Importance of Emotional Intelligence for Effective Leadership

Emotional Intelligence 0
Emotional Intelligence is the sine
qua non of leadership
Student’s Name
6/29/2019

Emotional Intelligence 1
Introduction
A leader is a person who controls the activities of the business and is responsible for the
development of the strategy to implementation of it. It has the authority to direct the actions
of the employees and aligning all the actions towards the achievement of the common goal. It
is analyzed that emotional intelligence is the key essential requirement that allows the leader
to become great leaders and effectively manage the activities of the business (Antonakis and
Day, 2017).
The leaders who have a high degree of emotional intelligence are able to become successful
leaders and strongly perform in the organization. It allows the leader to develop their
capabilities and create a culture where the best employees are retained. To become a
successful leader the determination and vision is insufficient it has become imperative for the
leader to have qualities such as self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, social skill, and
empathy (Mayer, Caruso and Salovey, 2016). It is analyzed that emotional intelligence and
the organization performance have the positive relationship and all the leaders with a high
degree of emotional intelligence are able to run their business successfully and efficiently
accomplish the goals of the organization (Petrides et al, 2016). The further paragraphs of the
report will critique the importance of emotional intelligence for effective leadership. It will
also the negative responses and views which will showcase that components of emotional
intelligence are not required to convert the leaders into the great leaders.
Importance of emotional intelligence for effective
leadership
The concept of emotional intelligence describes the ability to manage and influence one’s
own emotion and the emotion of others. It is analyzed that emotional intelligence is the key

Emotional Intelligence 2
skill for effective leadership. Development of such skill allows the leader to make the self-
analysis and control the emotions of oneself. It helps in influencing the behavior of the
employees and effectively managing the issues faced in the business (Serrat, 2017).
The main components of emotional intelligence include Self-Awareness that describes the
ability to be aware of one’s own emotions, strengths, and weakness. It also includes values
and goals and analysis of one’s own behavior to analyze the impact on the others. It helps in
boosting the confidence and managing of the work so that it does not get to the worst
situations and creation of a negative environment. The second is Self-Regulation which
describes the ability to control the disruptive emotions. It includes the ability to get
comfortable in complex situations and performs the task with full integrity. Third, Motivation
which describes the ability to influence the actions of others and encouraging to work
towards the common goals. It also covers the passion to move towards positive changes
(Lievens and Chan, 2017).
The other two components are empathy and social skill that describes the ability to
understand the emotions of others in taking the decisions for the organization and also covers
the ability of the leader to develop relationships and move the people towards the desired
actions.
It is analyzed that emotional intelligence is considered as a key skill that differentiates a
leader from great leaders. The leaders with emotional intelligence are able to create a safe
working environment where the employees get the opportunity to calculate the risk and
provide constructive suggestions for the company. It allows the leader to be self-aware and
make the decisions accordingly. The leaders who are aware of their strengths and weakness
make rational decisions that are best for the company. It allows the leader to control their

Emotional Intelligence 3
impulsive decisions and build a strong rapport with their employees to gain their trust and
bring efficiency in operations (Carson, Carson and Birkenmeier, 2016).
The leaders who acquire emotional intelligence skill consider the suggestion given by the
employees and understand the emotions of the employees to make thoughtful decisions that
are beneficial for all. The leader effectively communicates with the employees and does not
inbuilt any negative feelings under the employees. They focus on creating a positive working
environment and provide a work-life balance. It creates the supporting culture in the
organization where the manager and the employees validate each other decisions and have a
positive perspective regarding the dynamic situations (Carson, Carson and Birkenmeier,
2016).
To understand the importance of emotional intelligence for effective leadership various large
scale organizations have hired a psychologist to develop the competency models for all
positions and have divided the skills under technical skills, analytical skills, and competency
skills. The psychologist has identified the capabilities of the most outstanding leaders by
considering the criteria such as profitability of the divisions and the difference between the
competencies of the star performers and the average performers (Goleman and Boyatzis,
2017).
Through the tests and the interviews, the psychologist develops 15 crucial skills in which the
cognitive ability was an important part but the intellect was the most crucial factor to drive
the success of the leaders. It was examined that emotional intelligence was considered twice
important than the technical or IQ skills at all the job levels. In a comparison of the higher
level star performers and average performers, 90% of the star performers have high emotional
intelligence rather the cognitive skills (Thory, 2016).