How to Apply Emotional Intelligence as a Leader

Leadership Strategies to Improve Business Performance

Introduction

In understanding how to use leadership strategies to improve business performance, this literature review focuses on the concept of emotional intelligence (EI) and uses the theories of Goleman and Salovey and Mayer to frame the review. These theories explain how EI can be thought of as essential to leadership and as a skill comprised of particular abilities. From that standpoint, the review covers how EI can be used to improve business performance, how directive and supportive leadership contribute to leadership development, leadership strategies and styles, talent acquisition, transformational and inspirational leadership in relation to EI, and strategies to improve leadership from a business perspective.

Theoretical Framework

Goleman’s EI Theory

Goleman’s (2021) theory of EI is that it is the ability to identify, evaluate and control not only one’s own emotions but also those of others or even of whole groups. In his approach, EI and social intelligence are inextricably linked: one cannot be properly utilized without the other. Moreover, EI is the essential element of leadership in Goleman’s theoretical model: it obliges one to use critical thinking when it comes to how emotion governs one’s own actions and the actions of others; and it requires one to monitor constantly this governance so as to be able to guide effectively one’s thinking and one’s actions (Shaffer, 2020). Critical thinking is needed so that the leader can parse out the relevant emotions and signals and determine which are most meaningful and why. This in turn enables the leader to make decisions and take action based on the emotional cues that he has identified and interpreted. From this point, the leader then must use this information to shape how he thinks and acts so as to facilitate the achievement of the goals that he has set for himself and the group. Goleman’s theory of EI is helpful for showing why EI must be applied. Salovey and Mayer’s EI theory is helpful for showing what it means to have EI.

Salovey and Mayer’s EI Theory

In the theory of EI put forward by Salovey and Mayer, in order for one to possess EI he must have four distinct abilities: the ability to perceive, understand and iterate the emotions one feels and the emotions others feel; the ability to use emotions so as to assist in one’s thinking; the ability to understand emotions, the language of emotions, and the signals of emotions; and the ability to manage emotions so as to accomplish one’s goals (Ugoani, 2020). This theoretical model explains that EI is a set of abilities that produce in total the concept known as EI in the individual. This set of abilities begins with perception, empathy and communication: without these three elements, the leader is unable to discern emotion, cannot understand or identify with it, and is at a loss when it comes to explaining it. Thus, perception, empathy and communication are the bedrock qualities for one with or aiming to have EI.

Using emotions to facilitate one’s thinking is also part of the necessary set of abilities: it refers to how one can support cognitive processes with feelings that help to drive them. It is an especially important aspect of motivation and self-actualization (Gopinath, 2020). Understanding emotions, emotional language and signals is also part of that skill set and it is required in order for one to be able to take the next steps of managing emotions. If one does not understand how emotions are cues, one will not be able to guide others or even oneself on the path of positive thinking based on the feelings and signs that one or others are displaying.

Approaching Performance with an EI Framework

The EI framework applied, using the theories of Goleman and Salovey and Mayer, allows one to see what EI is and how it is applied: it is the process of identifying, assessing and controlling emotions so as to prevent negative feelings from undermining progress and so as to promote positive feelings and support to enhance performance. To apply this concept, one must have a skill set that is rooted in perception, understanding and communication. To apply EI in a workplace setting, a leader has to be empathetic and engaged. He also has to be able to monitor, interpret and manage his own feelings as well as the feelings of his workers.

EI in Relation to Improving Business Performance

EI is essential in improving business performance because as Goleman (2021) notes it is the essence of leadership, and leadership is what drives performance. However, in the Indian study conducted by Varshney and Varshney (2020) it was shown that EI plays an important role in enhancing the task performance, adaptive performance, and contextual performance of a small business’s workforce. However, it was also found that workers should have a degree of agility so that they can respond with flexibility and dexterity to any situations that might arise that call for an alteration in responsiveness. In a country like India, this information can be helpful, but India is also a nation with its own unique characteristics and culture, which suggests that the study is not necessarily a study that has a high degree of generalizeability. For researchers examining EI’s relation to improving business performance in India, the study may be helpful, but cultural differences make it less relevant in a nation like the US or even a nation like China. Cultural differences have to be considered in this case to show that the findings may not pertain to all environments.

