Leadership Theory and Practice: Emotional Intelligence and Leadership

This essay delves into the significance of emotional intelligence (EI) as a crucial element for effective leadership. It explores how EI, defined as the ability to understand and manage one's own emotions and those of others, drives better organizational behavior by fostering stronger connections between leaders and employees. The essay highlights the importance of self-awareness, communication, and decision-making in the context of EI. The author reflects on the results of a personal EI test, identifying strengths in emotional identification and expression while acknowledging areas for improvement, particularly in perception and interaction. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for proactive engagement, improved listening skills, and a focus on honing personality traits to cultivate a more effective leadership style, ultimately contributing to both professional and personal growth. The author also emphasizes the importance of continuous self-assessment and the application of emotional intelligence in daily activities to enhance leadership capabilities.

Running Head: Leadership Theory and Practice
Leadership Theory and Practice

Leadership Theory and Practice 1
“Personality and Leadership”
Emotional intelligence refers to the ability of a person to monitor the growth of oneself and other
people working with them and use an emotional approach to guide people and initiate activities
in the management. It refers to the process of using the emotional capabilities of a person and
initiating activities for the betterment of the company (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2013). The
organizational behavior is highly motivated with the use of emotional intelligence in an
organization as it motivates the employees and helps the employees to work more effectively for
the organization. Under this process, a leader governs the behavior of all employee working in
the organization and motivates them accordingly to initiate activities in the company. People in
the environment gain feelings for things and get attached to them (Mittal, & Sindhu, 2012).
These things affect their emotions, so a good emotional leader is person who does not harm the
interest of a person instead use these sources to motivate the person to work better. The purpose
of this task is to provide a brief overview of the emotional intelligence as an important driver for
effective leadership; additionally it also talks about my leadership potential to work in an
organization and how can I improve my capabilities to increase effectiveness. The latter part of
the essay talks about the review of my Emotional Intelligence test and its impact on your
leadership potential.

Leadership Theory and Practice 2
Source: (Brackett, Rivers, & Salovey, 2011)
Yes I strongly believe that emotional intelligence is an important tool for the leaders to properly
initiate their actions at workplace. In my perspective, emotional intelligence refers to the act
under which the leader analyses the emotional need of the employee and enact their actions so as
to create a bond with them. This activity helps the employees to share a bond with the employees
and help organization to achieve better (Côté, Lopes, Salovey, & Miners, 2010). Further it
should be noted that it is the duty of a leader to form strategy and implement actions to complete
the mission of the organization. A leader having emotional intelligence will make approachable
goals which will provide benefits to the employees along with the top management of the
organization (Maloş, 2011).
Further it should be noted that emotional intelligence is regarded as the best driver of effective
leadership because it analyses and evaluates the all the circumstances and then take decision
considering all the possible factors which can impact the growth of the company. Thus, this type
of dynamic approach helps a leader to create an effective impact on the company. A leader

Leadership Theory and Practice 3
having emotional intelligence gains benefits in initiating business activities while comparing
other leaders without EI. This quality helps a leader to create self-awareness within them, as self-
awareness refers to the ability to recognize and understand emotions of oneself and other people
working with them (PANAIT, 2017). Self-awareness instigates a person to focus on their
feelings and recognize their emotional state as well. Further, the personal competencies of a
leader are also developed with the use of emotional intelligence in the organization; as with the
use of these features they become capable to assess their own capabilities and develop self-
confidence as well. Thus, summing up the above analysis, I believe that emotional intelligence
makes a person self-evaluative and initiate social-awareness within them which helps them to
take decisions more correctly (Sadri, 2012).
Furthermore talking about the response of my personal emotional intelligence test, I came to
know about many facts that can successfully help me to develop my understanding towards an
issue. The report claimed that I gained 52 marks in the test, it also stated that I have some basic
skills when it comes to talk about identification, perceiving, and expressing my emotions to
myself an others. This stated that I am not low and not too good in identifying and analyzing my
capabilities. So, there is great scope for me to improve my core capabilities. By improving these
aspects I can become an effective leader in my future professional career (Psychology Today,
2018). According to me, leadership is not only used in professional world but it is required in
regular day to day activities of a person as well. Nobody listens to a person who does not have
adequate leadership skills within them. So basically the leadership capabilities of a person make
other people to listen to him. The result of my personality evaluation test didn’t come up good
but it gave a positive hope to me. As I score average (52) marks which gives me an opportunity
to improve my core competencies to become an effective leader. About my leadership potential,

