Leading with Emotional Intelligence

In considering the idea of leading with EI we begin by considering the development of the concept of EI. During the past 25 years we have seen an enormous amount of interest in EI. The view that EI accounts for the difference between personal success and failure has captured media interest. In the early years there were numerous articles in leading newspapers that attempted to explain the performance, perceptions and peccadilloes of leading politicians in terms of their possession or lack of this ‘most desirable’ characteristic. One article argued that the problems of the former US President, Bill Clinton, were explained by his lack of EI while another article in the same paper two months later claimed he had high EI. The success of the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, was attributed to his high EI whilst the former Chancellor, Gordon Brown, possessed very low EI. The latter was borne out later during his premiership. Several recent articles have claimed that a different type of business leader is now required: one who possesses EI.

In the previous chapter we defined EI and explained why it can be important for organisations. In this chapter we review the debate about the validity of EI and then present findings from studies using the Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (EIQ)¹ that show that EI can make a difference in predicting/explaining performance in many jobs within different organisations. In addition, we show that EIQ does add significant variance when compared to results produced by personality questionnaires.

Many readers will want to know their own level of EI so that they can take action to develop and improve their capability in this area. This brief chapter aims to help the reader conduct a tentative assessment of their EI to satisfy their curiosity and help them approach the balance of the book with a number of practical questions in mind. These can be explored further when reading Chap. 5, ‘Can Emotional Intelligence Be Developed?’ Should the reader require a more specific assessment before reflecting on developmental activity we have proposed a process for building a firmer foundation for their assessment. Those who seek an absolute measure of their EI should arrange to take a full psychometric assessment.

In Chaps. 3 and 4 we introduced an overall model examining the components of EI and their potential contribution to performance in a work context. We also offered a tentative assessment of your EI. This chapter considers the feasibility of an individual being able to develop their level of EI and potential ways of doing this.

In this chapter we explore the increasing importance of effective leadership within organisations facing a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment. We show the way in which our thinking about, and models of, leadership have evolved to reflect changing needs and contexts. From ideas and research into leadership, we demonstrate that leadership comprises a mixture of EI, cognitive competencies and broader managerial competencies. This combination underpins the idea of leading with EI. The importance of the dynamic between the leadership requirement and the leadership context has also been highlighted.

In the previous chapter we explored developments in our thinking about the nature of leadership and the way in which we can develop leadership that will be effective in achieving key organisational goals. We alluded to the changing context in which leadership is enacted. In this chapter we explore in more detail the context facing organisations today and the related impact this has on leadership. We propose that our thinking about leadership needs to be set within a context of complexity, commitment and change.

In this chapter we describe the development of a model of EI leadership and the related Leadership Dimensions Questionnaire (LDQ) devised from our original Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire as well as the developments in leadership thinking and the need to consider leadership within a context of change. The model includes the original seven dimensions from the EIQ plus eight new dimensions measuring ‘IQ’ and ‘MQ’. We then present a new overall model of leadership, before going on to describe three leadership styles derived from scores on the 15 LDQ dimensions. Finally, we note the importance of context to determine which style is appropriate to a specific organisational context.

In this chapter we outline an approach to developing context relevant leadership that will lead to a more effective organisation. We then consider how the 15 components of our emotionally intelligent leadership model might be developed. In proposing a development framework, we suggest a number of steps that follow a similar route to the framework outlined for the development of EI (Chap. 5).

In this chapter we extend the EI model, from the individual to the group level of analysis, and comment on the similarities between EI and Belbin’s Team Roles. We also suggest that there is scope for using EI assessments to help in building balanced, and therefore effective and flexible teams. We propose a framework for developing emotionally intelligent leadership teams and illustrate its use by a case study.

Given the emerging interest in bad leadership mentioned in Chap. 6, this chapter explores the topic in more detail. In doing this we will look into its ‘dark nature’. In particular we will look at the drivers of interest in the topic, the nature of ‘dark leadership’, its consequences, and finally how the development of an individual’s emotional intelligence may help in ameliorating or preventing the emergence of dark behaviours.

In this chapter we will explore the background to the growing interest in mindfulness; what we know about the nature of mindfulness and its relevance to organisations; what has been found in terms of leader mindfulness; and how it can aid the process of implementing change in an organisation. We will then explore its relationship to emotional intelligence as well as the LDQ that we discussed in Chap. 8, doing this through the exploration of a recent relatively large-scale study of leader mindfulness in change.

In this book, we have set out to explore the challenges of leadership in today’s context of ever-increasing complexity, volatility, uncertainty and ambiguity. We have been conscious throughout that there is a vast literature that explores leadership, offers models and suggests solutions to the challenges of determining the nature and antecedents of effective leadership. In reviewing these in Chap. 6 we pointed out that the concept of ‘heroic’ leadership has dominated much of the thinking. We have also suggested that there is a demand for a simple answer that amounts to a search for the ‘Holy Grail’ of leadership. Organisations are all too often seeking relatively simple explanations and models that explain effective leadership. All too often, these ‘silver bullets’ fail to provide a basis for developing effective leadership. At the same time, the academic literature remains complicated and relatively inaccessible to practitioners. In reviewing the writing on leadership we determined from the outset that the context in which leaders find themselves today are not amenable to simple models and prescriptions for success. There is a real need, in our view, for an approach to thinking about leadership that combines the rigour applied to academic research and the relevance desired by practice.