The emotional intelligence factor to successful team leadership

Abstract

Team leadership is a very challenging process. Its dynamics must be appreciated especially in today's business environment where quality should be assured. To achieve and maintain a competitive edge in business, the adoption of varied leadership roles with particular reference to organisational tasks at hand is imperative. However, because of the diversity of circumstantial realities, leaders are challenged with appropriate role adoption. Given the diversity of tasks within an organisation, successful leadership is to be flexible enough to adopt suitable roles in the achievement of desired goals. This sensitivity in leadership has been termed "emotional intelligence". Emotional intelligence (El) is a leadership concept that has received a lot of attention in the 21st century. This concept has been defined by many authors to mean several things including common sense. This paper reviews the essence of leadership dimensions of the concept. It also discusses the dynamics of team leadership.