Emotional Intelligence In Leadership
Many leaders in our world lack emotional intelligence even though it's their human trait
Leaders lead best when they understand others’ emotions.
This is why emotional intelligence is required in great leaders.
The problem is that most leaders think they have these skills honed, but they don’t.
Let’s look at it from a gendered point of view. Men and women are different types of people and this affects how they lead also.
Men Rule The World:
Although there has been a huge increase in the popularity of feminism in the past few decades there is still a long way to go.
Particularly when we think about women as being leaders. By far, there are more male leaders in the world than there are females. And as the old saying goes:
“It’s a man’s world!”
But it’s also a changing world.
In early 2021 the United States finally swore in a female as the first US Vice President. Kamala Harris is also biracial as her parents are both Indian and Jamaican immigrants. This was a huge moment for Americans, immigrants, and for all female leaders in the world.
As the US is a superpower it will change the way the world sees female leaders forever.
Women Are Soft:
In general, females have more intuitive soft skills.
And this intuitive femininity aids their emotional intelligence. Males don’t have this ability as naturally. However, that’s not to say that many males don’t have it at all. It’s just that males that have been in higher positions of leadership over the years have but have been less aware of this ability within themselves and within females that are under their leadership.
Yet, all male leaders have the ability to tap into their emotional intelligence.
Men Are Female Too:
Many men won’t want to admit it but they are largely female.
As their parents are both female and male they have the ability to recognize their female traits if they want to. But again, most male leaders ignore this when they are making decisions. And that means they are ignoring many of their staff’s emotions.
By tapping into people’s emotions male leaders can improve rapport and productivity as well.
The Disadvantages of Emotional Leadership:
Of course, there are disadvantages of emotional leadership too.
In certain situations, decisions may need a more autocratic approach.
For example, when Covid-19 struck many people became ill around the world and some governments went for a soft approach in asking people to have self reasonability whereas other countries ordered people to stay indoors. And yet, the virus spread and killed many people as it didn’t do bargains with people’s emotions.
This is where a more autocratic approach can be used well but with peoples’ emotions in mind.
The Advantages of Emotional Leadership:
However, even in a world pandemic that killed many people, there is a need to understand emotions.
It was the emotions of people that reacted with panic at the initial time when Covid-19 struck. And as a result of several lockdowns because people reacted with their feelings the disease kept spreading and so businesses that had opened up for a while had to close down again. This constant opening up and closing down affected many companies and further challenged business owners, staff, and customers’ emotions.
So even with autocratic leadership, people’s emotions need to be central to the decision making of leaders.
Emotional Intelligence Is Your Leadership Future:
The future of good leadership is in understanding and using emotional intelligence.
Many naturally bossy leaders will fail to grasp this and their employees and followers will lose faith in their processes. As younger people come on the scene and are recognizing the need to look within themselves, managers of the future will need to be able to communicate at this human level.
That’s why to be a great leader you’ll need to have great emotional intelligence too.
Male leaders Need To Surround Themselves With More Females:
For a male to be a great emotional leader he needs to seek out females around him.
If he fails to understand the female intuition that he holds within himself, he can utilize supportive females to bounce his potential decision making off. This can also exercise the strength of delegation within his leadership.
For a male leader to do this is to show strength and a willingness to adapt to the emotions of others and this will be appreciated by all those that are under his leadership.
Once peoples’ emotions are understood and decisions are made in response to the majority of emotional beliefs then followers will get behind their leader and work to their most productive. If the major decision made by a manager or boss turns out to be incorrect or puts pressure on employees, the majority will still understand where the leader came from when they made the important decision in the first place.
Once you put people’s emotions first, you’ll remain the first person they want to be their leader.
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