More than nine in 10 business leaders, as well as employees, view emotional intelligence as important in leadership, according to research from NTUC LearningHub.
By Maggie Mancini
Leaders today are expected to thrive in a dynamic and digitally driven workplace while cultivating human-centric capabilities and competencies. While over four in five Singaporean business leaders believe they demonstrate emotional intelligence very well, only half of employees believe their leaders possess the skill.
According to employees, emotional intelligence (31%) is the top skill they believe their leaders are lacking, followed by effective communication (30%) and people development (30%), according to research from NTUC LearningHub.
Most business leaders are confident in their ability to lead effectively and achieve organisational goals (13% very confident, 73% quite confident). However, just over half of employees are confident in their leaders’ capabilities (3% very confident, 52% quite confident).
This disconnect is evident in how most business leaders believe they understand their employees’ needs and meet their evolving expectations. Yet less than half of employees share the same sentiment.
More than nine in 10 business leaders, as well as employees, view emotional intelligence as important in leadership. Business leaders cite the ability to communicate more effectively (55%), make better decisions (55%), be more flexible and adaptable to changes (53%), build strong relationships with employees (51%), and motivate employees more effectively (50%) as the top reasons why they perceive emotional intelligence as important for leadership.
While employees voice similar sentiments, they also highlight the ability to better manage and resolve conflicts (65%) and react to challenges or highly pressurising situations calmly (58%) as other key reasons.
Business leaders have to contend with keeping their teams engaged and motivated (38%), managing relationships with employees (35%), and balancing performance with employee well-being (29%) in today’s workplace. This is also accompanied by other challenges cited such as developing future leaders (29%) and adapting to change and uncertainty (28%).
Despite the perception divides, three in five business leaders (60%) acknowledge gaps in their leadership abilities and have identified areas for improvement. However, less than half of business leaders (44%) have participated in relevant training to enhance their leadership skills in the past year, with two in five (39%) rarely attending training. Lack of time (48%), high workload (47%), and lack of motivation (31%) are among the top challenges business leaders face when participating in leadership training programmes.
Yet, there is a desire for frequent training, as about two in five business leaders (38%) express a desire for more frequent training to develop their leadership skills. Three in four business leaders (9% very effective, 67% quite effective) also believe that the leadership training they received was effective in developing their abilities.
