Leadership and Emotional Intelligence

As frontline leaders, it is important for you to recognize your moods and emotions. You need a deeper understanding of the emotional needs that drive you and shape your behavior. Management research shows that the behavioral competencies are highly important for individuals with leadership responsibility. In fact, without behavioral competencies, even otherwise bright individuals fail in managerial and leadership roles. These competencies are not innate; they are learned through guided introspection and practice. This module will deal with the topics of emotional intelligence, self-awareness, interpersonal relations, leadership skills and mindsets, avoiding the trap of derailment, and building personal development plan. We also have an interview with a senior industry practitioner on competencies of an effective leader.

People are at the center of any organization. For leaders to achieve organizational goals, they need to understand the people they are leading. To be effective, a leader has to allocate significant time and effort to build and develop cooperative relationships with key internal and external stakeholders. Building and maintaining relationships is a critical competence for effective leaders. This is aimed at not just direct reports. You also need positive relations with peers, bosses, senior leaders, people at operating levels and relevant others outside the organization. When there is mutual trust, influence and credibility, organizational work becomes easier. In short, relationships are critical for leadership success. This module will focus on the topics of listening, coaching and feedback, delegation and building effective teams. We also have an interview with an industry expert on building resonant relationships.

Organizations are teams of teams. By definition, a manager gets work done not only through one’s own resources and efforts, but also through others. In other words, you are required to work effectively with people outside your team. These are individuals and groups within the organization and also outside. You have to influence people at different levels and functions, build collaborative relationships wherever possible, negotiate wisely, handle difficult conversations and make decisions in the face of uncertainty and complexity. In this complex arena, formal authority or position power is only a limited resource. You have to influence without authority, and this will require you to draw on your personal power, resources and approaches. You have to develop skills and mindsets for the challenges of managing conflict, handling difficult conversations and carrying out effective negotiations. This module will deal with the topics of influence, conflict management, handling difficult conversations, negotiation and decision making. As a part of this module, we have two interviews – one with a negotiation expert on what it takes to be an effective negotiator, and the second with an industry expert on the topic of complex decision making.

Research and practice show that managers and organisations face huge difficulties in reaching set targets through their change management initiatives. As a frontline leader, you are expected to bring about changes without having the authority to issue orders or give directives.You won’t have all the authority and resources, and yet you would be expected to bring about effective changes in your sphere of functioning. Changes are required to respond to newer opportunities and threats faster than your competitors. You would be expected to be both change agents and bring about effective changes; and at the same time, change recipients and operate within the framework of a larger mandate or organisational direction given to you from higher levels. Not surprisingly, leading change has become a highly critical managerial competence. This module will cover Lewin’s foundational model of change, Kotter’s influential framework of change management, levels of resistance to change and change leadership competencies.