Upper-level military enlistees and officers often use a commanding leadership style.
Businesses always are trying to set themselves apart. They do this in part through the leaders they have. To promote better leadership, businesses often encourage people within their companies to understand and evaluate themselves in regard to emotional intelligence and leadership styles.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the concept of identifying, assessing and controlling the emotions you or someone else has. Emotional intelligence is linked on a basic level to the concept of social Darwinism, which is the idea that only the strongest members of a society will excel and ultimately survive.
Link to Leadership
Because emotional intelligence relates to social relationships and social relationships are what connect leaders to followers, emotional intelligence and leadership are closely intertwined. Supporters of emotional intelligence theories such as Daniel Goleman, internationally known psychologist and co-author of the New York Times bestselling book "Emotional Intelligence," believe that effective leaders have high emotional intelligence.
The Six Emotional Intelligence Leadership Styles
Leadership styles associated with emotional intelligence break down into six categories, as shown by Changingminds.org. Commanding style leaders give clear directions, expecting compliance. The pace-setting style involves leaders who identify poor performers and, if necessary, step in to finish work themselves. Leaders using this style expect people to know what to do and therefore don't offer much guidance. With the democratic style, leaders listen to both sides, asserting the value of both arguments. Affiliative leaders create connections between people. Coaching leaders find out people's strengths and weaknesses, showing them how their abilities, interests and personal goals may meet organizational objectives. Lastly, the visionary style involves leaders who show others the overall purpose and goals of a group. They don't tell people reach those goals, but give a clear point toward which people may strive.
Leadership Flexibility
When looking at emotional intelligence and the six leadership styles connected to it, distinguishing between a leadership style and leadership types is key. A leadership type refers to the leadership style to which a person most often defaults naturally. A leadership style refers to the method of leadership a leader uses at any one given time. The best leaders are flexible, switching leadership styles as necessary according to the needs of the given situation and organization. They use their emotional intelligence to assess which leadership style will be most effective.
Assessing Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Styles
Numerous organizations offer written tests designed to measure emotional intelligence and give people a concept of what styles they tend to use. You also may get information about your level of emotional intelligence and leadership tendencies through feedback from the people you lead. However, these techniques have some limitations -- for example, tests may include varying questions and analysis methods, thereby producing different conclusions. Feedback may show you how you have led in the past, but because of sociocultural differences, feedback may vary even when your leadership style does not.
