The Importance Of Empathy And Emotional Intelligence In Leadership

Developing Empathy in Leaders

Discuss about the Emotional Intelligence and Identification of Emotion.

Many of the organizations look beyond the traditional strategies to ensure the appropriate management development and recruitment process for creating a cadre of leaders who have the ability to move the company forward. According to Hopwood et al., (2012) empathy is built through developing experiences and relating to the emotions and thoughts of others. An efficient leader needs to understand and support their team mates with appropriate sensitivity and compassion. On other words, Hirsh, Kang and Bodenhausen  (2012) described that empathy is crucial and fundamental component of the leadership process. Many of the theoretical analysis suggest that empathy is the integral part of the leadership management. The transformational leaders often show empathy to their followers to ensure that they care for their skill development and achievements. Csikszentmihalyi and Wong, (2014) developed the understanding of the necessity of developing empathy by the authentic leaders who need to use it for understanding the basic needs and requirements of the employees. It is to be indicated that the establishment of trust and empathy is necessary to maintain the effective relationships with the associated employees. It is one type of leadership trait that creates the transparent relationships between the leaders and the followers to develop the high performance level. In today’s world, the business scenario has been rapidly changing and becoming more demanding. In order to respond to such changing demands, it is important for the leaders to adopt the innovative methods for completing the assigned tasks (Humphrey, 2013). Therefore, the leaders need to be more person-focused that will develop the more innovative process in terms of responding towards the changing demands. The identification of the issues that are faced by the employees has helped in maintaining the different levels of changes in the systems and the functioning of the business in the market. Empathy and trust goes hand in hand, as it helps in managing the different levels of changes in the systems and the functioning of the business in the market. Empathy helps in identifying the different issues that are faced by the people while operating as per the objectives of the organization. On the other hand, the trustworthiness of the leader helps in convincing the employees of the change and the manner in which the change will be helping the organization as well as the employees to bring in modifications in the situations.

Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

It has been observed that majority of the organization, in today’s date, have been establishing the team building approach to collaborate the members from diverse background. In order to maintain the cohesiveness among these team members, it is important for the leaders to promote their integrity level to generate trust and empathy. An empathetic leader needs to acquire three major skills, such as good listening skills, non-judgmental, and emotional intelligence. Goleman developed the theory based on this emotional intelligence level of the leaders to become empathetic in nature. Daniel Goleman developed the distinction between two major factors. One factor is the emotional intelligence as a trait and the other one is the emotional intelligence as the capability (Grunes, Gudmundsson  & Irmer,  2014). As per the theory of this emotional intelligence, it is stated that an empathetic leader needs to develop the most effective competency skills for managing people. These are as follows:

• Self Regulations: The leaders need to identify the disruptive emotions and impulses for adapting the changing environment. Identification of the necessity of improvement will help in self regulation process.
• Social Skill: An empathetic leader needs to manage the emotions of others for moving people towards the desired direction. It is one of the most helpful processes for motivating the employees to achieve their personal as well as the organisational goals.
• Empathy: It is important for a leader to recognize, understand, and consider the feelings of other people, especially in terms of making relevant decisions.
• Motivation: Prior to motivate the other employees, an efficient leader needs to develop the self motivation to achieve the determined objectives.

Empathy and building trust are crucial to develop the effective leadership traits. In order to become a skilled leader, it is essential to develop the trust among the employees. If the employees do not generate the sense of reliability while working under a leader, it becomes difficult to show the right direction towards achieving goals. Without empathy, the employees always have their guards up. The extensive research on this paradigm evaluates the idea that the empathy has the positive connection with the job performance. The managers who tend to show more empathy to the employees are more likely viewed as the better performer as the boss.

