Organisational teams are put together keeping a particular organisational goal in mind. The teams comprise people with diverse skills, mentalities and backgrounds. In such a situation, the formal leader would definitely attract a following if he has leadership qualities, as in, a 3D personality (refer to my post, The anatomy of a leader, Mar 19, 2012), but a fourth personality dimension is necessary to sustain that following. That fourth dimension is Emotional Intelligence.
Sometime in 1998, I read Daniel Goleman’s book “Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ”, and later, his books “Working with Emotional Intelligence” and “Primal Leadership”. These books put into clearer perspective that which I had perceived, but never analysed, earlier- there are certain things about outstanding business leaders that separate them from others - a set of competencies that distinguishes how people manage feelings, interact, and communicate.Everybody feels. In fact, it is impossible not to have feelings, and it is perfectly alright for you to be happy, sad, angry, resentful or even feel hopeless. What is important is to be aware of your feelings, the stimuli that evoke these feelings, and further, the behaviour that predictably follows the feelings. In the same manner, you must be able to understand the stimuli that evoke certain feelings in others and the behaviour that predictably follows.
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to perceive and understand emotions- one’s own as well as others’- and to use this awareness to pause, be flexible and purposefully direct one’s behaviour.
Leaders with a high emotional intelligence quotient are able to control mood swings and have high frustration tolerance, and thus, have the perseverance to achieving goals as well as have a positive attitude. They also have great empathy and can manage interactions and conflict better.
© Sujata Khanna. All rights reserved.
