Individual Development Plan
Individual Development Plan
Introduction
Emotional intelligence involves the understanding of ones emotions and being in touch with thoughts and feelings of oneself. Emotional intelligence among other things enables an individual to connect easily with others since the understanding of oneself makes it easy to understand and relate with others. Emotions are known to have a great impact practically on all aspects of an individuals life from their attitudes and perceptions to the way they see and deal with situations as well as other persons. Each individual, thus, responds differently to issues pertaining to their emotional intelligence. However, the best people are those who know their weaknesses and work towards correcting these shortcomings where possible or at least redeem themselves through their strengths. As an individual, the skill that I need is that of transformational leadership and specifically motivation and inspiration in order to positively influence people that I lead.
Transformational Leadership
A transformational leader is basically a person who has four basic competencies of motivating through inspiration, stimulating intellectually, considering individually and having idealized influence over their followers (Goleman, 2005). It means that among competencies necessary for developing transformational leadership skills it is important to focus on ones relationship with oneself first before dealing with the way one associates with other people.
Knowing and Managing your Emotions
As Goleman (2005) established, emotional intelligence involves recognizing ones emotions and understanding them. Thus, this is seen in self-awareness. Self-awareness greatly helps an individual to understand their capabilities in emotional situations, how they react to certain emotional stimulants as well as what weaknesses or negative impulses they are likely to respond with in certain situations. Emotional intelligence is partly about managing ones emotions, and a great way to manage emotions is to know how to express them. Feelings, beliefs and thoughts need to be expressed in a way that represents the authority of a leader in a subtle but effective way (Goleman (2005). Letting it all out may be an attractive option, but only for the individual who is revealing it. People being forced to listen may not entirely appreciate emotions being expressed. Neglecting other peoples feelings is also dangerous as despite being a leader, the first and foremost thing is to remain a human. Being able to express yourself implies strength of character for the individual.
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Motivating Yourself
Once people know their emotions and are able to manage them, they will find it easy to identify instances in which they need motivation. It, in turn, helps to find ways to motivate oneself by using things that appeal to ones emotions, thoughts and beliefs. Apparently, the best motivation usually comes from within. Although external motivation is vital to ones emotional well-being, what is within, is what counts the most.
Recognizing and Understanding Other Peoples Emotions
A transformational leader needs to be able to understand what other people undergo in their everyday lives. It is, therefore, important that they had the ability to relate to other peoples situations without necessarily having to experience the same. Understanding other people makes it easy to relate with them and manage the way they relate with others (Goleman, 2005). In this sense, the skill enables one to avoid confrontations and resolve conflicts in various circumstances.
Effective Leadership
An effective leader is the one who persuades their followers when it comes to making specific choices and constantly motivates and encourages others in searching for the right direction. Transformational leadership requires effectiveness if it is to stand true to its name.
Communication
A transformational leader should be generally well-balanced and capable of expressing themselves as well as understanding and empathizing with others (Goleman, 2005). Self-awareness, empathy and self-expression, as distinguished aspects of emotional intelligence, guarantee balance that enables an individual to not only express themselves but also avoid appearing rude or powerless. These aspects also enable the individual to understand other peoples expressions and discern fake emotions from the real ones.
Team Work
Goleman (2005) believes that the understanding of other people and knowing how to distinguish characters as well as authentic emotions make it much easier for the individual to participate in a team. Moreover, it helps to grow with the team from scratch based on what the person knows of individuals within the group. He or she is also able to communicate effectively with team members and thus peaceful co-exist.
Motivation and Empowerment
The ability to manage other peoples emotions includes being able to motivate and empower them when they feel vulnerable or weak. The individual is, thus, able to motivate and empower others without wasting time as they understand and empathize with them and are able to reach out to them at all times through words and deeds.
Conclusion
In order to become a transformational leader, the first thing to do is to increase self- awareness, self-acceptance as well as to learn how to express my emotions in a subtle but effective way. Secondly, I should be able to motivate myself as well as understand and recognize emotions of others around me. Also, I have to learn how to empathize with others and manage my relationships with people I interact with. To perfect my skills as a transformational leader, I have to know how to be an effective leader with good communication skills, be able to form and grow a team, identify talents and be able to motivate and empower people that I lead.
