How would you define leadership from an emotional perspective and why is it so important for today’s leaders?
“Leadership is a skill that combines reason and emotion. The leader must emotionally connect with his team, at the same time he must record emotions and be able to regulate them from reason. He must put reason to emotion.”
The great leaders emotionally mobilize people emotionally, inspire others to join ideas, sometimes little scientifically demonstrated. “Leadership is a predominantly emotional mobilization, they touch the hearts of the people, it is an emotional connection with the followers”, López Cuenca explains.
“The leader must have the communication ability to transmit a dream, a vision. A leader without emotional connection and without followers, is only a manager, only does management, but does not lead. Leadership is emotional, management is rational. “
López Cuenca states that the emotional connection of the leaders is very important because it directly impacts the emotions of the team. “The positive emotional connection favors a team motivated and inspired by achievements. On the contrary, if the leader is negative and emotionally unstable, it becomes toxic to the team, it infects the discomfort in all others, with a highly negative impact on the organization.”
In your experience as a psychologist, what are the greatest emotional challenges facing leaders in their day to day?
“Being able to keep the motivated teams, is one of the greatest emotional challenges.” Having that emotional ability to connect and inspire people, especially new generations, that is a real challenge. According to the psychologist, “young people are in a constant search for overcoming experiences. The challenge is to keep them motivated, because their times are different from our generation, they live in accelerated mode, and if the changes do not occur in that rhythm, they can frustrate. The challenge is to contain that emotion and get them to develop frustration tolerance, through a high and overcoming vision that can keep in them alive inspiration.
And he adds, “another of the challenges that leaders have is emotional management. Years ago emotional outbursts and expressions of bad temper in high controls were tolerated. At present, leaders have to have high emotional intelligence skills, because these expressions are not allowed in the workplace.”
What has been your greatest learning by studying and teaching on emotional intelligence in the context of leadership?
“With the experience I learned the great paradox that exists in the organizational world: Managers are hired for their expertise and technical experience, but they say goodbye to the lack of emotional intelligence. ”
López Cuenca states that the most successful leaders are those who have high emotional intelligence. Among the emotional intelligence skills are empathy, emotions management and social skills. These skills are essential to be in charge of equipment. The lack of them leads directly to the low motivation, the loss of talents, low productivity and organizational failure.
What is the connection between leadership and emotional well -being, and how does this impact organizational performance?
“The close connection that exists between leadership and emotional well -being is because the leader’s emotions are infected in team members.” The psychologist explains that, it is demonstrated that within the teams where many hours are shared, emotions are infected, as in family systems. “The leader is that person who functions as a lighthouse, is that reference person, whom everyone observes as a guide to follow. So if the leader is optimistic and positive, he will spread enthusiasm, but if the leader has a bad mood, or depressive mood, it is as if it were Calamar inkthe whole environment is dyed like a black spot that darkens the environment. “
How can a leader learn to make difficult decisions without losing sense of emotional connection with his team?
“Leaders have to make difficult decisions, and must sometimes put the reason to emotion. Those decisions are not always popular and can affect the emotion of the team.”
“What the leader must learn is, first to tolerate the frustration of not always being popular, or being able to please everyone. The leader must develop the ability to empathize and contain the emotions of the group. It is important that he remains firm in his decisions; then he must do a containment job, to inspire the team again so that they manage to maintain the conviction against the difficulties.
What advice would you give to leaders who seek to create an emotionally intelligent and resilient organizational culture?
“The best advice I can give you is to invest in soft skill training and if possible they have advisory consultants for the management of decisions that have an impact on the teams.”
From his passion for leadership, López Cuenca concludes: “Human capital is the most valuable capital that an organization has. Investing in people, in training and advice of experienced professionals, is the best investment they can make.”
Acknowledgments:
Photos: Elina Uliarte @elinauliarte
Contact: Lic. Romina López Cuenca, +54 9 2645028294
Networks:
IG @ROMALEZCUENCA
IG @Lic.Romalazcueca
LinkedIn: Romina López Cuenca
Book “Lead with your own light” available at https://tintalibre.com.ar/book/2037/liderar_con_luz_propia
And e-book https://a.co/d/afwt9tu
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