In many companies, especially those with a strong focus on digitalization, traditional managerial approaches based on authority and control have clearly lost appeal. This trend over the past few years has resulted in the emergence of an other approach: emotional leadership. Emotional leadership emphasises on our capacity to control our own as well as those of our team members’ emotions.
Knowledge of Emotional Leadership (EL)
Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee’s book, Primal Leadership debuted the phrase “emotional leadership”. The writers not only define several leadership approaches and forms but also stress the need to properly manage a team in which knowledge of the emotions of others is fundamental.
Effective leadership is shaped in great part by emotional and social intelligence, as Daniel Goleman explores in the video connected above. These abilities activate the parts of our brain in charge of our connection and relationship with other people.
This is essentially about empathy, which is among the most desired qualities in managerial positions nowadays. Programs for coaching and leadership development center increasingly on empathy. Empathetic or emotional leadership is the secret to reaching major organizational goals and attaining real authority—distinct from simple authoritarian control—for managers and team leaders. This is mostly due to empathy improving general performance and quality of professional contacts.
Why is EL Crucially Important Right Now?
As a Washington Post article emphasises, the importance of emotional leadership grew more clear after Google’s Project Oxygen attracted a lot of attention. Project Oxygen is a study effort meant to find the traits that, in Google employees’ perspective, make managers successful.
Top universities all around pushed students for many years to concentrate on STEM skills (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). But Google’s early analysis’s findings changed this story quite significantly. Fascinatingly, technical knowledge came in eighth and last on a list of managerial competencies thought most strategic, behind a range of soft skills.
Google’s rework team gave Project Oxygen an update in 2018 including the top 10 skills most in demand for managers. Ranked by importance, Google contributors say these abilities are as follows:
- Possesses coaching abilities.
- Establishing a setting that supports autonomy and teams’ empowerment.
- Supporting staff fulfilment, well-being, and inclusion.
- Results-oriented and efficient.
- Possessing good listening and communication abilities as well as a readiness to distribute knowledge.
- Encouragement of staff development and candid performance review conversation.
- Keeping the team’s vision clear and its strategy coherent.
- Having technical knowledge to counsel the group.
- Proving that one can work across several departments.
- Possessing excellent decision-making ability.
In the present professional scene, where many conventional certainties have been challenged, new generations of employees prefer companies where leaders prioritise asking questions, listening to team ideas, sharing best practices, and remaining open to change—rather than just issuing orders.
Establishing such an environment depends on creating an emotionally safe workplace where mutual trust and cooperation flourish, so enabling the ongoing flow of ideas and appreciation of individual efforts. Beyond mere technical ability, critical thinking and a lifetime of learning dedication are growingly vital.
The Advantage of Emotional Leadership
The ability of emotional leaders to present even challenging news in a way that promotes development and improvement is among their most important qualities. Emotionally intelligent leaders give feedback routinely, explaining their thinking and giving staff members the chance to share their points of view rather than saving it only for difficult circumstances. Leaders can develop empathy and keep creating a trusting environment by posing questions on the emotional effect of comments.
In organisational development as well as psychology, empathy, communication, and emotional intelligence are not only helpful but also absolutely necessary in the modern company. Emotionally intelligent leaders foster an environment where staff members feel appreciated, heard, and motivated—ultimately producing more successful teams and companies.
Empactivo Helping Emotional Leadership
Designed to support and improve emotional leadership in companies, Empactivo is a robust employee experience tool. Empactivo helps leaders connect with their teams on a deeper emotional level by offering a platform that supports meaningful engagement, constant feedback, and open communication. It provides instruments for managers to evaluate staff well-being, schedule frequent check-ins, and honor team and individual accomplishments. This creates an emotionally safe workplace where confidence and empathy blossom. Empactivo aligns with the fundamental ideas of emotional leadership by including elements that support teamwork, inclusion, and personal development, so arming leaders to create a positive, encouraging workplace.