Leadership in higher education is an important topic that relates to building relationships,

building commitment, implementing and sustaining change, and facilitating developmental

practices to support others while being emotionally cognizant. One of the fairly new focuses of

the interest in leadership relates to the linkage between leadership and a recent phenomenon,

emotional intelligence and its usefulness and effectiveness in leadership. Emotional intelligence is

defined as a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor ones own and others

feelings and emotions (Cherniss, 2000). Anand & UdayaSuriyan (2010) state that emotional

intelligence is an array of non-cognitive capabilities, competencies, and skills that influence ones

ability to succeed in coping with organizational and environmental demands and pressures (p.65).

Leadership requires more than cognitive abilities and interpersonal skills. Leadership

requires self-awareness, a high level of ability to motivate others, and emotional awareness

(George, 2000). Emotional intelligence plays a significant role in leaders and has become a

popular measure for identifying potential effective leaders and has become a tool for developing

effective leadership skills (Batool, 2013). In addition, research has shown that the inclusion of EI

could be a relevant leadership development and training criterion for leaders and emerging

leaders in higher education (Anderson, 2015). This paper will convey emotional intelligence in

leadership research, identify the gap in emotional intelligence and community college research,

the benefit of the research topic to leaders, the purpose and justification of studying the research

topic, and identify the most appropriate research method.

Statement of Problem

The role of emotions is a newly studied concept in leadership research that suggests that

emotions help leaders create a successful work environment and help build good rapport with

subordinates (Yusof, Kadir, and Mahfar, 2013). The majority of leadership research focuses on

cognitive abilities of leaders and provides leadership competencies on how to become leaders in
business, healthcare, and higher education. The limited emotional intelligence research mentions

how emotions relate to organizational climates and is a necessary for leaders interpersonal

relationships. However, there is a gap in developmental research on emotional intelligence

training for leaders and emotional intelligence in community college settings. With limited

research on the subject matter identifying the role of EI training for community college leaders,

this research is aimed to determine whether emotional intelligences competencies exist in

community colleges leaders developmental training curricula to enhance leaders abilities.

Due to the number of complexities and changes within an institution, leaders should have

high levels of social skills and leadership competencies. Studies show that having social

intelligence, more specifically emotional intelligence and social skills can help with being an

effective leader (Brackett, Rivers, & Salovey, 2011). With community colleges experiencing

shortages of leadership positions due to excessive retirements and lack of prepared leaders

(incumbents), it is important to place significant attention towards developmental criterion and

opportunities to develop potential leaders in community college settings.

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to explore community colleges leadership development

training curriculum and determine if emotional intelligences competencies exist in community

colleges leaders developmental training curricula for emerging and existing leaders in

community colleges. This research is an attempt to ultimately provide guidance for leaders to

include EI in training and development for community college leaders.

Significance and Justification

With limited studies being conducted that analyze emotional intelligence in the context of

community college leadership and leadership effectiveness, this research can add to the existing
research on emotional intelligence and potentially help leaders utilize emotional intelligence as a

basis for improving leadership abilities and relationships amongst their followers. This research

has implications to help develop leadership training and development courses to assist

community college leaders, more specifically emerging leaders, to enhance their abilities to

understand the importance of leading with emotions.

The significance of this research will help add to the field of EI research and help

continue to test and revise emotional intelligence theories. The overall goal of emotional

intelligence research is to contribute to the social and emotional learning programing to promote

improved quality relationships, decrease problem behavior, and support learning and

development (Brackett, Rivers, & Salovey, 2011). By exploring the relationship between

emotional intelligence and leadership, leaders will be able to understand what core competencies

are necessary to be most effective in the role of influencing their followers and developing

emotional intelligence to deal with challenges and changes. This research would benefit the

future of community college leaders due to the current outdated functions of community colleges

management practices and the need for professional development for new leaders (Riggs, 2009).

This research will contribute to the existing research and help fill a gap in the areas of

developing emotional intelligence in community college leadership.

Methodology

Based on the purpose to research emotional intelligence and community college

leadership training curricula, the most appropriate approach will be to employ a qualitative

research method. The qualitative research will help gain a deeper understanding of the existing

community college leadership training opportunities, aim to get a better understanding of gaps in

training curricula for emerging and existing leaders in community colleges, and gain direct
observation of methods used to create leadership development training programs to determine

the objectives and potential learning and behavioral outcomes.

Conclusion

By exploring this research topic will help determine the relevancy in emotional

intelligence competencies compared to existing training practices. Employing a qualitative

research study is aimed to gain a deeper understanding of community colleges training curricula

designed for emerging and existing leaders and understand the existing objectives of current

training programs designed for leaders. EI leadership training could potentially help develop

their emotional skills of recognizing, understanding, labeling, and regulating emotions to make

better decisions and support relationships.

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