Emotional Intelligence as laid out by Daft has 4 components:

(2018, p. 150)
To reach the goal of improving my EQ, my first plan is to conduct a self-analysis to achieve self-awareness and self-management. In leadership and everyday life, it is essential to reflect on yourself and strive to be a better version of yourself. With a self-analysis, I will understand my "strengths, weaknesses, values, beliefs, motivations and desires" (Repolle, 2018). As Daft said, today's leaders need to be "whole leaders" (Daft, 2018, 136), where both head and heart are used to lead. 

"Self-awareness includes the ability to recognize and understand your own emotions and how they affect your life and work. It is the basis of all the other competencies" (Daft, 2018, p.150). If I become more self-aware, I can better guide my own life and decisions, ultimately leading to the ease of guiding others the same way. 

"Self-management includes the ability to control disruptive, unproductive, or harmful emotions and desires" (Daft, 2018, p.150). Achieving self-management comes with experience; as Daft said, employees who work in customer service are good role models as they can handle stressful situations, emotions, and impulses much better than others. Having worked in customer service related positions from 14 years old, I believe self-management is a strength. 

The self-assessment I will use is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, as it is known as the "most widely used psychological instruments in the world" (Myers-Briggs, 2020). Already while researching this goal, I can tell that I have the stepping stones to achieve an improvement in my EQ. However, as Hijjhwi said, achieving EQ is a continuous process, and I will always have something new to learn about myself (2015).

My second plan for action in achieving my first goal is to improve my social skills, such as:

(Daft, 2018, p. 150)

Social skills are essential in everyday life. Without social skills, it is hard to relate to others about their life experiences. I believe social skills are important, firstly to make work fun, and to build relationships. As Kerr, Garvin, Heaton, and Boyle stated, leaders with high EQ "increase group solidarity and morale by creating shared emotional experiences" (2005, p. 268). It is hard to pinpoint where exactly an individual can start by improving social skills; however, I think it's more about awareness of your surroundings, such as being able to sympathize with others. "Socially aware leaders practice empathy, which means being able to put yourself in other people's shoes, sense their emotions, and understand their perspective" (Daft, 2018, p. 151). Additionally, I feel that a leader should want to connect with the team and build relationships. "Relationship management refers to the ability to connect with others and build positive relationships. Leaders with high emotional intelligence are aware of the impact their behaviours have on others, and they treat people with compassion, sensitivity, and kindness" (Daft, 2018, p. 151). It is all about making an effort, being empathetic by thinking of more than just yourself, and being open-minded to all the different walks of life individuals have. To improve my social skills, I will have to continuously push myself out of my comfort zone as a leader and push to connect emotionally with others.

To reach this goal, it will be a career-long cycle of self-reflection and improvements. Following up on this goal every six months on things that worked and didn't work for me will be necessary. I should also create a new list of strengths and weaknesses every six months to keep track of reaching this goal.

To achieve the second goal of prioritizing workplace diversity, my first plan of action will be to create an open environment where I build a relationship with every person in my team and find commonalities. Whether these relationships solely are work-related or more, I will aim to have a conversation with each individual to know how they learn, work, what they enjoy, etc. As Daft stated, "the goal for today's leaders is to recognize that each person can bring value and strengths to the workplace based on his or her own combination of diverse characteristics" (2018, p.327). I will aim to put aside my stereotypes, preexisting judgments to have a successful diverse team.
        As I am a visible minority, half Japanese and half Dutch/Canadian, I have grown up knowing that I look different and have different cultural backgrounds as most of my white friends and coworkers; however, I never once felt out of place. I know I am lucky to have had great leaders who look at me, not for my differences but for my skills. I hope that I can do the same as a leader.

My second action place to achieve workplace diversity when I become a leader is to focus on collectivism.

I understand that not every individual will work well with a collective team; therefore, it is my job to create an environment where individuals feel open to speak their minds. As my leadership vision is to develop new leaders through acceptable practices, I think that building each other up is a great way to indulge my goal.

I hope to reflect and review my progress in reaching this goal one month into my next leadership position, hopefully in Summer 2021. I will know if I have achieved this goal if I can connect with every employee I work with.

 

Collins, J. (2020, March 12). 30 Emotional Intelligence Training Opportunities Hidden in Your Workday. Retrieved December 13, 2020, from https://blog.bonus.ly/30-emotional-intelligence-training-opportunities-hidden-in-your-workday

Daft, R. L. (2018). The leadership experience (7th ed.). Cengage Learning. 

 

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