On the other hand, Salovey and Mayer introduced the model of emotional intelligence for identifying the four different levels, such as perceiving emotions, reasoning with emotions, understanding emotions, and managing emotions. The first step in understanding the emotion depends on how the leaders perceive these types of feelings. The management of the organizations through the identification of the needs of the employees helps in maintaining the different levels of changes in the systems of the business (Sigmar, Hynes  & Hill,  2012).  On the other hand, the identification of the emotions helps organizations to bring in changes as pr the needs of the business without compromising the welfare of the people working for the organization in the market. The operations of the organization are dependent on the smooth performance of the workforce and the manner (Bowen, 2014). Therefore, the leaders of the organizations take steps to undertake communications with the employees to bring in changes in the situations of the business in the market. The identification of the emotions of the workforce helps the organization to bring in changes in the systems of the business through the assessment of the ideas and thereby formulating strategies to bring in changes in the processes. It sometimes involves the non-verbal communication and body language. In fact, understanding through facial expression is also taken into consideration in such context. The second aspect is reasoning with emotions that generally promote the cognitive and thinking activity. It is notable that emotions generally help in prioritizing the situations that are visible. Responding to the visualization accordingly determines the reasoning of the emotion. The next aspect is Understanding Emotions, which determines that whatever the leader perceive may be interpreted with various meaning. For example, if any leader shows the emotion of anger, the observer may interpret in various ways. The final aspect is Managing Emotions, which ensures the ability to manage emotion in an effective way. It is one of the mist crucial pats of emotional intelligence. It is notable that the leaders need to regulate their emotions in a significant way. These two theoretical analyses provide the clear understanding about the necessity of being empathetic in nature to manage the people within the organization.  It is observable that this trust and empathy creates the high level of motivation and sense of job satisfaction, which eventually drives towards personal and professional success of the employees (Zuffianò et al., 2013).  The various tools are also used for measuring the emotional intelligence level of the leaders in terms of leading people with proper attitude and behavior.

Managing Teams and Groups

A leader needs to take the hands-on approach to develop the effective team building process. In today’s date, the organistions adopt more innovative strategies for to deal with the competitive scenario. Therefore, it is necessary for the leaders to adopt several skills that can be helpful enough in managing the workforce in an appropriate way. Cobb-Clark and Schurer  (2012) explained that the leaders need to create the high level of motivation for making the employees engaged towards their organizational functionalities. The term ‘group’ has its own significance. It is noticeable that group has the broader meaning, which implies that a larger amount of people work together for achieving the common goals. On the other hand, ‘team’ is perceived in a more specific way. The team helps each others to grow and accomplish the goals that are determined previously. When the leaders have the responsibility and privilege to lead a company, it is important for them to have the right skill set, which is quite vital to success. It is noticeable that the business managers and owners need to understand the difference between the boss and a leader. There are some of the specific personality traits that are needed to be maintained by the efficient leaders to manage the teams (Binder, 2016). The management of the teams and the groups helps in inducing the proper functioning of the workforce on the objectives that are set by the organization to bring in change in their systems. To encourage and involve the employees in the processes has helped in maintaining the different changes in the systems of the business. On the other hand, the identification of the needs of the organization helps in maintaining the different aspects of the change in the systems of the business top bring in improvements in the situation. Rivers et al., (2013) stated that the primary goal of the leader is to motivate the employees, which will be helping the same to manage the processes as per the needs of the management of the business. On the other hand, the smooth performance of the workforce helps in bringing forth innovations in the systems. Empathy and trustworthiness helps in maintaining the proper functioning of the workforce. On the other hand, the communication of the vision of the leader to the employees help in setting goals on which the employees frame their activities which will be helping the business to bring in changes in the processes.  The healthy relationship of the leader with the employees helps in boosting the productivity of the business in the market. The key elements of the change in the systems of the business are dependent on the proper functioning of the workforce, which is initiated through the training of the team members. On the other hand, the proper functioning of the organization is dependent on the motivated actions of the workforce. It helps in maintaining the different levels of changes in the market conditions.

According to the theory stated by Goleman, the leaders always need to make the improvements of their own skills and competency level. Therefore, it is crucial to build the ability to lead. This skill generally refers to the clarified vision of the leaders to achieve the organizational goals and sharing the vision with the employees. The leaders need to share these visions for acquiring the desired business results. For example, each of the employees needs to understand the value of their work. If the employees feel that their contribution is fruitful enough for the company y, it creates the sense of reliability and motivation to perform in a better way. On the other hand, Cavazotte, Moreno and Hickmann  (2012) developed the understanding regarding the necessity of effective communication. It is noticeable that the great leaders are the god communicators. It is necessary for these leaders to understand the method of gaining a point across. It helps in explaining the vision of the company to the employees. The effective communicational transparency develops the clear understanding of the organizational functionalities. Reviewing the progress of the assigned tasks every day helps the leaders in identifying the areas of improvements. Moreover, Kark and Shamir (2013) pointed out that leaders need to communicate the job entails prior to recruit the suitable candidate for the job. The leaders are entitled to foster and create the effective relationships with both the clients and the employees. A leader, who is truly dedicated to the given position by the company, tries to invest time and effort to maintain effective business relationships. The establishment of such relationships helps in inspiring the team for working harder and going beyond the job responsibilities. The employees even go beyond their capability if they receive adequate support from their leaders.

