BY PEACE AFOLABI,

Member, Kingdom Leads Africa

 

 

Great leaders moves the followers, they ignite passion and inspire the best in them.Great leaders work through emotions. As a leader, it is important to note that

 

1. No matter what you set to do or what your goal is, the success of it depends on how you do it.
2. Nothing you do as a leader will work well as it should if you fail to drive your emotion to the right direction.
3. The mood and tone in which you deliver message to your followers will drive them to two different direction:

 

 I’ll like to quickly explain what leadership and emotional intelligence is without much emphasis.

 

Leadership involves the ability of an individual, groups or organization to lead, influence or guide other individuals, team’s or entire organization to execute strategic plans.

 

Emotional intelligence is the ability of an individual to manage and understand his/her own emotions as well as recognize and influence the emotions of those around them.

 

 In leadership, emotional intelligence works a lot and goes a long way in yielding positive leadership result. In leadership, emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, interpret, control, demonstrate, evaluate and use emotions to communicate with and relate to others efficiently and constructively.

 

When a leader is emotionally stable and has strong and effective emotional intelligence, to respond, understand and controls the thought of team/followers will be an easy task which will definitely aids development of trust and the creation of a healthy working environment as well as give a positive leadership result.

 

Now to the importance of emotional intelligence in leadership.

 

1. Emotional intelligence enables leaders to understand and respond to the emotions of their team members and create a positive working environment.
2. Emotional intelligence improves communication and help leaders to communicate effectively, emphasize with others and provide constructive feedbacks which helps to solve conflicts and also build a positive working environment.
3. Emotional intelligence helps leaders to inspire and motivate others and also create a lively and productive working environment which put the team to their best foot forward.
4. Emotional intelligence helps to build strong relationship between leaders and team workers.
5. Emotional intelligence helps leaders to manage stress and maintain a positive attitude and productive environment amidst the team.
6. It makes leaders to make conscious decision and avoid impulsive reactions which lead to sound decision making.
7. Emotional intelligence instigates growth, innovations, creativity in the organization and team members.
8. It helps to build relationship, reduce team stress, defuse conflict and improve job satisfaction.
9. Emotional intelligence helps the leader and team member develop a positive work culture in the organization which vicariously increase efficiency and productivity.

 

When the leader lacks emotional intelligence it will definitely have more far-reaching consequences. Also the team may not be able to reach it full potential when the leader is not able to mange his/her emotion. Therefore as a leader it is one of our duties and obligation to set the tone of our organization.

 

Lastly, emotional intelligence leads to success and growth for both the leader and their team, which is vital for the overall success of the organisation.