Thursday, October 26, 2006

[Leadership] Chapter 6: Developing Emotional Intelligence and Cultural Literacy


Leadership Communication

Chapter 6



Understanding emotional intelligence (EI)

Emotional intelligence is the capacity to understand your own emotions and those of other people. This understanding provides a foundation for understanding and appreciating cultural differences. The leader’s emotional intelligence determines the success of the company’s culture and performance, and the understanding of cultural differences begins with emotional intelligence.

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to identify and manage emotions in ourselves and in others. In order to understand the emotional intelligence, you have to understand and express yourself, in addition, you also have to understand and relate to others as well. You should deal with the strong emotions and control impulses, and adapt to change and solve problems of a personal or a social nature if necessary.

Appreciating Personality Differences might help you in Establishing EI. To understand your personality type and that of others can contribute to the emotional intelligence needed to lead and manage effectively.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is the most popular psychological profile that can be very useful in leading and managing. The MBTI consists of 4 dichotomies in 16 combinations.


Non-Verbal Communication

Non-Verbal Communication Ability is very useful for interactions. The way you dress, walk and carry yourself, stand in relationship to others, use your hands, move your head, and change your facial expressions, all of these are types of nonverbal communication or sending messages without using verbal language. Knowing something about nonverbal communication is clearly important for anyone to improve the communication skill and is certainly important for any leader. Developing a better understanding of nonverbal communication can help you in your communication to others and in your understanding of how your communications may be perceived by them. In order to improve your non-verbal communication ability, you must learn as much as possible about any groups in which you will be interacting and develop a lot of understanding and sensitivity to non-verbal cues. Learning to listen to the others emphatically is also essential in effective interactions


Developing an approach to cultural literacy

“Culture is broader than geography”. Culture is an integrated system of learned behavior patterns and it refers to the total way of life in particular groups of people. Culture includes geographical, social characteristics and values.

Realizing the value of cultural differences is a key component of emotional intelligence. Only by understanding and appreciating cultural diversity,you can know how to communicate with all of the different audiences that form the complexion of most of the world. Nowadays, A lot of businesses are international, multinational, and global. You might obtain a very basic level of cultural literacy from reading about the differences across cultures. Furthermore, you can use a framework of cultural variables to help understand some of the differences foundation on which to build the greater knowledge and also to distinguish the cultural differences.

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