Emotional Intelligence and Leadership

Taking the self assessment of emotional intelligence was not by all means easy to do, there were normally logic terms to select but hard to practice in real life, so I had to concentrate on each statement to make sure if I am really practicing or just convinced. I was happy when I scored 90% of the entire assessment which makes me master most of the five domains of Emotional Intelligence skills. So let us review these domains competencies; 1. Self-awareness is the ability to recognize a feeling as it happens, to accurately perform selfassessments and have self-confidence. It is the keystone of emotional intelligence. 2. Self-management or self-regulation is the ability to keep disruptive emotions and impulses in check (self-control), maintain standards of honesty and integrity (trustworthiness), take responsibility for ones performance (conscientiousness), handle change (adaptability), and be comfortable with novel ideas and approaches (innovation). 3. Motivation is the emotional tendency guiding or facilitating the attainment of goals. It consists of achievement drive (meeting a standard of excellence), commitment (alignment of goals with the group or organization), initiative (acting on opportunities), and optimism (persistence reaching goals despite set backs). 4. Empathy is the understanding of others by being aware of their needs, perspectives, feelings, concerns, sensing the developmental needs of others. 5. Social skills are fundamental to emotional intelligence. They include the ability to induce desirable responses in others by using effective diplomacy to persuade (influence); listen openly and send convincing messages (communicate); inspire and guide groups and individuals (leadership); nurture instrumental relationships (building bonds); work with others toward a shared goal (collaboration, cooperation); and create group synergy in pursuing collective goals. These five characteristics will be shown to apply to a leaders ability to make effective decisions in my practical organizational life. Generally Emotional Intelligence influence leadership results as follow; developing collective goals and objectives; instilling in others a sense of appreciation and importance of work; Generating and maintaining enthusiasm, condence. optimism, cooperation, and trust; encouraging exibility in decision making and change; and Establishing and maintaining meaningful identity for the organization.

Each of the above elements involves emotional aspects, where leaders high on emotional intelligence may be better at achieving these outcomes. In my company my colleagues describe me as a warm, generous, people-oriented, imaginative, daring and funny person. The generous, people-oriented attributes helped me attract and keep great colleagues and top management investors. My emotional and inspiring traits allowed enthusiasm to spread. The visionary, daring, intuitive and unpredictable qualities helped me to keep focused on the goal, avoid short-term gratifications and achieve my goals. My open-mindedness helped the company and myself to develop

and retain different kinds of people. This ensured new ideas and fresh approaches to problem solving. I surrounded myself with the best talents I could find. Conclusion: Feelings (moods and emotions) play a central role in the leadership process .A leader has to have emotional intelligence to align personal and subordinate goals to accomplish company goals. The ability to understand and manage moods and emotions in the self and others, contributes to effective leadership in organizations. Emotional Intelligence influences the quality of leadership through many ways. A leader of a group or an organization usually acts as a driver, who steers the direction of his or her group members as well as the performance of the group as a whole. For a good performance to be achieved, the members of the group or organization should move along together with their leader, and it is very important for the leader to impose a good quality of leadership, since the group members usually tends to mimic their leader. This trend is crucial in determining the decision making, a process that would lead the group to either being excellent or perished. Thus, a good or high score of EQ in leadership is important in order to increase the performance of the group.

Locus of Control

As the environment around you changes, you can either attribute success and failure to things you have control over, or to forces outside your influence. Which orientation you choose has a bearing on your long-term success. This orientation is known as your "locus of control". Locus of control describes the degree to which individuals perceive that outcomes result from their own behaviors, or from forces that are external to themselves. Locus of Control can either be internal (meaning the person believes that they control their life) or external (meaning they believe that their environment, some higher power, or other people control their decisions and their life). Individuals with a high internal locus of control believe that events result primarily from their own behavior and actions. Those with a high external locus of control believe that powerful others, fate, or chance primarily determine events.

Locus of control locus of control says a lot about how you view the world. Your role in determining the course of your life. When you believe you have the power to control your own destiny and determine your own direction, you have a strong internal locus of control. In most cases, this is an important attitude to have if you want to be successful. Benefits of an internal locus of control. People with an internal locus of control: engage in activities that will improve their situation. Emphasize striving for achievement. Work hard to develop their knowledge, skills and abilities. Are inquisitive, and try to figure out why things turned out the way they did.

Other benefits of locus of control take note of information that they can use to create positive outcomes in the future. Have a more participative management style & use persuasive power often. Sensitive to new information. More attentive to cues that aid in reducing uncertainties. Prone to intentional & incidental learning. Take more risks. Internal locus of control leads to: academic, career and professional advancement.

I was not shocked to find myself in a mix level between internal and external Locus of Control which practically described myself.