Introduction
Emotional intelligence (EI) is an important part of people’s lives. It defines the success of their communication with others and the understanding of their own identities. In addition, EI is a crucial component of leadership as it defines a leader’s ability to guide people based on their voluntary desire to follow. This reflection paper addresses EI and its importance, presents the self-assessment of EI, and suggests how it may be developed.
Emotional Intelligence and Its Importance
In general, emotional intelligence (EI) is regarded as a person’s ability to assess and manage his own emotions along with the understanding and influence of the feelings of other people around him. It was introduced by Thorndike in 1920 as “social intelligence” and later included in Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence (Drigas & Papoutsi, 2018, p. 4). However, the modern concept was developed by American psychologists Peter Salovey and John Mayer in 1990 and extended by Daniel Goleman, who perceived EI as an intrinsic component of life success (Drigas & Papoutsi, 2018).
At the same time, EI is a crucial component of efficient leadership, and the majority of leaders can identify, understand, express, and control emotions. Regardless of the sphere of performance, they constantly deal with people, motivating them to fulfill their potential and grow. However, with a lack of EI, a leader cannot communicate with others efficiently and lead people based on their desire, inspiration, and empathy. In other words, leadership is determined not by an official position that presupposes following but by people’s voluntary decision to listen to a leader and accept his guidance.
Components of Emotional Intelligence
Although the understanding of EI may vary depending on the field of application, five major components of it are traditionally identified. According to Goleman, they include self-awareness, self-regulation, self-motivation, empathy, and social skills (Issah, 2018). With the elements of realistic self-assessment, self-confidence, and a self-deprecating sense of humor, self-awareness presupposes a person’s ability to understand his emotions, drives, and modes along with their impact on others (Issah, 2018).
Self-awareness is expressed through consistency in principles and moods, openness and transparency, understanding of values, and willingness to address weaknesses – in other words; it implies feeling comfortable being who you are and acting based on personal beliefs regardless of a place and time. In turn, self-regulation with the hallmarks of trustworthiness, openness to change, comfort with ambiguity, and integrity refers to an individual’s ability to control his potentially disruptive moods or impulses (Issah, 2018).
Self-motivation, the third component of EI, may be regarded as a passion for working with persistence and energy and achieving goals for intrinsic reasons beyond status or financial awards (Issah, 2018). Empathy may be defined as a person’s ability to understand others’ emotional states and treat them according to their reactions. Finally, social skills refer to proficiency in finding common ground with people, building networks, and managing relationships.
Emotional Intelligence in Leadership
In the series dedicated to emotional intelligence, multiple aspects resonate with my perception of EI and its importance for efficient leaders. For instance, in the first episode, John Maxwell states that the most difficult challenge in leading is leading yourself, and I agree with it (“Emotional intelligence (Part 1),” 2020). A considerable number of people do not understand themselves – thus, they cannot regulate themselves based on self-awareness and consistency in values, beliefs, drives, and principles.
At the same time, without accountability for your behaviors and actions, it is impossible to lead others, motivate and inspire them, and create an environment of trust and fairness. Moreover, I agree with Maxwell that the highest standards should be applied to yourself, and genuine leaders never ask from someone more than they ask from themselves. The only person who always stays with me and will stay with me is myself – thus, living by the highest standards is the only way to feel good.
In the second episode, there is another thing that resonates with me a lot. In particular, talking about empathy, Maxwell says that genuine leaders always address people’s hearts before their minds (“Emotional intelligence (Part 2),” 2020). Thus, in developing new materials, he considers the four Hs – humor to make people laugh, heart to awaken their emotions, hopes to inspire them and help to show them away.
In addition, according to Maxwell, there are multiple cultural and individual differences between people, and it is almost impossible to win their trust without addressing their hearts (“Emotional intelligence (Part 2),” 2020). That is why he calls people his friends whenever he addresses a new audience, aiming to show how much he cares about them. Thus, empathy, as an ability to understand people’s feelings and treat them respectfully, determines genuine leadership.
