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Why Self-efficacy, Emotional intelligence, Mindfulness, & Mindlessness are the best qualities in leaders?



Self-efficacy or self-confidence refers to an individual’s ability to complete a certain task (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012). It is somewhat synonymous with self-esteem except for the fact that it specifically pertains to a contextual task (Petersen, n.d.).
An employee or leader with a high self-efficacy imbibes a positive outlook to unfamiliar cultural settings and in turn views them as avenues for greater knowledge acquisition, unlike workers with low self-efficacy who see different intercultural dispositions as challenges that cannot be surmounted (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012).
Self-efficacy affects the productivity of employees and can be increased by creating an enabling environment whereby workers indulge in tasks they are comfortable doing whilst giving sufficient room for other new and challenging tasks. Self-efficacy can also be fortified by social role modeling, whereby workers observe the way other experienced personnel accomplish designated tasks and invariably replicate such productive behavior (Petersen, n.d.).
Emotional intelligence, on the other hand, refers to the ability to recognize, control and influence one’s emotions as well as that of others (Ingram, n.d.).
Emotional intelligence entails a tetrad of skills namely: emotional awareness, emotional self-control, empathy, and relationship development (Ingram, n.d.).
In order to become an emotionally intelligent leader, it is pertinent to become aware of influences that can elicit emotional responses in you. After this stage of emotional awareness, you must learn to control these identified emotional influences, such that your reaction to different intercultural situations remains logical and soundly-based. Empathy stems from emotional awareness and entails disregarding your personal notions and delving into the perspective of others. Relationship development is expected in an emotionally intelligent leader, as he is now versed in communication, and prompt conflict resolution amongst employees in the workplace (Ingram, n.d.).
Emotional intelligence is correlated with self-efficacy as emotionally intelligent leaders tend to have a higher self-efficacy. This is because they are versed in terms of recognizing and controlling their emotions in such a way that they consistently make sound judgments during interaction with different cultures; and since they possess an in-depth understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, they can apply this inward knowledge to eliciting best social outcomes.
Mindfulness refers to the ability to fully grasp what is going on internally whilst being fully cognizant of outside happenings (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012).
Mindfulness entails looking at issues or contextual situations from an entirely different perspective even if the observer has factual knowledge of the issue under consideration. It is thus a process and not an end outcome, as the observer disregards the known in favor of unknown and rather unpredictable possibilities to problems emanating from disparate intercultural interactions (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012).
Mindfulness is related to self-efficacy in somewhat of a mutually linear relationship. This is because the more mindful a culturally intelligent leader is, the more likely he is to portray a high self-efficacy in his ability to achieved a perceived outcome. In essence, the more mindful you are, the higher the chances of thinking positively as regards unfamiliar cultural settings.
Mindlessness, on the other hand, occurs as a result of the repertoire of activities such that individuals do not think outside the box but rather become accustomed to a singular approach as to how things ought to be done. Thus, mindlessness is the direct opposite of mindfulness, as the former does not give room for entertaining new perspectives to an issue but is limited to only one possible outcome (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012).
On this premise, Mindlessness is inversely related to the conviction in one’s own ability to accomplish a given task (i.e. self-efficacy). Thus, the more mindless a leader is, the lower his sense of self-efficacy and vice versa. On critical analysis, it can be extrapolated that the more mindless a leader tends to be, the less mindful he will be; with a concomitant decrement in his self-efficacy attributes.
It is important to note that contrary to earlier beliefs, Emotional Intelligence is rational and makes leaders to not only be better able to carry out their designated duties but also react appropriately during various interpersonal relationships within and outside the workplace settings (Yale University, 2010). On this note, it is quintessential for leaders to not only develop their emotional skills but also strive for an optimal emotional perspective in order to stimulate employee motivation via role modeling, effective communication skills, and cordial interpersonal relationships.
Mindfulness enables a leader to think outside of the box and be more receptive to alternative ideas and solution strategies from other members of the team.
Goleman & Lippincott (2017) illustrated that through mindfulness initiates a leader to think inwardly, it is nonetheless inadequate to maintain continued employee motivation, as the development of other emotional intelligence skills like coaching would be required in order to achieve such an encompassing feat. A mindful leader is more adept at recognizing verbal and nonverbal cues of his team members and elicit appropriate responses in order to achieve the best performance outcomes.
A feared consequence of mindlessness is learned helplessness; which is said to occur when repetition of narrow-minded ideas results in serial failures and complete demotivation of an individual. This repeated serial failures or white elephant projects has an inimical impact on the individual and since he is unable to view the task from a different perspective, he tends to give up in futility.
Thus, learned helplessness is the end result of a protractedly lowered self-efficacy emanating from a continued mindless approach to solving the intercultural challenge(s) (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012).

REFERENCES
Goleman, D. & Lippincott, M. (2017, September 08). Without Emotional Intelligence, Mindfulness Doesn’t Work. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved September 29, 2018, from https://hbr.org/2017/09/sgc-what-really-makes-mindfulness-work  
Ingram, D. (n.d.). Emotional Intelligence & Effectiveness in the Workplace. Retrieved September 29, 2018, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/emotional-intelligence-effectiveness-workplace-11242.html
Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012). Saylor Academy. Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0.
•           Chapter 5
Petersen, E. (n.d.). Self-Efficacy Theory in the Workplace. Retrieved September 29, 2018, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/selfefficacy-theory-workplace-10330.html
Yale University (2010, Jul 27). Emotional Intelligence and Leadership. [Video File]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k8TcF-3ofYlogo

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