Emotional Intelligence and The Influence on Leadership Decision-Making Paper Example

How the results of the assessments support or contradict my understanding of my emotional intelligence, leadership approach, and decision-making styles

The results of the evaluations support my understanding of the role of maturity of thought in decision-making. Emotional intelligence plays a significant role in determining one's leadership capacity. Leadership involves the balance of stakeholder needs in a way that results in the growth of an organization (Chen & Guo, 2018). The balance of these stakeholder needs results in effective decision making. Besides having a cognitive element, each decision has an emotional component. Considering the size of an organization and the nature of stakeholder needs, a leader must harbor a strong emotional maturity. According to Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee (2013), the emotional processing capability of a leader is dependent on their past encounters, their present emotional capital, and how much emotional investment they are willing to expend to ensure that the outcome of a decision is favorable to all stakeholders. The dynamism of emotions thus determines leadership per growing organizational complexities, and the continuous need to operate within specified standards.

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The assessment results also confirm my belief in the role of emotional balance in determining a leader's output. Productivity in the workplace is a function of emotional intelligence. The way that an individual behaves and thinks are all intricately associated with their feelings. The same relationship applies to decision-making. Emotional intelligence is essential to decision-making and productivity because it enables the leader to be conscious of their emotions and the feelings of the people that their decision affects. The awareness of the perceptions of stakeholders helps to differentiate their needs, information that guides one's leadership behavior and expressions (Zhang, Cao, & Wang, 2018). Emotional intelligence helps address three leadership aspects. Foremost, it helps one to evaluate and express their emotions which is essential for the refinement of the thoughts that carry their decisions. Secondly, emotional intelligence helps one to regulate their emotions. The result of such regulation is consistency and compliance with a professional code which allows one to express their leadership in an appropriate manner (Bazerman & Moore, 2013). Lastly, emotional intelligence helps translate emotions into decisions.

As captured by the assessment results, I believe in the importance of self-management skills in realizing clarity of emotions which translate to good decisions. When the leader reflects on how their decision would affect them, they become consistently successful because they can control their emotions while winning over support both internally and externally. The essential element of emotional intelligence which is necessary for effective decision-making is social awareness. Once the leader has this emotional intelligence skill, they can then cultivate the organizational capacity to determine the impact of their decisions and how the decisions are implemented, service orientation and empathy. Poonamallee et al. (2018) note that a manager's actions are all dependent on decisions which aim to achieve specific overarching goals. As such, management is all about decision-making. It is evident that the primary aim of organizational control is to implement certain decisions considering the results of the assessment. Thus, emotional intelligence refers to a leader's capacity to identify their emotional reactions and those of the people that their decisions impact.

One's decision-making capacity as a leader is a function of emotional intelligence. Leadership styles differ, and each form determines how much impact emotional influence has on the decision-making process. The level of control of emotional intelligence on decision-making for transactional leadership is different from what is required for transformational leadership (Lindebaum & Cartwright, (2016). The influence of emotional intelligence on a decision is pronounced for both transactional leadership and transformational leadership. The results of the assessments confirm my leadership inclination towards a transactional approach. The centrality of emotional intelligence in transactional leadership makes it a favorable leadership approach because, as noted before, management is all about translating decisions to activities that address stakeholder needs.

Assessment results which will help my career and ones which could hinder it and why

One aspect of the emotional intelligence test result and another of the leadership assessment questionnaire will help my job. From the emotional intelligence test, the element of having being able to build great relationships and being able to attract people who seek my advice will help create teams that work together to develop solutions. On the other hand, regarding the leadership assessment test, the aspect which will be helpful for my career regards being able to envision a clear direction for my company and to communicate plans in a way that inspires others. The charisma that the test exposes will help develop transactional leadership (Harms & Crede, 2016). The test results indicate that the allure is a positive trait because employees are more inspired to participate in achieving a goal when they are passionate about it. The environment that results from such inspiration enables innovativeness, confidence and a sense of inclusivity in the organization's broader vision. These aspects have theoretical backing.

