Critical Learning Points
The article by Ronald E. Riggio and Rebecca J. Reichard (2008) offers an analysis of the social and emotional skills that should be developed by a leader. A number of their ideas appeared to be especially appealing to me. Since leadership presupposes working with people, the importance of social skills cannot be denied. The classification suggested in the article presupposes singling out social and emotional expressiveness, sensitivity and control.
While the importance of the separate skills has been outlined in the article, it is also implied that all of them are interconnected and interrelated. The complex of these skills should be developed, and the authors of the article suggest that assessment and reflection can help a leader in this process.
It appears to me that controlling one’s emotions is especially important both for the leaders’ images and the success of their managerial activities. At the same time, being emotionally expressive, as the article emphasizes, is necessary for a charismatic leader. It helps one to motivate and inspire employees and facilitates the relationship building process.
The effective means of expressing disapproval are of great interest to me. I realize that criticism is necessary both for the business and the employees since a leader should encourage their development. At the same time, I understand that irritability or anger would in most cases be counterproductive and may damage the relationship between myself and an employee as suggested by the authors of the article.
Therefore, in the process of reprimanding both the emotional expressiveness and control are needed along with emotional sensitivity as the reaction of the employee needs to be assessed and taken into account. Apart from that, the article emphasizes the significance of effective listening, which also corresponds to my personal views.
The research in the article proves that being emotionally and socially sensitive facilitates the creation of a healthy trust- and respect-based relationship with the employees. Finally, it is noteworthy that social expressiveness and control are important for a leader’s image and, subsequently, career advancement. All of this proves that the development of the mentioned social skills is crucial for me as a leader.
Applying the Insights to the Future Career
Being most interested in human-oriented leadership, I have been paying particular attention to the part of the text devoted to the development of the leader’s relationships with the followers. I have come to the conclusion that by developing my social skills I will be able to build better relationships with my employees.
In my opinion, the development of social skills in many ways depends on self-improvement, self-reporting, and reflexion. Self-reporting has been suggested by the authors of the article as a way of social skills assessment and their subsequent improvement.
I realize that this method may be partially ineffective and should not become the only way of assessment of one’s actions. Still, in my opinion, it facilitates the process of developing a control over one’s emotions and especially their expression, and I intend to utilize it in future.
Thought-Provoking Questions
1) I would like to discuss the effective means of expressing disapproval to the employees.
2) The article points out the importance effective listening and the difficulties of operationally defining it (Riggio & Reichard, 2008, p. 178). I would like my peers to express their ideas concerning this term and integrate them in a relatively consistent description.
Reference
Riggio, R., & Reichard, R. (2008). The Emotional and Social Intelligences of Effective Leadership. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 23(2), 169-185. doi:10.1108/02683940810850808