Introduction
Leaders who exhibit and nurture and cultivate high emotional intelligence (EI) automatically become effective leaders. EI inculcates self-awareness in a leader hence enabling the making of sound personal or professional decisions (Goleman, 2009). This is because decision-making requires an understanding of how feelings affect judgment, productivity, and attitude among others. Therefore, with emotional intelligence, effective leaders will be aware of their weaknesses, limitations, and also their strengths. Additionally, EI breeds self-regulation in leaders, allowing them to manage their emotions, behavior, and body movement when they are faced with difficult situations (Goleman, 2009). Self-regulation skill makes leaders dependable because they are in total control of their emotions and cannot make impulsive decisions (Mayer et al., 2004). As a result of their competence, they earn the respect of their subordinates or other colleagues. In essence, EI strengthens self-awareness and self-regulation skills in effective leaders thereby making them reliable.
EI is also critical in effective leadership because it bolsters empathy and collaborative communication in a leader. Since a leader is aware of his emotional state, he can then gauge the emotions of others (Goleman, 2009). In an organization setup, the leader can view things from the employees’ perspective rather than his standpoint alone. The strengthening of empathy is important in the formulation of thoughtful and deliberate decisions by a leader (Goleman, 2009). Moreover, efficient communication skills are also required in efficacious leaders. With emotionally intelligent leaders, they can understand the tone of discussion of their groups and speak with honesty and sincerity to match the tone or alleviate any tension that may arise (Mayer et al., 2004). Good communication skills help in the arbitrage of issues and enable the amicable solution to problems arising from the workplace. Undoubtedly, empathy and communication skills centered on EI provide peaceful co-existence between leaders and their followers.
Personal Leadership Assessment
As leaders face pressure regularly, there is always a great intensity of stress around them. Evidence-based strategies that are helpful in these situations are therefore important. A leader should pay great attention to the physical warning signs of stress and prepare himself emotionally (APA, 2020). The second strategy that a leader can use to manage a stressful situation is to pause and think critically before making any decision or major pronouncements (APA, 2020). Besides, a leader should engage in activities that promote self-care such as exercising and other physical activities. In summary, emotional self-awareness and self-management are the best strategies for stress management in leaders.
Two years ago, there was one of my co-workers, who was not attaining the set company targets in every quarter of the year, yet she was good at other office duties. The human resource officer was calling me weekly to lash at me for allowing incompetence to be part of my team. I approached the affected staff and convinced her to resign. Using the leadership strategies of managing stress, I could have paused and thought critically before persuading the member of my team to resign. I could have summoned him and talked to him to ensure I understand what was making him not perform his responsibilities. Also, self-care programs could have helped in managing my reaction to the situation. I could have gone to self-isolation and meditated on the issue before making any pronouncement. This new insight into EI to leadership will now influence my style of leadership. Most importantly, I will not rush to make any decision based on emotional stress, but take my time to critically analyze a situation. The EI skill will enable me to manage stress efficiently.
Personal Leadership Brand Statement
My leadership brand is entrepreneurial innovation so that I can oversee the development of new medicinal products and mentor new researchers. Since I understand that the companies or organizations that do not innovate die, my leadership style is to adopt an open innovation stratagem within the health industry (Bratton, 2020). I favor open innovation because it allows for purposive influx and cascades of clinical knowledge to hasten the development of new medicine and expand the market for such drugs. Being emotionally intelligent, I can understand the perspectives of other coworkers and create collaboration within the team to ensure research is approached from an entrepreneurial stance (Bratton, 2020). Indeed, my leadership brand is important in fast-tracking the changes in the pharmaceutical industry due to the stretching health sector due to other infections such as COVID-19.
Further, my leadership brand permits mentorship which is based on managing relationships. As such, the skill heavily relies on the correct application of EI in controlling my emotions and providing guidance when I am engaging my mentees. Therefore, not only will the mentees be motivated, but they will also build a positive relationship with me to enhance further research and make them more competent (Bratton, 2020). Other benefits that the mentees stand to gain are greater career success, excellent interpersonal skills, and effective leadership competencies (Bratton, 2020). The organization which I serve also stands to benefit from the mentorship program as it can also create more scientists and reduce its expenses on external mentors who would charge highly. Accordingly, emotionally intelligent mentorship in research and development expands my social skills of both I as a mentor boosting financial returns for my organization.
Personal Leadership Model
As a way of building a highly effective team, I need to combine my leadership strengths, EI, and leadership brand to create organizational success. I can introduce a fun factor through programs that promote self-care among members of the team (Bratton, 2020). Specifically, my initiatives can range from creating internal sports teams, creating groups with shared hobbies, and also interest groups to facilitate interaction among the team members. Additionally, I can employ diplomacy to allow members free-thinking and speak (Bratton, 2020). In consequence, understanding, and collaboration is nurtured and the team can operate as a unit. Remarkably, self-awareness and self-management while acknowledging others’ strengths can be upheld.
However, the leadership approach that I have chosen might be influenced by financial forecasts. Having visibility into potential trends and changes that might affect the organization will help me know where to allocate my budget and time spent on self-care activities such as sporting, and team building (Onu & Ezeji, 2017). Financial predictions might influence the leadership style by determining what changes need to be implemented in promoting business growth (Onu & Ezeji, 2017). Conclusively, the financial forecast might influence my leadership style through budgetary allocation and goal setting.
Conclusion
My leadership style reflects the mission, organizational values, as well as professional and personal ethics. The approach is embedded in mutual respect between employees and fair treatment of all stakeholders for the common good. These values are important because they streamline my leadership paradigm toward attaining the organization’s standards (Bratton, 2020). Respect in itself requires an understanding of the intrinsic needs of one another through being emotionally intelligent. Also involved in my leadership style is the collaborative approach to work through mentorship programs (Bratton, 2020). This ensures that teamwork is preserved in the organization at all levels. Certainly, the virtue-related values in the leadership model create an ethical corporation and work environment.
References
American Psychological Association (APA). (2020). Stress management for leaders responding to a crisis. Web.
Bratton, J. (Ed.). (2020). Organizational leadership. Sage Publishers.
Goleman, D. (2009). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. Bloomsbury.
Mayer, J., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. (2004). Emotional intelligence: Theory, findings, and implications. Psychological Inquiry, 15(3), 197-215.
Onu, F. & Ezeji, M. (2017). Significance and application of computer-based forecasting to governance and leadership. International Journal of Computer Applications Technology and Research, 6(4), 199-208.