The relationship between the lead pastor's emotional intelligence and pastoral leadership team effectiveness
The purpose of this research was to examine the nature of the relationship among the four major emotional intelligence realms--that is, Identify, Use, Understand, and Manage--of pastoral team leaders to the level of effectiveness of the team he leads. This relationship was evaluated by the lead pastors themselves and the members of their pastoral leadership teams. Three instruments were used in the research process: (1) the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale--a self-report instrument completed by the lead pastors, (2) the short version of the Team Effectiveness Questionnaire--completed by all participants, and (3) the Leader Emotional Intelligence Strength Rater--a qualitative instrument created by this researcher to be completed by team members to help assess the emotional intelligence of their pastoral team leader and how it influenced the effectiveness of their teams. From this research, four primary discoveries about the nature and strength of these relationships were discerned, one for each emotional intelligence (EI) realm. In the Identify EI realm, it was discovered that a pastoral leader's Identify EI skill of being able to "recognize his own feeling" related strongly to the team effectiveness realm of Principled Leadership. In the Use EI realm, the research revealed that the ability to "inspire others" demonstrated the strongest relationship of the pastoral team leaders' Use EI skills to their teams' effectiveness. Specifically, this skill related to the team effectiveness realm of creating team Collaboration. In the EI Understand realm, the skill of "makes correct assumptions about people" correlated strongly to the team effectiveness realm of Principled Leadership. And in the emotional competency Manage realm, the EI skill of "connects with other people" demonstrated the strongest relationship to the team effectiveness. This Manage EI skill correlated strongly to the team effectiveness area of creating team Collaboration. In sum, this research has demonstrated that within the pastoral team leaders and the teams that were the subjects of this research, specific EI abilities of the pastoral team leader relate to and influence particular realms team effectiveness. Moreover, these relationships can be evaluated by their strength of correlation and influence.
Leadership, Christian leadership, Emotional maturity--Religious aspects, Clergy--Office
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