate and harness the strength of the employees towards achieving the organizational goal. Emotional Intelligence is an essential key to effective leadership. According to research, “67% of the essential competencies required for effective leadership today are emotional competencies”. This further indicates that leaders who are emotionally intelligent are more attuned to understand the human dynamics which is a requisite to achieving greater results mostly in the organizational context where outburst of emotions abound due to pressures on the stakeholders to perform.

Emotional Intelligence has been broadly defined as your capacity to recognize your own feelings and those of others, for motivating yourself, and for managing emotions well in yourself and in your relationship.

Most people experience a range of both positive and negative emotions at work, for example

• Satisfaction—you have done an excellent piece of work
• Exhilaration—you have won a major contract or secure huge cash deposit from a client
• Pride—you have helped someone out a difficult situation or your place of work
• Anger—your work hasn’t been appreciated or dislike of what you are doing
• Frustration—your recommendations or proposals have been shelved indefinitely
• Anxiety—you are having trouble meeting deadlines
• Insecurity—the feeling of uneasiness with some people or place.

How Does Emotional Intelligence Work? When an emotion like anger, anxiety, or frustration is experienced, the human brain is programmed to respond to the threat and an emotional response is triggered. However, acting on that first impulse can lead you to say or do the things you later regret. As someone once said, “Speak while you are angry; you will make the best speech you will ever live to regret”. When you are angry, do you say the first thing that comes to mind? Therefore, emotional intelligence means that while you acknowledge your instinctive emotional response, you don’t act on it, but you step back from the situation and let rational thought influence and guide your actions.

See you at the Top!

Dr. Elvis UKPAKA

Author. Trainer. Coach. Consultant

Lead Consultant, Visiondrivers Mgt. Consulting

+234 810 654 5127, +234 817 123 5284

www.visiondrivers.com, www.elvisukpaka.com

info@visiondrivers.com, info@elvisukpaka.com