The theory of emotional intelligence describes that a skilled leader needs to have the clear perception regarding their team needs. It is important for an efficient leader to ensure that the team has the capability to acquire the skills that are necessary for achieving success. Leaders even need to determine the appropriate candidate who can perform any specific job role to ensure the accomplishment of the business goals (Mayer, Salovey  & Caruso,  2012). In many of the cases, it has been observed that the leaders develop the training and development session in order to enhance the skills of the associated employees. This training and certification are generally developed to provide the opportunity for the future prospects. It is observable that this trust and empathy creates the high level of motivation and sense of job satisfaction, which eventually drives towards personal and professional success of the employees. Accordingly, it is observable that this trust and empathy creates the high level of motivation and sense of job satisfaction, which eventually drives towards personal and professional success of the employees (Anderson et al., 2001).  On the other hand, the rewards and recognitions helps in maintaining the different levels of changes in the systems of the business through which the leaders motivate the employees top bring in changes in the structure and the functioning of the business (Mayer  & Geher,  1996).  Recognition of the capabilities of the people working in the team helps in delineating the different levels of improvements. It helps in encouraging the people to take steps to bring forth improvements in their performances as per the requirements of the organization to undertake a productive venture. Goleman, Bennett and Barlow  (2012) stated that the recognition of the performances of the employees helps in maintaining the different levels of changes in the functioning of the business as per the needs of the market. On the other hand, the identification of the different aspects of the change in the systems of the business is facilitated through the smooth functioning of the employees as per the objectives of the business.

Another most considerable skill that the leaders need to adopt is trustworthiness. As mentioned in the previous section of the study that if the employees cannot trust the leaders, it will never drive them towards success. Hence, it can be inferred that the trusted leaders often display integrity and honestly to gain respect and trust of the employees as well as the clients. When the leaders become trustworthy, it helps in increasing the commitment level of the team members (Potgieter, Coetzee  & Masenge,  2012). In majority of the cases, it has been observed that the leaders often develop such trust by communicating with the employees in a transparent way. It is essential for the leaders to communicate more efficiency to keep the employees informed about the organizational functions Moreover, it creates the clear connection between the managers and the employees to ensure the accomplishment of the similar objectives (Druskat, Mount  & Sala, 2013). It can be implied that that this trust and empathy creates the high level of motivation and sense of job satisfaction, which eventually drives towards personal and professional success of the employees.  It is already stated before that the establishment of trust and empathy is necessary to maintain the effective relationships with the associated employees. In order to manage people for the betterment of their performance also require understanding the responses of the employee towards performing their responsibilities (Boyatzis, Goleman  & Rhee,  2000).

Katz, Lazarsfeld and Roper (2017) implied that time management is often seen as the integral functionality for the associated employees. However, this skill is more important for the leaders. The greater leaders not only manage their own time, they even take care of the employees’ schedule. It is necessary for the skilled leaders to develop the right approach to make the employees maintain their time more effectively. Developing the high level of commitments and confidence is also essential in such context. When the employees join a company, there is always a vision to the future that enables their ability of making difference. The leaders are fueling these capabilities with the motivation and appropriate guidance. Skill building is crucial to organizational success. Building the skills of the organization implies to build on the strengths of the employees to function as per the needs of the organization. maintaining the high standards of the organizational productivity and sustenance is dependent on the proper functioning of the employees. Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee  (2013) stated that the maintenance of the right approach and strengthened efficiency level of the leaders help in developing the learning environment. This learning environment creates the opportunistic scenario for the employees to move forward towards their predetermined goals. The personality traits of the individual leader create more opportunities for understanding the values of the employees. The sense of empathy and contribution of the employees drive the organization towards success. Similarly, the employees gain their confidence level to become more efficient in future and guide their follower in a similar way.

The personality test has helped me in identifying the varied traits of my personality and thereby bring forth changes in my behavior. The differences in the situations and the manner in which I might take steps to mitigate the issues will be helping me to bring in changes in the systems. The personality tests has helped me to identify different steps through which the issues that are faced by me while performing the assigned actions can be mitigated. The authentic leadership test has helped me in identifying the most important talents through which I will be able to control over the decisions that I make. The test gave the result of Balanced processing as one of my top priorities, which will be helping me to bring forth changes in the decision making systems as per the needs of the different situations. On the other hand, it has helped me to bring in changes in the systems of the manner in which the decision making can be maintained as per the equilibrium. Balanced performance has helped in maintaining the proper dimensions of the decision making systems which is a crucial part to determine the progress of the individuals in their respective careers.

