Emotionally Intelligent Leadership and Organisations

Abstract

So far, we have been examining the way in which our thinking about leadership has been developing as organisations face increasingly uncertain, volatile, complex and ambiguous contexts. We have explored the way in which effective leadership requires a move from the ‘traditional’ heroic model to one that is more engaging and facilitating. In doing this we have seen the growing significance of EI and the evolution of the need for emotionally intelligent leadership. In the previous chapter we examined the role that leadership teams can play in developing the performance of an organisation. In doing this we saw how the style and behaviours of the leadership team can impact the culture of the organisation and how, in particular, an emotionally intelligent leadership team can have a very positive effect on the engagement of employees in the organisation. The ‘heroic’ model of leadership is based on the view that it is the leader who delivers performance. However, in today’s context this assumption is challenged. Higgs (2009) points out that this link between the leader and performance is not a direct one. He suggests that leaders create a culture that enables the performance of the organisation (or possibly constrains it!).