Everyone is basically emotional. It can be called basic human instinct. Everything people execute and abstain from doing is primarily actuated by deeper inner feelings. Emotional intelligence pertains to the ability to realize your own emotions and those of others, the inspiration of yourself and the management of emotions within and outside relationships. Research has revealed that an overwhelming percentage of essential abilities needed for effective leadership in the current scenarios are emotional competencies. Emotionally intelligent leaders have greater chances of being productive and they are likely to meet their targets. They are very much beneficial in the workplace. The contribution of inspirational leadership is very significant.
Emotional intelligence has become the touchstone of gauging potentially effective leadership. It is also a device to develop resolute leadership. Despite this notion, the empirical linkage of the two has not been sufficiently explored. Some studies, however, have stressed that effective leaders are characterized with transformational rather than transactional leadership ways. It is particularly true in the case of the multifactor leadership questionnaire. Emotional intelligence equated with many parts of transformational leadership stands to show that it is an integral part of effective leadership. Especially, emotional intelligence may reveal how effective leaders spearhead and reply to subordinates and make them feel in the working ambience. Emotional intelligence is much-needed competence. It greatly impacts the team and personal leadership. The concept of emotional intelligence has come to the fore in 1995. “The theories and concepts developed by Goleman and others with respect to emotional intelligence have strongly influenced the way our Firm measures and evaluates effective leadership at an individual and organizational level” (Sean Davies – Egon Zehnder International, emotional intelligence and leadership). The components of emotional intelligence are very crucial and have an enormous influence on the character of effective leadership. These are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. In recent times, there has been much focus on the correlation between the two and a lot of research has been facilitated to draw the linkages. It has become one of the foremost factors underlying effective leadership and comes to be called sine qua non for such leadership ability. It is the most fundamental capability with which an executive must be armed for the entry-level position. Evaluation of workplace performance is largely through the prism of emotional intelligence. It has also been observed that high-level employees look at their emotional intelligence through a mirror which shows this capability in an inflated way. This is due to fact that they have lesser input for introspection and they do not pay proper heed to others who can give an appropriate analysis of the true situation. However, the point to be stressed here despite the unevenness of the measuring capability of the senior executive positions serves to highlight the importance of emotional intelligence in the circles of senior managerial circles. Both are intertwined in any workplace and without emotional intelligence, leadership cannot be called effective. It is not able to realize its true potential which has become very necessary in modern workplaces.
References
Sean Davies – Egon Zehnder International, emotional intelligence and leadership. CEO forum group. 2008. Web.