Accurately Training Leaders’ Emotional Intelligence
“Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Development”
Golnaz Sadri (2012)
What is the researcher interested in?
Can Emotional Intelligence (EI) be a sole determinant of leadership performance? The mere concept of EI has fuelled interest in the field of leadership development. Golnaz Sadri (2012), believes that a better understanding of EI and the inclusion of its facets in leadership development programs should be the next step in enhancing performance.
Sadri's (2012) paper summarized and conceptualized the definition of EI and also provided recommendations on how to incorporate EI into leadership programs.
Emotional Intelligence
EI is “the capacity to reason about emotions, and of emotions to enhance thinking. It includes the abilities to accurately perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions to assist thought” (Mayer et al., 2004). This model has been widely accepted in the academic community and contains four levels of emotional abilities.
Ability to perceive emotion (facial expressions meanings)
Using emotion to facilitate thought (weighing conflicting emotions)
Understanding and labeling emotions (relationships associated with shifts in emotion)
Ability to manage emotion and feelings within oneself and others (regulation, alleviating another person’s stress)
EI is “abilities such as being able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustrations; to control impulse and delay gratification; to regulate one’s moods and keep distressed from [affecting thought]; to empathize and to hope” (Goleman, 1995). This model is more widely accepted in the non-academic realm, specifically in organizations and businesses. The model comprises five distinct skill areas; three of which are personal competence and the other two are social competence.
Self competence
Self-Awareness – knowing one’s internal state, preferences, impulses and intuitions
Self-Regulation – managing one’s internal state, impulses and resources
Motivation – tendencies to guide and facilitate reaching goals
Social competence
Empathy – awareness of other’s feelings, needs and concerns
Social Skills – adeptness at inducing desirable responses in others
What method did he use?
The author reviewed current literature on the concept of EI and its influence on leadership development. Before getting into the recommendations provided by Sandri, we have summarized the current literature here.
Researchers who advocate for emotional intelligence, argue that EI is essential to an effective team in regard to their interactions and productivity. The leader serves as a motivator for collective action and will facilitate supportive relationships among group members. Cooper (2000) also was able to identify a number of high functioning business leaders who demonstrate the main cornerstones of EI – emotional literacy, emotional fitness, emotional alchemy. A study where American Express financial advisors went through emotional competence training showed to grow their businesses at a rate of 18.1% compared to 16.2% of advisors who did not receive emotional competence after controlling confounding factors (skill, experience, knowledge, etc.).
It is important to also understand the criticism over EI, Locke (2005) argues that EI itself cannot be a true form of intelligence. Criticisms have also targeted the way EI has been measured, finding that self-report measures of EI had poor reliability.
What did he end up finding?
Instead of results, we focus on Golnaz Sandri’s recommendations for organizations developing leadership programs. Below is a slide deck which details important facets within EI, and how to train those independently.
Why does this matter for organizations?
As fundamental it is to train new employees, it should be even more important to accurately train leaders and seniors of the company. Nothing is more pivotal than a transformational boss that facilitate employees in their work engagement, well-being, and productivity. As new employees join organizations, the greatest compensation for them would be to learn from their superiors – both in life and in business contexts. Leaders are both born and made, statistics show that only 21% of the training budget in corporate America is allocated to leadership development. We hope that a review of the literature supporting the greater need for leadership development will urge organizations to double down on leadership training and develop EI competencies to assist leaders in their growth.
References
Cooper, R.K. (1997). Applying emotional intelligence in the workplace. Training & Development, (December), 31-38.
Goleman, D (1995). Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.
Locke, E.A. (2005). Why emotional intelligence is an invalid concept. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26(4), 425-431.
Mayer, J.D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D.R. (2004), Emotional intelligence: theory, findings and implications. Psychological Inquiry, 15(3), 197-215.
Sadri, G. (2012). Emotional intelligence and leadership development. Public Personnel Management, 41(3), 535-548.