Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, has a terrific short piece in the Korn Ferry Institute blog. The post, The Art of Effective Feedback, argues for leaders keeping a balance between empathy and emotional intelligence on one hand with conflict management and emotional self-control competencies on the other.
This is incredibly interesting given all the current focus on empathy as a crucial leadership skill. It shows that no single skill is the answer to being a great leader in all situations. Situational leadership means having a balance among a range of leadership skills and knowing which skill to apply at any given time.
Goleman’s insights are clearly worth investigating more for anyone trying to build success on teams. His insights also mesh seamlessly with Rob Kaiser’s research on Versatile Leadership.
Clearly, these guys are onto something. You can’t just rely on one important skill to achieve what you’re trying to achieve in life!