The 6 leadership styles of emotional leadership
With this coaching guide you as Manager an overview of different emotional leadership styles. But why is emotional leadership so important? As a manager, you work for your employees, not the other way around. This attitude is crucial if you want to gain an advantage from this article.
Of course, this article is by no means a substitute for coaching with an expert in emotional leadership, but it may give you one or two inspiring ideas for implementation in your company.
Each individual leadership style has a profound effect on the emotions of the people to whom it is applied. This makes it all the more important that you as a manager understand and feel how you influence the feelings and opinions of your employees through your actions. Because one thing is certain: happy employees make your life easier in many ways!
The 6 emotional leadership styles according to Goleman
Emotional leadership is empathic and always associated with a high level of self-reflection. It also allows you to recognize the extent to which the respective styles suit your own personality and how they can be implemented depending on the situation! In addition to this coaching guide, professional coaching can also have a supportive effect.
Visionary leadership
Visionary bosses give their team a direction - a goal, a vision! They give their employees freedom, which can be very motivating to find their own way there.
Possible application / coaching for:
major changes in the company
Companies that need a clear direction
The coaching leadership
The coaching leadership style focuses less on the team as a whole and more on the individual strengths of each member. This style should be used with caution, as individual coaching can quickly create an imbalance in terms of attention and appreciation of your employees.
Possible application / coaching for:
- High performance and competitive sport
- Well-established performance teams
The Democratic Leadership
The democratic style involves the team in decision-making processes. Problems are discussed together and the strengths of the group are used to achieve better results.
However, if the democratic style is exaggerated, this can lead to a lack of purpose. In some situations, bosses have to make decisions themselves.
Possible application / coaching for:
- Small teams
- Situations that do not require quick decisions
- Building a solid, sustainable team
- Intended creative solutions
Challenging leadership
A boss who pursues a demanding style expects a high level of commitment from his team and exerts a certain amount of pressure. He sets high goals and is only satisfied with the best results.
However, if a boss exerts too much pressure over the long term, employees may feel overwhelmed. This is bad for motivation and willingness to perform. In addition, employees quickly become immune to the pressure and look for „loopholes“.
Possible application / coaching for:
- relatively few situations, must be used in a targeted manner for maximum effectiveness
- strong basis of trust and vision
Emotion-oriented leadership
Managers who apply the emotion-oriented style deal openly with feelings in the team and focus on the emotional needs of employees. Positive relationships are created in the team through trust and respect. This style can be easily combined with other leadership styles.
Possible application / coaching for:
- Upset in the team
- poor relationship between employees
The commanding leadership
The commanding boss gives his team instructions that are to be followed and not questioned. He likes to stay in control and rarely delegates tasks.
Possible application / coaching for:
- Emergency and crisis situations involving high time pressure (for example, during a difficult heart operation: in such a situation, the head must have his team under full control - everyone at the operating table must follow instructions without questioning every decision)
Emotional intelligence and social intelligence as the basis for emotional leadership
Emotional intelligence and social intelligence are closely linked. The former is considered to be the ability to manage one's own emotions in order to function as desired.
The following questions are for self-reflection and are aimed at emotional intelligence. The more precise and detailed the answers are, the better the results will be:
How do I deal with myself?
Am I aware of my feelings?
What are my passions and things that move me?
What do I need to be more efficient?
What things slow me down?
How do I deal with emotions?
Am I easily influenced by external factors?
How empathetic am I when it comes to recognizing other people's sensitivities and understanding how other people perceive problems?
Professional coaching can greatly promote this process, as the coach usually looks at the other person independently and from the outside. Thanks to their many years of experience, potential can be quickly discovered during coaching and developed together.
Social intelligence, on the other hand, is reflected in how well people can empathize with other people. The higher your social intelligence, the more accurately you can assess the consequences of your own actions. With a high level of social intelligence, you can also strongly influence, develop and optimally support people.
One of the most important points for this are:
- Asking the right questions at the right time
- The ability to listen actively (summarizing what has been heard creates clarity and trust)
- Authenticity
Both emotional and social intelligence are essential for successful emotional leadership!
The influence of our emotions on decisions
We are controlled by our emotions: if we are angry and upset, we are more likely to make poor decisions; with passion and positive feelings, we can think clearly and the quality of our decisions improves significantly.
Numerous studies confirm that emotional intelligence is linked to leadership success!
Problem: Many managers are convinced that they possess emotional intelligence. This statement is not always in line with the opinion of employees.
Solution: To compare yourself with reality, you should take a 360° REVIEW. This type of feedback is anonymous and makes it clear to what extent the self-image matches the external image.
Can I improve my emotional leadership through coaching?
Many people ask themselves whether emotional intelligence, social intelligence and therefore also emotional leadership can be learned through coaching! The answer is yes. The earlier we start, the more sustainable the results will be. Targeted coaching can help to deepen your own emotional intelligence and thus enrich both your business and private life.
These steps are a coaching guide of an iterative nature:
- First of all, you should ask yourself the following questions: Am I motivated to improve my leadership quality? Am I interested in the topic?
- Obtain feedback (an external 360° evaluation paired with coaching can be very helpful here)
- Decision: which weaknesses do I want to eliminate and which strengths do I want to build on?
- Consistent implementation with clear successes after just a few months
- Systematic transfer or integration into the relevant working environment
Coaching as potential development for sustainable, emotional leadership
If you want to go deeper than this coaching guide and would like to take advantage of coaching on this topic, the first thing you should do is answer „yes“ to the two questions posed under 1. Being open to approaching strangers at first is a strength of character that can pay off many times over. All coaching requires trust, which both sides develop during the introductory phase.
Coaching is not always pleasant, on the contrary. Good coaching is exhausting and goes into depth. A good coach acts like a mirror that reflects what you throw at it without judgment. Over a period of around three months of intensive coaching, a previously unimaginable potential can be released and realized. As a manager, are you ready to open up a new world through professional coaching? Will you say yes to coaching?
Find out more about our coaching services: Business Coaching, Executive Coaching and Management coaching in Frankfurt and throughout Germany.
About the author
Tim S. Tabrizi is the founder and managing director of Ihr Coaching Institut (Frankfurt). Certified Executive Coach (ICF, DBVC) with over 15 years of experience. 35 coaches throughout Germany. LinkedIn profile | Your coaching institute on LinkedIn