Abstract
Emotional intelligence (EI) has been identified as a skill that employers require for individual, team, and business success. A great number of businesses and organizations are now placing greater emphasis on EI as a strength and key indicator when interviewing and hiring new talent. As a leader, it is vital to set expectations and be well trained to create, build capacity, and innovate in any field of work. This chapter will review leadership from a black woman's perspective and discuss how managing a team requires a leader to not only have strong leadership skills, but also maintain high EI.
TopMain Focus Of The Chapter
According to Kumar (2014), most researchers and scholars agree that the concept of leadership does not ascribe to one specific definition. Leadership can be defined in a variety of ways, based on leadership levels and personal experiences. Through these experiences, a leader can identify certain aspirations, expectations, values, and motivations for both themselves and team members (Kumar, 2014). As it relates specifically to EI leadership, a leader’s perspective can affect how a team performs, communicates, collaborates, produces results, and most importantly, how they take on the role of a leader. Leaders must learn to obtain appropriate knowledge and have a clear understanding of the importance of diversity, inclusion, equity, and how emotional intelligence can help them to better support teams from a holistic lens. There is insufficient data or literature on how EI is leveraged specifically in the work environment to create a healthy work environment among leaders and their teams, especially from a black woman’s perspective.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Emotion Regulation: The ability to manage emotions, identify triggers, and use skills to positively channel emotions.
Emotional Intelligent Decisions: Decisions that are based on assessment, business needs, and collaborative efforts.
Self-Awareness: The ability to self-reflect and acknowledge how different emotions and feelings can affect daily life, personal and professional. This includes learning and acknowledging one’s own strengths and challenges that influence self-growth.
Burnout: The result of mental and emotional stress, anxiety, fear, guilt, and breakdown on the physical and mental psyche.
Social Awareness: The ability to empathize with others and acknowledge how others may perceive different life experiences based on race, culture, gender/identity, and beliefs.
Impostor Syndrome: Belief or feelings of self-doubt, second guessing skills and talents, and avoiding the acknowledgment of personal accomplishments or willingness to take chances.
Emotional Intelligence: The ability to gain a better sense of self, learn emotion management/regulation, understand the needs of others, show empathy, build positive personal and professional relationships, and make effective life decisions.