Why is Resonant Leadership Important

We are being inspired by great leaders to succeed and innovate in ways we had not anticipated. When people work with successful leaders who bring out the best in them, we consider building resonant leadership.

Resonant leaders inspire others through consistent, positive relationships and emotions. It is precisely what we mean when we depict somebody who causes us to change our organizations. Just like everything else, leadership also comes in many different leadership styles that one may choose to follow. It's an example of what works best, not an example of right or wrong for the organization.

Leaders can impact the emotional states of the people around them. For example, they will have a positive effect, pulling everyone onto the identical upbeat wavelength. Or, they'll create dissonance, where their negativity starts affecting others.

What is Resonant Leadership?

Resonant leadership is an idea coined by Daniel Goleman. Resonant leaders work on emotional intelligence to direct their feelings to help a group meet its goals.

Resonance is the ability to synchronize with one another; thus, resonant leadership can adjust the needs of a team of people.

According to psychologist and best-selling author David Coleman, emotional intelligence (EQ) is two times vital as skills and IQ in top managers.

Successful leadership is not about creating a product, the brightest, or the most skills; it is about the relationship that a leader has with his team members. Resonant leaders have a higher degree of EQ and the ability to connect with their teams.

Their employees trust them even more when leaders care for their employees during downsizing times, challenges, and personal crises. In addition, leaders build unity within a team and motivate employees to follow a goal, even when the situation is highly stressful.

For instance, if you strike a glass containing a small amount of water,
it will resonate with a particular frequency, causing other glasses to resonate. Resonant leaders are aware that their actions can impact others and work on emotional intelligence to guide and help others.

Why is Resonant Leadership Important?

In reality, leaders have little ability to control people directly. Instead, they need to build a work environment where people believe in a goal and values that motivate them to work in such a case.

Resonant leadership offers leaders the opportunity to design and manage the environment. Resonant leadership doesn't always mean being nice; it means being assertive. It means knowing your position, knowing what you want from that person or situation, and achieving it without aggression while providing context, care, and understanding.

In his book Primal Leadership, Daniel Goleman co-authored with Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee; he discusses four resonant leadership styles. Every style creates resonance and has a positive effect on the atmosphere of a group and can produce results if used appropriately.

More insights : 8 Leadership Styles With Their Pros and Cons

Here are the Four Styles of Resonant Leadership:

1. Visionary

Visionary leaders can see the organization's overall picture and share it with their employees, encouraging them to work together to achieve the team's goals. Everyone recognizes the importance and significance of your work in this leadership style. If they appreciate the big picture's aim, they will actively stick around a job to achieve it.

2. Coaching

The coaching leadership style most frequently occurs in one-on-one communications. This leadership style focuses on the personal development of employees. It helps leaders show a genuine interest in individuals, builds connections, grows trust, and leads to higher motivation levels.

The leadership style of coaching can bring more motivated employees and better results. In addition, this approach builds consistency by connecting what people want with the objectives of the organization.

3. Affiliative

The affiliative leadership style is about building relationships and working together. In addition, affiliative leaders can boost employee morale by giving value to the employees and their feelings using empathy, a crucial emotional intelligence skill.

In a team, you can use this style to fix tensions, help during stressful times, or improve connections. In the long run, the collaborative relationships that this style creates will boost efficiency and productivity.

4. Democratic

The democratic leadership style depends on the team's knowledge to provide feedback or cooperate in the decision-making process. Leaders who use this style need many skills in emotional intelligence, including teamwork and communication, conflict management, and control. They always communicate easily, as well as great listeners.

Empathy is essential, particularly for understanding the thoughts and feelings of a diverse group. This style creates awareness through valuing feedback from employees and by participating through engagement. Savvy leaders use this leadership style to build buy-in or consensus and get valuable team members' information.

Are you ready to be a Resonant Leader?

Resonant leadership needs a higher level of intellect on emotion. In addition, self-awareness, empathy, honesty, and excellent communication skills are also required to be a resonant leader.

Unless you want the resonant leadership benefits, you can't just behave as a resonant leader. You have to be a resonant leader, which means you have to work on yourself before working on someone else. There are various ways to achieve better self-awareness, such as being more attuned to others' behavior and practice mindfulness.

We suggest receiving direct feedback from others through a 360-degree feedback review alongside this introverted work. It will give you insights from people throughout your organization to better understand how you're viewed and what you need to work on.

Now, it is time to work on self-improvement. You can do this either through a solo analysis or with a manager's help. Ensure you keep monitoring your growth by daily 360-degree feedback. So, you'll know where you're going to excel and where you can still grow.

Let's Wrap Up!

Trying to wrap your mind around resonant leadership may take time, but those who see meaningful results will do it. You should reach out and encourage the employees in a flexible and scalable manner.

To be sustainable, leaders must draw positive emotional attractors from their vision, dreams, and memorable or powerful personal experiences. Only then can leaders start to glow, infect others with their positive spirit, and become truly effective leaders.

This article is written by Rashmi Rekha Deka. She works as a Content Marketer at Vantage Circle. She likes to keep herself informed about the HR happenings and write about topics surrounding organizational growth. For any related queries, contact editor@vantagecircle.com