Leadership and Emotional Intelligence

in decision making to develop their EI. Experiences as vocalized by participants
encompassed rotational assignments, new positions, leading task forces working complex
issues, and stretch opportunities. These experiences became the defining moments for
many participants, in terms of becoming aware of and sharpening their EI. Of notable
import is that these experiences were oftentimes unplanned or accidental in nature. This
aligns with Illeris (2011) who gave credence to incidental workplace learning.
Coaching was used to reinforce desired behavioral changes that built healthy EI.
Mentoring was used to identify and emulate others who role modeled EI attributes.
Interested readers are encouraged to explore Appendix C, which is a complete set of
excerpted transcripts on the EI developmental experiences encountered by study
participants. The questions that prompted these responses were focused on understanding
EI’s evolution in participants, the experience, the relevant situation or context, why the
experience mattered, and who else was involved.
Figure 5.3 provides an illustrative summation of conclusion 3.