The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Effective Leadership Skills

This essay examines the application of emotional intelligence in a leadership scenario, where a group leader's emotional outburst during a project meeting is analyzed. The essay identifies indicators of emotional change, such as sudden movements, raised voice, and threatening language, and discusses the negative impacts of uncontrolled anger on leadership effectiveness. The intervention to help the leader express herself calmly and the subsequent advice on self-reflection, self-regulation, and empathy are detailed. The essay concludes by highlighting the importance of emotional intelligence for leaders to maintain trust and effectively guide their teams, emphasizing the value of self-awareness and understanding others' perspectives.

Running head: EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Emotional Intelligence
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Emotional Intelligence
There was a time when a colleague at work evidently displayed her emotions. We
were doing a group project and she was the leader. As the leader of the group, she was tasked
with the role of overseeing all the operations of the group. At the beginning of the project, we
had agreed to be meeting at certain days of the week. The time and venues were also agreed
upon by all members of the group. There is one member of the group who was late for the
first and second meeting. He was pardoned but requested not continue with the habit. When
he came late for the third time, the group leader was very angry. She suddenly stopped the
proceedings of the group meeting, stood up and yelled at him accusing him of being lazy.
This happened as soon as the group member showed up. He was 30 minutes late. She talked
to him at a raised voice and threatened to throw him out of the group if he were not to
change. She remained rather quiet for the rest of the meeting.
There are several indicators that I used to determine the changes in the emotional state
of the group leader. The first indicator is that she suddenly stood up. Sudden movements
often indicate sudden changes in the emotional state (Barron and Hurley, 2018). The other
was her raised voice. It was obvious from the voice that she was angry. The final indicator
was the choice of her words. The words were full of threats to the late member including the
threat that he could be thrown out of the group. Anger is often associated with unreasoned
judgement (Antonova, 2016).
I was sitting next to her. I realized that the group member who was late became very
uncomfortable. I intervened to help her express herself in a better way. Before she could talk
for long, I begged her to let the group member explain himself. I made her understand that
the group member could have had an issue that prevented him from arriving on time. She
calmed down and expressed herself in a calm manner. I also made her understand that the

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emotional response employed (anger) could have negative impacts on her role as group
leader. For instance, the members could lose trust her if she lacked the ability to control her
anger. The other impact was that she could fail as a leader. Effective leaders are known to
have the ability to control their emotions (Fitzpatrick, Shete and Richards, 2018).
After the meeting, I talked to the group leader about emotional intelligence. I had
learnt about the concept and its advantages especially to a leader. I informed that it would be
good if she occasionally did self-reflections. Self-reflections help a person become more
aware of themselves (Panait, 2017). I also advised her to master the art of self-regulation. In
addition, I told her that it is always good to fit into the shoes of others so that she can imagine
their situation. If she did that, she could adopt a more empathetic approach.

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References
Antonova Ivanova, D. (2016). Emotional intelligence and leadership. (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp.
217–229). London: Sage Publications.
Barron, D., & Hurley, J. (2018). Emotional intelligence and leadership. In Emotional
Intelligence in Health and Social Care (pp. 75-87). Routledge.
Fitzpatrick, L., Shete, R., & Richards, R. (2018). Emotional Intelligence and Leadership.
Cambridge university Press.
Panait, C. (2017). Emotional intelligence in leadership. London: Sage Publications.