BMO0269 Emotional Intelligence Assignment Sample

Introduction

Emotional intelligence also known as EI is the ability of an individual in understanding or self-comprehension as well as skills of managing the person’s emotions at a work place and other people around him. Those with degree of emotional intelligence understand their personal emotions perfectly and ways in which it might impact on the people.

Leaders are expected to have emotional intelligence for achieving success. In this regard the reflection here takes support from key components, self-analytical tools, reflection models and other critical tools to understand a leader who is tensed and shouts at the team is likely to success or a leader who stays calm under stress and calmly assesses the situation.

This is a reflective report on my awareness on Emotional Intelligence for Effective Leadership with special focus on the key components, behaviours as well as strategies that impact on me and my developmental approaches in the professional world.

Main Body:

From the studies in the institution it has been learnt that it is essential to have adequate emotional intelligence since a person wish to grow after completing his studies in the professional world, and to grow it is important to take responsibilities, work with team and handle projects. For example in a stressed situation or in a crisis a leader should manage the toxic environment with high emotional intelligence so that the toxic environment does not impact negatively on the overall workplace and spread negativity (Suvarchala Rani, 2015).

American psychologist promoted the concept of emotional intelligence and made it popular. I have studied that there are five key components of emotional intelligence, namely;

1. Self-awareness
2. Self-regulation

• Motivation

1. Empathy
2. Social skills

Self-awareness

Self-awareness is about awareness about individual self, this is important for leader as a leader I must control my emotions and manage actions so that it does not affect the team. Being self-awareness in leadership also demands to have a clear idea of individual strengths and weaknesses. Ways of improving self-awareness for me before joining the professional world could be journaling. Journaling is a process of writing down the thoughts and emotions of mind (Barrett, 2011).

Secondly; think and slow-down activities and examining why. This will help in gaining strength to face and handle any situation.

Self-regulation

Self -regulation is about self-control that is as a leader it is important to regulate individual self and minimize verbal attacks or express rushed emotions. As a leader of the team self-regulation is of high importance as conflicts or crisis are common, and the way to handle or manage team resistance and conflicts are possible through effective self-regulation.

Hence, as an aspiring team leader I wish to learn about the techniques of self –regulation and implement effective strategies like analysis power, understanding the situation, look for options and alternatives for achieving quick solution to a difficult situation (Burke, Pierce & Salas, 2006).

Motivation:

Self motivate leaders strengthens team work with support and engagement. Steve Jobs from Apple was known for his autocratic leadership qualities while Tim Cook is celebrated for his democratic leadership approach. Leading the team of people demands several human qualities

Empathy

Empathy is important in managing team and the organization in a smooth way. Empathy helps in getting respect from the team by expressing care and compassion to the team (Goel & Srivastava, 2019).

Social skills

With social skills the leaders are excellent in emotional intelligence. Knowledge of effective social skills assist in ending team conflicts or confusion diplomatically.

In my reflection on knowledge gained two components of emotional intelligence, are Empathy and Motivation. Empathy as studied will help in developing better relationship with the team and earn their support in a spontaneous way. This approach will strengthen the team relation and improve leadership performance. Secondly, motivation is important as employee engagement and employee retention are often controlled by application of motivating strategies in the office (Lambert, 2021).

Strategies may be implemented achieve my desired goal of becoming a project manager in a shorter timeline.

1. Become more attentive about personal emotion:

It is not easy to become perfectly self-aware within a short time after college days, hence it is necessary to take daily steps to improve self-awareness. So learning to know how and when to identify personal feelings are emerging, also it is essential to find out what triggers emotional changes in me. This could be learnt by paying more attention to every emotion, mood swing and becoming more sensitive to my emotions on a daily basis. Maintaining a chart on daily basis for a week or ten days will further narrow down the entire process of self-understanding and know why such emotions are present (Normore & Erbe, 2013).

1. Improving non-verbal communication and expressing sympathy

According to psychologists it is essential focus on body language as it is a powerful communicating language. For example, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at UCLA, Albert Merhabian, learnt that 55% of our communication is derived from body language. Also expressing care and sensitive approach towards others increases dependence, trust and positivity (Goel & Srivastava, 2019).

• Learning and implementing empathy

Empathy and sympathy are difference, and empathy is about understanding the sharing feeling of others. Empathy is not only about care, but about feeling with another person, sharing problems and troubles. It is deep, and built are relationship of dependence and trust with others. It is about responding to feeling of an individual (Lambert, 2021).

Leadership is an essential aspect of modern day professional world, however it is challenging and evolving every day with the growing changes in the professional world. As a leader of the time, I should begin by adopting the five key approaches:

N – emotional stability

E- extroversion

O – intellect

A – agreeableness

C – Conscientiousness

These are five components of personality regulatory behaviour and are studied under the Big Five personality characteristics.