Emotional exhaustion can be related to performance, as shown in the study by Park and Kim (2021), who look at the toll of using emotions in the workplace as part of one’s job in the hotel industry in Asia. Because the hotel industry is similar internationally, the study has more applicability than that by Varshney and Varshney (2020). Park and Kim (2021) conducted a survey of employees from a dozen five-star hotels in Seoul and concluded that emotions have to be maintained and rejuvenated or else they will become exhausted, which in turn impacts an employee’s level of job satisfaction and performance. EI can therefore be used by leaders to identify emotional exhaustion and take action to replenish the emotional well-being of workers so as to maintain business performance.

Leadership Development: Directive Leadership and Supportive Leadership

Leadership development can take two distinct and opposite forms: directive or supportive leadership. Directive leadership focuses on giving orders and telling others what to do. It is explicit and direct and the leader assumes all the decision-making; most often it is associated with authoritative leadership. Supportive leadership is the opposite: instead of ordering others, the leader listens to others, and encourages them to take the steps that they think will be right. It is more focused on empowering others and is often associated with servant leadership.

Gocen and Sen (2021) validated the identifiable characteristics of supportive leadership of servant leaders using a multinational sample of teachers. They concluded that in the business world as well as in any other sector, supportive leadership can be associated with key behaviors, perceptions and attitudes demonstrated by the leader towards followers. The significance of this study is that it demonstrates on important aspect of leadership development that is often lacking in leadership studies—that is, how to identify the key attributes that a leader should possess and apply in order to foster leadership skills in others. Indeed, this approach is what is missing in the study by Varshney and Varshney (2020). While directive leadership may seem like an obvious choice for some leaders who are unaware of any other possible approach to leadership, the study by Gocen and Sen (2021) is helpful in showing that supportive leadership is not only a possible approach but also one that is well-understood because the attributes needed for its implementation have been observed and documented. Supportive leadership can thus be used as part of an effective leadership strategy to cultivate other leaders who will facilitate and enhance business performance.

Leadership Strategies

Leadership strategies that help to enhance business performance have been identified as being associated with those same attributes observed in supportive leadership: speaking from the heart, listening, empathetic communication and interaction, empowering others, personal authenticity, and clarity of communication and purpose. As Tirmizi and Tirmizi (2020) show, the qualities of servant leadership are universal and can be found across cultures, which supports the generalizeability of the findings of the study by Park and Kim (2021) as well as Gocen and Sen (2021). The key point in this body of literature is that supportive leadership plays an instrumental role in the fostering of effective leadership strategies that can be used to enhance business performance.

Leadership strategies should thus be formulated with the attributes of supportive leadership in mind, according to this same research (Tirmizi & Tirmizi, 2020; Gocen & Sen, 2021). With the right leadership attributes, a strategy of empowerment and self-actualization can be engendered—one that is rooted in the development of intrinsic motivation. Self-motivated workers, supported by leaders, can become the most effective and efficient workers, and can support the performance of the business through their industrious and committed application of their own talents and skills to the daily operations. Strategy is thus implicitly linked to leadership style.

Leadership Style

There are many leadership styles—transactional, democratic, transformational, servant, authoritative, and so on. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses with respect to different contexts. When coaching a leadership style, it is important to ask what the goals and objectives of the leader are so that the right style can then be determined—but it is also important to understand the people with whom one is working and how they are most likely to respond to different styles (Karlsen & Berg, 2020). Leadership styles should be cultivated to match the environment, the context, the people and their needs. At the same time, as Tirmizi and Tirmizi (2020) point out, the qualities of servant leadership are appealing to workers in all cultures, which indicates that there are special attributes possessed by supportive leaders that resonates with people in any given situation.

