1

INTER-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SL, EI and LEADERSHIP

Inter-relationship between Servant Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, and Leadership

Performance

Evelyn Snow

EMBA Program

EMBA 7005 – Leadership Theory & Practice

March 21, 2020

 2
INTER-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SL, EI and LEADERSHIP

Confidence in leaders is faltering in today’s hectic and complex environment due

to a lack of emotional intelligence and servant leadership skills. Experience and hard

skills only are no longer adequate to thrive in these times. Using the results of a study

conducted by [CITATION Muk16 \l 1033 ], the roles played by the constructs of servant

leadership (SL) and emotional intelligence (EI) in building the nontechnical abilities and

developing managerial leadership competencies to enhance managerial performance are

examined.

A major precept of servant leadership proposes that followers will become

healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous and more likely to become servant leaders

themselves[ CITATION Gre70 \l 1033 ]. [ CITATION Gol95 \l 1033 ] Noted that emotional

intelligence is at the very center of effective leadership. The resulting findings of the

study outlined that both SL and EI skills had a positive influence in enhancing the

managers’ effectiveness in undertaking leadership responsibilities and on leadership

qualitative performance measures.

Servant leadership can be defined as “leadership in which the leader transcends

self-interest to serve the needs of others, help others grow, and provide opportunities for

others to gain materially and emotionally” [CITATION Daf18 \p 178 \l 1033 ]. Emotional

intelligence “refers to a person’s abilities to perceive, identify, understand, and

successfully manage emotions in self and others” [CITATION Daf18 \p 146 \l 1033 ].

The results of the Mukonoweshuro et al.’s study highlights that servant leadership

and emotional intelligence are important and essential skills for successful leaders. It

suggests that “leaders endowed with SL and EI competencies were more able to harness

the energies of their teams towards attainment of the vision, and create high trust and
 3
INTER-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SL, EI and LEADERSHIP

integrity between leaders and their teams. Qualitative findings of the study on the

possibility of integrating SL attributes and EI competencies showed that interviewees

perceived such factors as social awareness, influencing and persuasion skills, role

modelling, stakeholder relationship management and team orientation as being common

to both SL and EI”.

Mukonoweshuro et al. suggest that the characteristics and correlations of SL and

EI are defined as a collaborative style of leadership. Qualities and traits of effective

servant leaders includes a high sense of EI and are effective at managing their emotions

and relationships with others. Since emotional intelligence is largely about managing

relationships and development of high social awareness or empathy, it can directly lead

one towards more of a service orientation. Thus, servant leadership is a relational

leadership style and it can be expected that an employee’s perception of their manager’s

servant leadership behavior would be higher if the manager had higher levels of

emotional intelligence.

To succeed in today’s environment requires whole leaders who use both head and

heart [ CITATION Phi10 \l 1033 ]. Leaders have to use their heads to tend to organizational

issues such as goals and strategies, production schedules, structure, finances, operational

issues, and so forth. They also have to use their hearts to tend to human issues, such as

understanding, supporting, and developing others [CITATION Daf18 \p 136 \l 1033 ].

References
 4
INTER-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SL, EI and LEADERSHIP

Daft. (2018). The Leadership Experience (7th Edition). Boston. Cengage Learning.

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. New York.

Greenleaf, R. K. (1970). The servant as leader. Indianapolis, IN: The Robert Greenleaf Center.

Mukonoweshuro, J., Sanangura, C., & Munapo, E. (2016). The role of servant leadership and emotional
intelligence in managerial performance in a commercial banking sector in Zimbabwe. Banks and
Banks Systems. 11(3): 94-108. doi: 10.21511/bbs.11(3).

Philpot, S. (2010). ‘‘Whole Leadership,’’ Leadership Excellence.