Assessing leadership potential: is there a place for emotional intelligence?

Higgs, M.J. and Aitken, P (2003) Assessing leadership potential: is there a place for emotional intelligence? (Henley Working Paper Series, HWP 0301), Reading, UK. University of Reading

Abstract

For more than half a century organisations have been obsessively concerned with identifying the traits or characteristics associated with effective leadership ( Kets De Vries, 1993; Higgs, 2002; Parry & Miedl, 2002). One frequently employed, and well validated, approach to identifying leadership potential has been the use of assessment/ development centres ( eg. Thornton & Byham, 1982; Goodge, 1995; 1997; Woodruffe, 1993). More recently it has been asserted that a major determinant of leadership effectiveness (and in turn potential) is the concept of Emotional Intelligence (Goleman, 1998; Sparrow, 2002; Higgs & Dulewicz, 1999; Higgs, 2002).
This paper explores the extent to which the claims for the importance of Emotional Intelligence as a predictor of leadership potential are borne out. The paper reports the results of a study of a leadership development centre ( employing established assessment centre technology) in which participants also completed an established measure of Emotional Intelligence - the EIQ Managerial ( Dulewicz & Higgs, 2000, Dulewicz, Higgs & Slaski, 2001).In the study the development centre ratings of overall potential and core criteria were correlated with the overall EI scores and scores on the seven EI scales. The sample studied comprised 40 senior managers working within the New Zealand Public Service (NZPS). The leadership criteria employed in the development centre comprised eight competencies identified as being required for effective leadership performance as a CEO within the NZPS.
The results of the analyses provide some strong evidence to support the relationships between EI and leadership potential asserted from both a theoretical standpoint and from other studies of leadership performance (eg. Higgs & Rowland, 2001). However, surprisingly, the elements of EI classed as intra-personal (Dulewicz, Higgs & Slaski, 2001) show stronger relationships with leadership potential than the interpersonal elements. It is suggested that this may be due to the behavioural indicators used to operationalise the centre criteria rather than the underlying construct relationships. Whilst the limitations of sample size are clearly identified, the results do indicate that further research using both larger and more diverse samples may be warranted.

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Contributors

Author: M.J. Higgs

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