This finding suggests that servant leadership can be applied in any context as a universal leadership style that resonates with workers in any situation and any environment or industry. Workers like to feel supported and empowered, which is consistent with the literature on leadership development (Gocen & Sen, 2021). To implement the appropriate leadership style, some consideration therefore should be given to the possibility of all leadership styles being rooted in supportive leadership concepts and grounded in the development of EI.

Talent Acquisition

Acquiring talent depends more upon monetary considerations, as the latest research by Tseng (2020) reveals. Workers want to feel supported, nurtured, and appreciated throughout the onboarding process; they want to feel that they are entrusted to make decisions and that that they are empowered to be successful (Karlsen & Berg, 2020). Receiving a paycheck is only part of the equation and is only a form of extrinsic motivation in the larger scheme of things; workers need intrinsic motivation in order to achieve the greatest success—and they are implicitly aware of this. They know they have skills and abilities, and they want to work for a business that appreciates this aspect of them. They do not want to be hired only to be treated as an inferior with a limited skill set. A leader who approaches talent acquisition in this manner is not going to be successful in landing top grade talent because he does not understand the actual needs and desires of the person seeking employment (Tseng, 2020).

Thus even in talent acquisition there is a need to approach hiring from the standpoint of EI, which allows one to understand the emotional needs and signals of the common hire by looking at what the common hire wants from employment: the worker wants to feel satisfied with his job, wants to feel successful, wants to feel appreciated, wants to feel that he can grow in his work, wants to feel that the work is important to society and that he is empowered and trusted to do the tasks he has been hired to do (Goleman, 2021). All of this is essential to the idea of applying EI in leadership and leading by understanding the emotions of others and their relevance.

Transformational Leadership and Inspirational Leadership

Transformational leadership and inspirational leadership are similar in that both aim to motivate workers to achieve something good. The difference is that transformational leadership is typically applied where there is an organizational need for change and workers have to be led to embrace that change. The transformational leader will use inspirational messages to get workers to buy into the vision that he presents. As Kren and Sellei (2021) indicate, EI has an important effect on organizational performance when it is demonstrated by leaders who have the ability to understand both the needs of the business and the needs of the worker. Simultaneously, the leader must also understand his own emotions and be able to harness them so as to achieve a synthesis of feeling, cognition and understanding to direct the processes and performance of workers under his care.

Inspirational leadership is no different, but it does align somewhat more with supportive leadership and servant leadership because it is not focused on any specific change necessarily but is more focused on helping workers become empowered, motivated and driven to achieve their goals and objectives in a more effective and efficient manner. Fontaine and Nasir (2020) show in their study of using divine speech to motivate culturally Muslims in the workplace that reference to the cultural values of workers can be a good way to inspire them. This requires, however, understanding on the part of the leader for what the culture and values of the workers are, which is again why EI is rooted in empathy and why leadership is rooted in EI, according to the approach of Goleman (2021).

Transformational Leader and Current Findings in EI

If EI is important in leadership, it is especially important in transformational leadership because the transformational leader is seeking to obtain buy-in from his followers so that they will support the change that the leader is trying to implement in the business operations. Du Plessis, Waglay and Becker (2020) show that transformational leaders can leverage their EI in order to establish strong relationships with followers and thus achieve the desired change in their thinking and behavior. This study shows that EI is thus essential in transformational leadership. It is corroborated by the findings of Gopinath (2020) as well, for self-actualization is ultimately the driving force behind EI—which requires the leader to be self-actualized through awareness, understanding and management of his own emotions. From that point on, the leader is then capable of applying himself to the needs of others and forming the necessary supportive relationship with others that facilitates the upward direction (Tirmizi & Tirmizi, 2020). When bringing people together to achieve a change within the organization, the leader must be able to control both himself and help others to control themselves as well, for change is disruptive by nature and it causes frustration and anxiety among those who fear it. These negative emotions cannot be controlled by a leader if those who have them are not taught or empowered to control them on their own.