Emotional Intelligence and Resonant Leadership in Academic Institutions

Many people find themselves in positions of leadership as a result of promotion and/or expertise in a particular field, which may have little, if anything, to do with leadership or management. This is most often the case in academic institutions where those who have a PhD degree in a specific area are appointed as deans, heads of departments (HODs) and other leadership positions within their respective faculties.

The masters-of-one suddenly find themselves needing to be a Jack-of-all because effective and inspiring leadership requires articulation across disciplines, including human resource management, change management, strategic management, financial management and conflict management, to name a few. To effectively fulfill the role of a leader, the individual also needs to shape the vision as well as build and inspire a team towards the attainment of goals. In an academic environment, the HOD, as leader, must attempt to become a Jack of these and many more trades while s/he remains the master-of-one by meeting the demands for lecturing, research, supervision, publications and so on.

It is not uncommon to find such leaders overcome by sacrifice syndrome which leaves them in isolation and without support (McKee, Boyatsiz & Johnston, 2008). The authors explain that this syndrome creates dissonance which results in behaviours that are counterintuitive for the leader trying to build resonant relationships. Without resonant relationships, the prospect of effective leadership and management becomes dismal as the leader is caught up in the deleterious impact of dissonance. They propose that the antidote to sacrifice syndrome is renewal, which requires the elements of mindfulness, hope and compassion (McKee, Boyatsiz & Johnston, 2008). Successful implementation of these elements necessitates emotional intelligence on the part of the leader.

For this reason, effective leadership programmes should include emotional intelligence training. From the earlier works of Mayer and Salovey in the early nineties, to the more popular work of Daniel Goleman (1998), we now recognize emotional intelligence as having 19 competencies as listed in Goleman’s (1998) Emotional Competence Framework. The leader needs to acquire these competencies so that they develop in the clusters of self-awareness and self-management as well as social awareness and social management. Development in these areas enables the leader to harness the power of renewal to resurrect oneself and others from the throes of sacrifice syndrome and thereby restore resonance.

 In my personal experience, the greatest challenge lies within the clusters of self-awareness and self-regulation because we are required to look inward and to take responsibility. This requires courage because our survival mechanisms have generated many self-enhancing and self-protecting, as well as self-limiting thoughts and beliefs. When we are open to personal growth, we invite the possibility of unlearning survival mechanisms we no longer need. The mere awareness of a dysfunctional pattern is enough to disrupt inner dialogue and disarm our outdated narratives. Once the cogs of self-awareness and self-regulation begin to turn, they inevitably create leverage in our social awareness and social regulation. Without demonstrated willingness to step into the vulnerability of self-awareness, the corrosion of fear and avoidance clogs our emotional intelligence with rust, leaving us jammed and unable to navigate our way through the challenges of leadership and life in general.

The lofty ideals of leadership, calibrated by a mere list of key performance areas which compete for attention, will not materialise until we find a way to ameliorate the phenomenon of sacrifice syndrome and the resultant dissonance. Embracing the opportunity to gain self-awareness and self-regulation starts a journey that enables us to develop the emotional intelligence required to embody mindfulness, become custodians of hope and practice compassion. In so doing, we renew ourselves and those in our teams, thereby restoring resonance.

References

Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.

McKee, A., Boyatzis, R. E., & Johnston, F. (2008). Becoming a resonant leader: Develop your emotional intelligence, renew your relationships, sustain your effectiveness. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Pub.