Self-Reflection: Leadership Style and Emotional Intelligence Analysis

This report presents a self-reflection on the student's leadership style, identifying it as democratic based on a mindtool leadership test. The report details how the student actively involves team members and demonstrates charismatic leadership in various projects, including a research paper on orphan's lifestyle. It discusses the importance of emotional intelligence, encompassing self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and social skill, and relates these concepts to the student's leadership approach. The report also acknowledges the shortcomings of the democratic style in high-pressure situations and emphasizes the need for effective communication and conflict resolution techniques. Finally, the report concludes that the combination of democratic leadership and emotional intelligence enables the student to set goals, guide team discussions, and make decisions, leading to a positive trajectory in their career.

Running Head: Self reflection of Leadership style and emotional intelligence
Self reflection of Leadership style and emotional intelligence
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Self reflection of Leadership style and emotional intelligence
Self reflection of Leadership style and emotional intelligence
According to Sharma & Singh, (2013), today, the business environment is changing
continuously and it is important for an individual to possess certain leadership style to face all
types’ scenarios and make an appropriate strategy. It is important to act in right manner at the
right time in business (Martin, 2016). Leaders are the backbone of the company, where all the
decisions are taken by them by collaborating with employees. In order to know my style of
leadership, I have appeared in the mindtool leadership test. It has a list of 12 statements where I
had to rate each sentence as per my opinion. The score that I got was 26, and this score states that
I possess a democratic kind of leadership style. Scores depicts that I am participative and social
in nature (mindtools.com, 2018).
According to the Sharma & Singh, (2013) democratic leader actively involves each and
every team member in the process. I do the same. I have been asked to prepare a document on
the life style of kids at orphan age. As a general procedure, such types of research papers are
written based on secondary data and interviews. However, one of our members suggested going
and meeting those kids in person, whose lifestyle was being assessed. We found that if we will
observe them and spend time with them, we will be able to get many insights regarding their
lifestyle, hobby, education, likes and dislikes etc. I liked the idea but all of us were not sure about
the visit. I had my family relative working with an NGO and hence had a chance to visit the
same. My team and I were ready to visit the place where these kids were living and performing
all the tasks independently. After observing them, we were amused by the way kids live their
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Self reflection of Leadership style and emotional intelligence
life. We learnt from those kids that whatever happens in life, good or bad, is a learning for us; a
learning to enhance ourselves in future. The insights were helpful to write in-depth research
paper regarding the lifestyle of kids at orphan age home. The paper was published in one of the
school magazines as well.
According to the Dolly & Nonyelum, (2018), democratic leaders influences positively on
overall performance of the organization. Furthermore, I discussed the issues face by those kids
with our parents, and all parents agreed to contribute in some or the other way to the orphan age.
I continued going there for the next few years, and gave them (Orphan age) consultation for
attracting more donation and sponsorships. There was 20% increase in the donations as
compared to previous years. I had initiated collaboration with few prestigious schools to give 5-7
seats to these students which can make them more competitive in the market. The discussion was
in progress while I had to focus on my higher studies and hence, I had to stop going there. Here,
I proved to be a democratic leader (leading the team) and charismatic leader (influencing parents
and sponsors).
According to the Goleman (2000), emotional intelligence is the capability to manage
ourselves and our relationships effectively (Goleman, 2000). The aspect of emotional
intelligence discusses majorly four fundamental abilities: self-awareness, self-management,
social awareness, and social skill. Each element, in turn, consists of particular sets of
competencies and proficiencies. Below is a list of the capabilities and their corresponding traits.
When I relate my leadership style with the analysis in the article, the analysis states that
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Self reflection of Leadership style and emotional intelligence
democratic leader has a good emotional competence as he deals with team on regular basis. I
need to learn to manage my emotions under pressurize situation.
According to Martin, (2016), democratic leaders can build trust between you and your
people, as they'll likely feel engaged and valued. But it's not great in a high-pressure situation. I
feel, here democratic leadership style has a shortcoming, where everybody has a different point
of view and there is a sense of urgency in taking critical decisions. This makes me confused and
such confusion leads to conflict, it is important to learn effective communication skills to consult
the team. I will have to learn few conflict resolution techniques and appropriately use the
concepts of emotional intelligence.
Overall, after studying the emotional intelligence and democratic leadership style which I
possess, it enables me to set my goals, guide team discussions, and make the final decision which
would take me towards a positive trajectory of knowledge. This approach helps me to excel in
the career by having number of ideas and opinions, and the varied opinion helps me to evaluate
the different alternatives available and subsequently, it helps me to select the best alternative
after looking at all the options on the table. Precisely, the chances of failure will be less in this
case.
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Self reflection of Leadership style and emotional intelligence
References
Dolly, K., & Nonyelum, O. (2018). IMPACT OF DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP STYLE ON
JOB performance. International journal of research , 6 (10), 232-240.
Goleman, D. (2000). Leadership That Gets Results. HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW , 86-90.
Martin. (2016, November 16). Democratic Leadership Guide: Definition, Qualities, Pros &
Cons, Examples. Retrieved September 29, 2019, from Www.cleverism.com:
https://www.cleverism.com/democratic-leadership-guide/
mindtools.com. (2018). What's Your Leadership Style? Retrieved from
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/leadership-style-quiz.htm
Sharma, J. K., & Singh, K. (2013). A Study on the Democratic Style of Leadership. International
Journal of Management & Information Technology , 3 (2), 54-57.
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