Introduction
Emotional intelligence is a vital skill that can be applied in a variety of situations, including conflict resolution and negotiation. However, as with any skill, not everyone possesses it, and people can develop it further by emulating a model of behavior provided by the leaders in their place of work or communities. This paper will discuss how leadership can be exercised to promote emotional intelligence in others.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is a skill shared by successful leaders who encourage growth and development in others. It can be defined as the ability “to perceive emotions, use emotions to facilitate thought, understand emotions, and manage emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth” (Issah, 2018, p. 2). According to Issah (2018), leaders should model the behaviors they expect to see in others and display such qualities as adaptability, self-confidence, and initiative. Thus, leaders can demonstrate how they manage their emotions during conflict resolution and negotiation in the workplace to promote emotional intelligence in their employees. During mediation of conflicts in the workplace, leaders can exhibit the ability to understand the emotions of others and constructively respond to them, modeling this behavior for their employees. In addition, leaders can model this behavior through carefully structured dialogue. Specifically, during a positive confrontation, leaders can exhibit their feelings and wishes through “I-language” and confront the unwanted behavior exhibited by an employee, not the employee as a person (Welthagen, 2018). Thus, by demonstrating emotional intelligence and applying it in challenging situations, leaders can foster that skill in others.
Conclusion
In summary, emotional intelligence is an indispensable ability to allow one to understand their own feelings as well as the feelings of others and apply that understanding to promote growth and development. Leaders should model this behavior and exhibit it during negotiations and conflict mediation if they wish their employees to develop that skill. In particular, it is important to exhibit emotional intelligence through a carefully structured dialogue that shows management and control of emotions when a challenging situation is discussed.
References
Issah, M. (2018). Change leadership: The role of emotional intelligence. SAGE Open, 8(3), 1–6. Web.
Welthagen, N. (2018). Positive confrontation techniques. Welstand. Web.