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the test said that I have basic skills of emotional intelligence and communication but there is
more scope of improvement. I need to work on my way of expressing myself and perception
skills in order to become a successful leader (Kurvers, et. al., 2009). When it comes to
leadership, the basic skills required in a good leader are communication, decision making
quality, commitment and accountability. So, my test results said that I have an expression of all
these capabilities in my behavior but I need to polish them more for my future professional
growth. The result also positively exclaimed that I have potential to improve and excel in
professional world just by working on the above mentioned skills and capabilities (Boyatzis,
Good, & Massa, 2012). Thus, the report gave me a guide with the help of which I can easily
become a good and influential leader in the environment. Now I just need to work on this
information to further nurture my behavior as a good leader. An effective leader is a person who
uses all his capabilities to bring an output from the work which they perform. So, the above
mentioned information will adequately support me to improve myself for my future sustainable
growth (Nga, & Shamuganathan, 2010).
I am an observant person but do not prefer saying everything in the group. So, first of all I need
to change my nature of being less interactive and become a person who is a part of every
conversation. This will make people listen my point of views as well. Interaction in groups helps
people in encouraging their self-confidence and open up their mind as well. So, becoming more
communicative will initiate positive changes in my personality. Also, all effective leaders are
good listener along with good speaker, so I need to become a good listener as well. A person
cannot effectively run a team without knowing the issues of their team. Further, the test tells
about the factors which are lacking behind in my personality to become an effective leader. So,
in this way this information becomes useful to me in my future pursuits of life. Also, as I

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mentioned earlier that leadership is an important feature which is required in every field and in
both professional as well as personal life (Harms, & Credé, 2010).
It should also be noted that the presence of emotional intelligence in a person makes them more
proactive towards activities happening in the organization. So, according to Strang, & Kuhnert,
2009 in order to build leadership skills in personality, I need to involve emotional intelligence in
my regular activities. This will enhance my behavior towards things and change my attitude as
well which will further boost up my growth.
Many professional like Rockstuhl, Seiler, Ang, Van Dyne, & Annen, 2011have shared their word
on personality and leadership potential of a person. Some people say that leadership skills are not
adopted by a person but instead they are inherent in a person. While other professional people
argue against this statement by stating that leadership skills of a person changes according to the
way with which they behave in the society and a person can easily change the leadership traits
present within them in order to attain better results. I also agree to the second statement that a
person can easily change their behavior by working on it. Further, many people say that
leadership style is highly personal thing and it depends from person to person that how they work
under different circumstances. According to Petrides, 2010 as the trait theory of leadership
suggests that a person has inborn traits of the leading the environment and such traits cannot be
developed in future as it is a part of them from the beginning. So, taking it in a positive way, it
should be believed that I have average traits of leadership in me but rest I need to improve in
order to achieve growth. Expression and perceiving are two most important aspects which were
focused on my personality test. As the test stated that I need to improve these areas in order to
attain the capabilities of emotional intelligence in my behavior. In this way I will gain a better
position to read others, also with the help of this process it will become easy for me to

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understand others and feel their emotions as well. Also with this test I came to know that I
certainly have more potential than I actually think of but I just need to properly analyze it and
work on them. According to Antonakis, Ashkanasy, & Dasborough, 2009, leadership traits
which I or any other person possess are different and no other person can have that type of skills
within them, so I need to mold my function in such a way that an effective output is created from
the work which I perform. This test helped me knowing myself more in a better way. Also it
helped me in valuing myself, during a conversation, when no person understands my views and
values, at that point I need to stand up raise a point and make sense, instead of sitting at a corner.
These are true traits of a leader which I need to develop within me which I got to know by
reading information written by Groves, Pat McEnrue, & Shen, 2008. Also I do not need to
become a different person or change my personal attitude; the test results suggested me to
overcome barriers just by honing my personality style. It is one of the most powerful key in
developing a good leadership behavior. As firstly, I need to know about myself more so that I
can find the areas where I need to make changes. Every person has their different leadership
style like I have; I only need to be more confident in my decision and be more expressive as
well. Along with expression, perceiving is also an important part of the effective leadership.
According to the words of Cavazotte, Moreno, & Hickmann, 2012, I should not judge activities;
instead I should be aware of activities and interpret them positively in order to get better
outcomes. Every work presented in the environment has its own essence and important, it should
not be judged or compared with any other person’s work. Lastly, it should be noted that
developing emotional intelligence is an important task in the growth process of a person’s
effective leadership process. Development of this phase can easily improve my personal skills to
become a good professional. The emotional intelligence test adequately supported in knowing

Leadership Theory and Practice 7
my flaws and working on them to become better. This test helped me knowing about my
personality traits which I didn’t knew existed in me. The overall result of the test appeared
satisfactory. Thus, in the limelight of above mentioned events, it should be noted that emotional
intelligence is an important part of the growth process of an individual as it not only helps in
making good decision but also in understanding team mates as well. Further, the essay talks
about my personality test and skills where I need to improve in order to become a successful
effective leader.

Leadership Theory and Practice 8
References
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Cavazotte, F., Moreno, V., & Hickmann, M. (2012). Effects of leader intelligence, personality
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Sadri, G. (2012). Emotional intelligence and leadership development. Public Personnel
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