Leadership and Emotional Intelligence

2011; Low & Hammett, 2012) is tantamount with maturity (Goleman, 1998; Sen, 2010).
Integral to maturity is continual development and learning that entails “a positive and
strength-oriented approach [to encourage] a person to see changes” (Nelson & Low,
2011, p. xxvii). As noted in the Center for Creative Leadership report Making the
Connection: Leadership Skills and Emotional Intelligence, EI can be developed but it
usually takes a great deal of effort (Ruderman, Hannum, Leslie, & Steed, 2001). In this
milieu, Caldwell and Gravett (2009) and Goleman (1998) provided guidelines for
emotional competence training. Although much of it applies to any training intervention
(e.g., establishing clear learning objectives, evaluating training efficacy), a key focus area
is encouraging practice – “lasting change requires sustained practice both on and off the
job ... use naturally arising opportunities for practice at work” (Goleman, 1998, p. 252).
Goleman (1998) contended that even competencies perceived as purely cognitive
in nature have an inherently emotional underpinning. To illustrate, Goleman (1998)
provided a discourse on a leader learning to become a strategic planner. While thinking
in an analytical and conceptual manner is embedded in strategic planning, possessing
emotional competencies such as strong interpersonal skills contribute to success. A study
by Hammett et al. (2012) focused on United States Air Force military leaders who
received EI training while attending professional military education. Their findings
“revealed that EI skills were positively related to leadership performance while the EI
problematic indicators were negatively related to leadership performance” (p. 89).
Berman and West (2008) hypothesized that leaders engaged in situations involving
negative emotions, creative problem solving using emotional content, and significant