Analysis of the Results of Self-Assessment
As previously mentioned, the components of EI may differ depending on the area in which this concept is applied. Therefore, the dimensions of EI may include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management (Neck et al., 2020). Based on my self-assessment, I received the following results: first of all, I got 13 points in the dimension of self-awareness, and according to the interpretation, my functioning is adequate, however, it requires additional strengthening.
In general, the dimension of self-awareness corresponds to the component of self-awareness that defines my ability to understand and evaluate my own emotions, along with consistency in moods, values, and principles. All in all, I may say that I agree with these results as I generally have a set of standards, norms, values, and beliefs, and I follow them with family members, friends, colleagues, and unfamiliar people. However, I do not always want to address my weaknesses or be open to unpleasant or unexpected changes. In addition, sometimes I am not consistent in my moods – in other words, I have considerably strong mood swings without obvious reasons. Thus, I suppose I require additional help in the assessment of my personality.
In the areas of self-management and social awareness, I received 19 points – these results indicate advanced strengths that may be used to improve the outcomes in other areas. I agree with this assessment as well, as regardless of my previously mentioned mood swings and concerns about changes, I control my behaviors, words, and actions. I understand that my emotional instability may negatively impact my relationships with other people, however, I would like to assess its reasons to make my self-regulation easier. At the same time, I always try to respect others’ feelings and emotions regardless of my reactions in the same situation.
Meanwhile, in the dimension of relationship management, I got 17 points, and this result demonstrates my adequate functioning in this area. In other words, I can manage others’ emotions to build strong relationships with them.
Development of Team Members’ Emotional Intelligence
EI is an essential ability for almost any team member, regardless of his company’s sphere of operation. Alongside productivity and proficiency in corporate goals achievement, employees should have strong interpersonal skills to contribute to the avoidance of conflicts and the formation of a healthy working environment established on the principles of openness, trust, and respect (Thompson et al., 2020).
At the same time, while some experts “view EI more as a type of personality trait and believe that EI should be assessed via self-report measures the way other personality traits are measured,” others state that EI belongs to skills that may be acquired and developed (Miao et al., 2018, p. 680). Thus, if I were the boss, I would try to develop the EI of my team members to contribute to their life success not only in the workplace but outside it as well.
In general, I believe that successful development requires three major components, including positive example, theory, and practice. In other words, people will not demonstrate EI if they do not know what it is and how it should be applied. In this case, I would implement a complex approach – first of all, I would focus on my own EI to serve as a role model for my subordinates and colleagues, showing how emotionally intelligent people talk and act.
The next step would be the organization of assertiveness training, which is dedicated to the general understanding of EI. In other words, people should have a theoretical basis to apply knowledge to practice. Finally, I would monitor how successfully the principles of EI are used by team members.
Conclusion
EI defines a person’s ability to understand and regulate his emotions and assess the feelings of other people for efficient communication with them. In this work, I examined the concept of EI, received a highly beneficial insight into its aspects, and conducted a self-assessment of EI. In general, I perceived the importance of this ability for leaders, and as a person with a well-developed EI, I believe that I may suggest the way of its improvement for others.
References
Drigas, A. S., & Papoutsi, C. (2018). A new layered model on emotional intelligence. Behavioral Sciences, 8(45), 1-17. Web.
Emotional intelligence (Part 1). (2020). Maxwell Leadership Podcast. Web.
Emotional intelligence (Part 2). (2020). Maxwell Leadership Podcast. Web.
Issah, M. (2018). Change leadership: The role of emotional intelligence. Sage Open, 8(3), 1-6. Web.
Miao, C., Humphrey, R. H., & Qian, S. (2018). Emotional intelligence and authentic leadership: A meta-analysis. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(5), 679-690. Web.
Neck, C. P., Houghton, J. D., & Murray, E. L. (2020). Organizational behavior: A skill-building approach. SAGE
Thompson, C. L., Kuah, A. T., Foong, R., & Ng, E. S. (2020). The development of emotional intelligence, self‐efficacy, and locus of control in Master of Business Administration students. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 31(1), 113-131. Web.