EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to manage ourselves and our relationships with others. My EI is basically centered on motivation. This is because I have a strong drive towards achieving goals; hence I tend to maintain high energy levels. Leadership style refers to how a manager motivates the team, direct reports, gathers, and uses the information to make decisions. The above quality has greatly impacted my leadership style. They guide my leadership style because my style is based on achieving goals while including all of my team to participate and knowing when to allow them to device their own means to attain targets as long as a result matches the organization’s objectives.
Leadership styles have a direct impact on the organization’s climate, which, in turn, affects employees’ general performance. For my business, which deals with imports and exports, I would prefer the Authoritative style of leadership. This type of leadership style has a positive impact on the overall climate in the organization. It portrays some valuable advantages for the organization, such as allowing flexibility among employees because the leader allows employees to innovate freely, brings about the desired sense of responsibility, increases the level of commitment to common goals since the leader clearly explains how the individual efforts contribute to the overall larger vision. It also emphasizes the clarity of missions and visions to all employees because authoritative leaders are visionary.
Research suggests that the most effective leaders use a collection of distinct leadership styles, each in the right measure, at just the right time. Such flexibility is hard to put into practice, but it pays off in performance. The best thing is that it can be learned. In the book ‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,’ Kathryn has clearly demonstrated the application of different leadership styles. For instance, she applies a coercive leadership style when she denies Martin’s permission to attend the sales conference and instead asks him to attend the Napa conference. Kathryn also applies a democratic leadership style during the meeting as she seeks to encourage everyone to participate. She even went ahead to lead by example when she narrates her strengths and weaknesses. For me, my complementary leadership style would be the affiliative style. This is because this type of leader uses inclusivity in running the organization and people always come first. It concerns taking care of the emotions of the employees hence creating strong bonds that yield loyalty. This style has also proven to exhibit a positive impact on the climate of the organization. It should be applied more often, especially when building team harmony, increasing team morale, improving communications, and repairing broken trust.
To enhance my EI, I want to improve on empathy and social skill. As a leader, I want to bring everyone in the team on board and create a valuable relationship with our clients and customers. I want to understand other people’s points of view, even if they differ with my own views, and not burst out whenever we disagree.
My disc assessment results placed me in the ID style, and this style dictates that I am a passionate and goal-oriented person—someone with influence to make others adopt my vision. I am also active and energetic, and since I enjoy influence, I like to associate myself with the organization’s inner circle. I enjoy meeting new people and building large networks. Finally, it suggests that my valuable contribution to the workplace includes; my passion, ability to drive towards results, and the ability to initiate change. These results explain why I am inclined towards authoritative and affiliative leadership styles.