The Big Five Personality Test has helped me to undertake tests that will be helping me to bring in changes in the systems of the functioning as per the different goals of the units. The test gave out the result of extroversion, which has helped me to bring in changes in the systems of my understanding of the business. I have faced an issue while performing my on role as a programmer in the Atronix Animation Company. The company deducted remuneration from the employees in form of different taxes and thereby has created a culture in the workplace where no employees retained and worked for the organization for long. However, I took steps to communicate with the management of the organization to make them aware of the adverse effects of the lower rates of remuneration and the manner in which the organization might bring in changes in the systems of the business. While undertaking the interaction with the management of the organization, the logistician approach helped me to convince them of the different positive outcomes, which will be helping the organization to perform, smoothly as per the objectives of the same.   The identification of the outgoing and social nature has helped me to bring in changes in my interactive abilities, which has helped a lot in maintaining my post while functioning in the organization. The identification of the issues and the manner in which I observed the same has helped to my Logistician instincts to find a solution to the issue and thereby mitigate the same to enhance the functioning of the organization as per the needs of the same to make its expanding in their relevant market operations. The logistician instincts has helped me to identify the different issues relating to the differences in the different aspects of the change in the structure and the functioning of the units as per the needs of the organization to make modifications in the market.

I received the grade of an analyst while I undertook the test on Belbin’s team role. It has helped me to bring to the understanding of the different factors that will be helping me to bring forth team coordination and thereby develop the proper leadership qualities as per the goals of the organization. My team role as an analyst will be helping the teams tio make proper decision through the assessments of the risk and the viability of the other concepts that might be included to bring in changes in the systems of the market. The different forms of undertakings of the people are dependent on the proper functioning of the leadership abilities. It helps organizations to make their progress while operating in the markets. The purpose of undertaking the risks helped me and my teams to identify the manner in which modifications can be facilitated in the systems to reduce the risk ratings.  The key elements of the change in the systems are brought through the identification of the needs of the through an analysis of the issues and the mitigation strategies. It helped me to facilitate the smooth functioning of the teams and the manner in which they can be maintained as per the objectives.

The role that I undertook to bring in changes in the systems of the operations and the manner in which the management applied the strategies to cut off the remuneration of the people has affected the morale and thereby bring in changes in the systems of the business. However, due to my sociable nature I could communicate with the management more effectively which brought about the changes in the systems of the business operations. The differences in the performance of the organization can be administered through the changes in the workforce abilities and the manner in which they are resolved through the communication of the issues to the management of the business.

I was offered the job role of a unit manger in a private firm where the union of the labors has gained a strong ground in the management of the organization. It has helped in bringing forth changes in the organization, which was directed towards the benefits of the workforce. The organization incurred severe losses due to the different steps that were taken by the labor union leader. it affected the functioning of the business as the workforce, mostly, followed the direct orders of their leader. In this situation, I intervened as the manager, and took certain steps for bringing forth changes in the systems of the functioning of the workforce. The differences in the responsibilities and the manner in which I should have functioned as per the job role was dependent on the personality type I possessed. The tests helped me in identifying the right type of an analyst who applies empathy to bring in changes in the systems through the identification of the issues and the stratification of different ideas. On the other hand, I was assigned with the task of identifying the different instances where the workforce leaders has undertaken steps to create chaos. The socializing nature has helped me to diffuse the issues and thereby overcome the same to bring in changes in the systems of the functioning of the labor force as per the needs of the organization to make their progress.

The identification of the different factors of my personality has helped me to bring in changes in the manner in which I perceive the issues and thereby formulate strategies to bring forth changes in the systems of their functioning.  The differences in the output are dependent on the proper functioning of the attributes and the manner in which I present my leadership qualities with the goal of resolving the issues. Therefore, I believe that the identification of the different talents and personalities has helped me to bring in changes in the management systems while functioning in the respective job roles. The sociable nature has helped me to interact with different people and understand their psychologies. On the other hand, the nature of bring an analyst or a logistician has helped me to bring in changes in the systems of the functions through critical evaluations and fostering improvements. The identification of the manner in which the  Social regulations can be implemented on the practices has helped me to bring in changes in the manner in which I have taken steps to bring in changes in the system of the business. On the other hand, the identification of the different key elements of the change in the systems are facilitated through the identification of the needs of the employees and thereby making the upper management aware of the same. Empathy and trustworthiness has helped in maintaining the different levels of changes in the systems of the business as per the needs of the business to operate in the markets. Therefore, the identification of the different personality traits has helped me in identifying the different steps that might be taken by me to facilitate the proper functioning of the organization as per the objectives of the same.

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