The Importance Of Organizational Intelligence In Leadership

An individual in a leadership role has many responsibilities. These responsibilities range from dealing with the everyday tasks to preparing for the future. Leaders must be prepared to address any issues that arise. A good leader is crucial to the success of the entire team. This paper will explore several topics that leaders must attend. Specifically, this paper will review innovations, change management, and systems thinking, and communication and emotional intelligence. It will also review professional membership and professional development, along with influence versus power and leadership and management. Additionally, it will review decision making, conflict resolution, and retention and succession planning. Lastly, it will review

Boykins (2014) stated that skill in communication is defined as “effective, appropriate, and therapeutic” (p. 40). Effective communication is not limited to verbal communication; it also includes written communication. Part of effective communication is also effective listening. It is important as the leader to listen to staff concerns and address them with effective communication. To become an effective communicator the leader must have emotional intelligence. Emotions are an important aspect of communication. Feather (2008) defines emotional intelligence as, “the ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express emotion” (p. 377). Heffernan, Quinn Griffin, McNulty, and Fitzpatrick (2010) further describe emotional intelligence to include four factors: well-being, self-control, emotionality, and sociability. Well-being includes optimism and self-esteem. Self-control includes the regulation of emotions and the management of stress. Emotionality includes “emotional perception of self and of others, emotion expression, relationship skills and empathy” (367). Lastly, sociability includes being socially competent, having the ability to manage assertiveness and emotions. It takes time to build and perfect all these skills. To be an effective communicator and a good leader, the nurse must be competent in these

Effken, Verran, Logue, and Hsu (2010) define decision making as “choosing options that are directed toward the resolution of organizational problems and the achievement of organizational goals” (p. 189). The leader must make challenging decisions that not all staff will be receptive. The decisions made by the leader affect the entire team. For instance, Saintsing, Gibson, and Pennington (2011) stated that the effective clinical decisions made by the leader can help novice nurses reduce errors. Thus, poor decisions would then could have the opposite effect. Many factors that contribute to the outcome of decision making. Hedberg and Satterlund Larsson (2003) describe three elements which include the task, the decision-maker, and the environment where the decision making takes place. The more complex the task, the more likely an incorrect decision will occur. The experience of the decision-maker for the task at hand will determine the outcome of the task. The more challenging the environment, the more difficult it will be to decide without