Models and strategies

Big 5 Circumplex (AB5C) is a circular model of personality that has been introduced by the psychologists to examine different traits of human behaviour that are essential for leadership. For instance extroverts are likely to be more humorous and fun-loving or witty; on the other hand introverts may lack such high awareness in intellect or reflex to reply in every situation (Normore & Erbe, 2013).http://BMO0269 Emotional Intelligence Assignment Sample

Human behaviour is often difficult to comprehend and these support models act as a guideline to simply help me in developing self-awareness and other characteristics of a leader so that I can guide and help in project completion as a leader in the team.

Besides self-awareness and learning skills, as an aspiring leader I should also develop social skills so that the team gets confidence in my actions and follow my guidance. A good leader is an individual with excellent qualities of managing and resolving conflicts or changes in the situation diplomatically (Barrett, 2011).

Ways of developing social skills may include the following techniques, such as learning to resolve conflict, improving communication skill and praise other performers in the work environment.

Reflective practices are essential as it allows individual to known and become aware of the student’s emotions. By application of such approaches assisted me in knowing individual needs and then develop strategies to regulate thinking and indulge into effective planning (Bradberry & Greaves, 2012).

Relationship management at the workplace is important as it leaves a positive impact on productivity and understands reasons for the sharing of effective practices. In a team management of leadership approaches, there are constant focuses on team building exercises and problem solving. The strategies are implemented to constantly update my performance as a team leader in future. This is linked with the approaches considered for good practice and adaptability as per situation. In relation to working with colleagues, practitioners engaged in practices related to staff development within the workplace (Prezerakos, 2018).

In the present day business environment challenges are common and challenges are often coupled with critical situation. Companies as per my studies and their management have come a long way since industrial revaluation and today management an organisation demands team effort and clear communication with a large number of people, ability to overcome resistance, create short-term wins and incorporate organisation change culture. As a leader it is not essential to implement change as per the demand of a project, but it is important to stay associated and perform in a cooperative manner without resistance if and when there is a new work or project (Stanley, 2013). Thus, as an aspiring team lead I perceived that a thirst for success is essential. The success should be goal oriented.

Summary:

It is noted from the self-evaluation reflection report that as an aspiring future project leader, I should adopt key strategies, such as self- awareness, regulation, motivation, empathy, improve communication and social skills. The strategies mentioned above will act as a guideline to develop my skills through a self SWOT evaluation (Strength, weakness, opportunity and threats) and improve soft-skills in a goal oriented manner.

The motivation and empathy are some of the key areas that need special attention and through team works, team oriented behaviour, dynamics and management skill will improve. Also as a team player I should value trust and dependence of the team through compassion and understanding. Thus, adopting to key approaches will lead to achieve success in the professional life.

References

Barrett, D. (2011). Leadership communication. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Bradberry, T., & Greaves, J. (2012). Leadership 2.0. San Diego, CA: TalentSmart.

Burke, C., Pierce, L., & Salas, E. (2006). Understanding adaptability. Amsterdam: Elsevier JAI.

Emerald Group Publishing. (2005). Discovering Emotional Intelligence. Emerald Group Publishing.

Goel, T., & Srivastava, D. (2019). Emotional Intelligence and Effective Leadership. International Journal Of Computer Trends And Technology, 67(5), 115-123. doi: 10.14445/22312803/ijctt-v67i5p120

Goleman, D. (2011). Leadership. Northampton: More Than Sound.

Görgens-Ekermans, G., & Roux, C. (2021). Revisiting the emotional intelligence and transformational leadership debate: (How) does emotional intelligence matter to effective leadership?. SA Journal Of Human Resource Management, 19. doi: 10.4102/sajhrm.v19i0.1279

Lambert, S. (2021). Role of emotional intelligence in effective nurse leadership. Nursing Standard, 36(12), 45-49. doi: 10.7748/ns.2021.e11782

Mills, L. (2009). A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Effective Leadership. Journal Of Curriculum And Instruction, 22. doi: 10.3776/joci.2009.v3n2p22

Normore, A., & Erbe, N. (2013). Collective efficacy. Bingley, U.K.: Emerald.

Palmer, B., Walls, M., Burgess, Z., & Stough, C. (2010). Emotional intelligence and effective leadership. Leadership &Amp; Organization Development Journal, 22(1), 5-10. doi: 10.1108/01437730110380174

Prezerakos, P. (2018). Nurse Managers’ Emotional Intelligence and Effective Leadership: A Review of the Current Evidence. The Open Nursing Journal, 12(1), 86-92. doi: 10.2174/1874434601812010086

R, P., G, V., & Jesu, C. (2019). Emotional Intelligence for Transformational Leadership. Journal Of Advanced Research In Dynamical And Control Systems, 11(0009-SPECIAL ISSUE), 1153-1158. doi: 10.5373/jardcs/v11/20192685

Stanley, C. (2013). Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success. American Management Association.

Suvarchala Rani, M. (2015). Emotional Intelligence-A Model for Effective Leadership, Competency and Career Growth. Indian Journal Of Science And Technology, 8(S4), 240. doi: 10.17485/ijst/2015/v8is4/67032