One of the most significant leadership qualities is thinking over proposals and being firm with decisions in a manner that transcends the leader's prevailing emotional condition. However, as the results rightly indicate, not being thoughtful of how such decisions impact on oneself can be counterproductive in the long run. Research contemplates such a misfortune. According to Lopes (2016), emotional intelligence begins with countering one's internal emotions before countering those of other stakeholders. There is also evidence that low emotional intelligence is likely to upraise anxiety during decision making as opposed to high emotional intelligence. As such, one needs to be highly conscious of their emotional intelligence level so that they map out their weaknesses while making decisions. The negative aspect of implementing a full transactional leadership environment would be that it may not apply to situations that require instance decision making.

How I can align my career plans, emotional intelligence, leadership approach, and decision-making style to optimize my effectiveness based on the test results

There are many procedures prescribed to enable leaders further their personal and developmental growth using emotional intelligence. To align my career plans, emotional intelligence, leadership approach, and decision-making style so that I optimize my effectiveness based on the tests, I would need to address many emotional intelligence skills. The first emotional intelligence skill which I would need to work on is self-actualization. From the test, it is evident that my leadership approach is likely to lead to less focus on personal growth. Secondly, I would need to work on reality testing measures. This approach will enable me to develop a template over which consistency will be achieved regarding fairness, firmness, and equity in terms of the outcome of the decisions that I make as a leader (Li et al., 2016).

The third emotional intelligence skill which I would be required to ensure a balance of the requisite components for an effective leadership would be to focus on self-regard. In so doing, I will be able to improve my self-confidence and improve my awareness of my inherent leadership strengths and limitations. With such knowledge, I will then supplement my areas of weaknesses with proper engagements with other stakeholders. Fourthly, I will need to develop my emotional self-awareness. In so doing, I will be mindful of the impact of my emotional reactions to decisions on the productivity of the people affected by such decisions. The next skill I will need to develop so that I can effectively align these leadership elements will be a social responsibility. Being conscious of this skill will help me to be a better team player.

Additionally, developing this skill will enable me to realize a strong company culture as well as inculcate rules and norms in the team members (Dabke, 2016). The last ability I will need to develop so that I can align these elements will be independence. With an independent mind, I will be more decisive and address the effect of my decisions on my personal growth. This approach will help me to align my choices as a leader for the good of the individual and the organization.

Based on the test results, it is evident that emotional intelligence equips me with unique skills that make me a better leader. My ability to nurture these skills determines the success of my leadership. One crucial element required of me is full commitment so that I can achieve consistency. Given my leadership strengths, nurturing my people orientation will be rewarding. More importantly, to be more productive as a leader, I will need to be more open to learning and be more willing to take risks. To engage more with stakeholders, I will need to be a better communicator while adhering to a strict code of ethics and integrity. I will need to spend more resources on personal growth, be willing to develop a functional feedback environment and build my skills.

References

Bazerman, M. H., & Moore, D. A. (2013). Judgment in Managerial Decision Making, 8th Edition. New York: Wiley.

Chen, J., & Guo, W. (2018). Emotional intelligence can make a difference. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 174114321878106. doi: 10.1177/1741143218781066

Dabke, D. (2016). Impact of Leader's Emotional Intelligence and Transformational Behavior on Perceived Leadership Effectiveness: A Multiple Source View. Business Perspectives and Research, 4(1), 27-40. doi: 10.1177/2278533715605433

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. E., & McKee, A. (2013). Primal leadership: Unleashing the power of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press.

Harms, P., & Crede, M. (2016). Emotional Intelligence and Transformational and Transactional Leadership: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 17(1), 5-17. doi: 10.1177/1548051809350894

Li, Z., Gupta, B., Loon, M., & Casimir, G. (2016). Combinative aspects of leadership style and emotional intelligence. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 37(1), 107-125. doi: 10.1108/lodj-04-2014-0082

Lindebaum, D., & Cartwright, S. (2016). A Critical Examination of the Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Transformational Leadership. Journal of Management Studies, no-no. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010. 00933.x

Lopes, P. (2016). Emotional Intelligence in Organizations: Bridging Research and Practice. Emotion Review, 8(4), 316-321. doi: 10.1177/1754073916650496

Poonamallee, L., Harrington, A. M., Nagpal, M., & Musial, A. (2018). Improving emotional intelligence through personality development: The effect of the smartphone application-based Dharma Life Program on emotional intelligence. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 169.doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00169.

Zhang, L., Cao, T., & Wang, Y. (2018). The mediation role of leadership styles in integrated project collaboration: An emotional intelligence perspective. International Journal of Project Management, 36(2), 317-330. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2017.08.014