Task Oriented Leadership and Emotional Intelligence

During training in the first week of our internship, one of the main things that they harped on us was that as interns we would be given a lot of autonomy to make an impact on the organization. One week into my actual “on the desk” work, I now have a much better understanding of what was meant by this. So far what I have realized is that besides my direct trainer who is always helping to make sure I am on the right track, everyone else is not just autonomous but independent in their work. While people will ask others for help if they are working on a project that someone has familiarity with, for the most part, everyone is most interested about achieving their own personal “hurdles”. This trend holds true for associates, managers, and vice-presidents alike. To me, this is a clear example of task-oriented leadership, employees work hard to maintain a positive brand name for the company – which is really important through us. All employees, particularly the higher-ups, truly “lead by example”. In fact, if anything there may even be a reverse hierarchy of workload. I’ve observed that the Vice-Presidents are always the first people to show up in the morning, the last to leave at night, and the most likely to eat lunch at their desks rather than taking the hour off.

I have also been extremely impressed by the high-level of emotional intelligence in the office. Before my internship even started, the Professional Development team sent all of the interns an article on Emotional Intelligence (actually the same one that Dr. Goethals assigned in the spring) as well as multiple Ted Talks to watch. In the office, it is clear that people have a high level of emotional intelligence both when dealing with clients and in a leadership setting. For example, during a check-in meeting with my trainer this week displayed many of the characteristics that I learned from Goleman’s readings this spring. Specifically, self-awareness and empathy.

Self-Awareness: Jack (my trainer) was very upfront about the fact that he know he responds best to positive reinforcement. He felt it was important to tell me this so that we could make the best of our working relationship. I was very impressed not only by his self-awareness but also that he knew to bring it up to me to help our relationship.

Empathy: One of the main characteristics that Goleman mentioned of an empathetic person is that they are able to develop others. Jack did this by making sure I  am self-aware and know how I am personally best motivated (accurate reinforcement) so he can alter his training of me accordingly.