Emotionally Intelligent Leadership: A Lens for Developing and Evaluating Leadership
By Marcy Levy Shankman and Scott J. Allen
As leadership developers we spend a great deal of time thinking about how to develop leadership. Whether it is EIL or any other model, the development of leadership is in some ways the great mystery. After all, scholars and practitioners alike have puzzled about how to evaluate the development of leadership for years. This has lead to varied degrees of success.
We have developed a very simple yet powerful tool to develop leadership that we call:
1. Know
2. See
3. Plan
4. Do
Think about any expert for a moment. This expertise could lie in the arts, education, medicine, athletics or engineering. Regardless of the expertise, an individual has moved through a systematic developmental process to develop his or her knowledge, skills and abilities. For the sake of discussion let’s focus on the field of medicine. All of us assume that when we go to the doctor, he or she has a great deal of expertise in the study and practice of medicine (know). Likewise, we hope that they can use this knowledge to effectively diagnose (see) our ailment. In addition, we hope that he or she can scenario plan and identify options to intervene and help us (plan). Finally, when applicable, we hope he or she can perform the intervention if needed (do). If you think about it, world-class chefs, excellent teachers, and professional athletes move through the same progression.
We suggest that leadership is no different. In addition to functional expertise, a leader must have knowledge about effective leadership. Otherwise, he or she is simply working from defaults and likely not making skillful interventions. In addition, we hope that the leader can use this knowledge to diagnose a situation, plan options and intervene to achieve the desired result.
So how do we effectively develop leaders? In many ways there is a similar process. We need to ensure that there is knowledge about effective leadership. This is one level. Another level is that individuals can see the concepts and inform their understanding of a situation based on their knowledge. This needs to happen in “real time” – often in minutes and seconds. Developing leadership also means that a person can plan, meaning that the individual can use his or her knowledge to diagnose (see) and then plan an appropriate intervention. Finally, and significantly, the most difficult level of leadership learning is do. Mastery over our own behavior is a difficult and time-consuming process. Leadership is seen by others in what a person does. For instance, an individual who naturally avoids conflict will need to practice other approaches to managing conflict with intentionality. He or she will have to move through the process outlined above in order to increase his or her effectiveness in a conflict situation, which is an inherent skill of leadership.
The process just described includes many ingredients. For some, deep knowledge and awareness are essential supports to the required or needed set of skills or competencies to develop. Additional components that enhance this process of leader development are coaching and feedback from experts; opportunities to practice; reflection; and competition or developmental opportunities that leads to more practice.
We know from CASEL (www.casel.org), that “schools that create socially and emotionally sound learning and working environments, and that help students and staff develop greater social and emotional competence.” When this happens, student achievement increases and teachers and staff are more satisfied with their work. EIL provides educators and staff with a plethora of learning handles through which social and emotional competence as well as the 21st century competencies (http://www.moe.gov.sg) can be taught and developed. For example, the table below highlights a number of similarities and common themes across the 3 models (EIL Capacity, 21st Century, SEL).
While the alignment of EIL with the 21st century competencies is clear, the process of teaching and developing these skills in others is not so easy to do. Utilizing the model of know, see, plan, do, educators can help students enhance their EIL, social and emotional literacy as well as the 21st century competencies. Both in and out of the classroom, instruction of EIL will help students increase what they know about themselves and others, which will help them become more confident and concerned as citizens. EIL will give students a particular “lens” through which they can see what is going on both within themselves and around them. This diagnostic ability will help students demonstrate, among other things, critical thinking and global awareness. When students (and educators) plan, they increase their effectiveness with others, are more self-directed, and demonstrate more responsible decision-making. Finally, when students do what they think is best for the given situation, they are active contributors who communicate and engage with others in constructive ways.
Because leadership development often occurs in a classroom, after school once a week, or even during a weekend seminar or retreat, it is difficult to intentionally design a program that consistently challenges students to “do” leadership. Even more difficult is creating an environment where they have the opportunity to practice the right skills. As a result, regardless of the model, it is difficult to truly turn knowledge into action. After all, common sense does not equal common practice.
As leadership educators, each of us should not only share cutting-edge models of effective leadership, but employ cutting edge approaches to leadership development. Herein lies the opportunity for us all.
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