Abstract

In conceptualizing leadership in education, the question that immediately arises is whether such an analysis should be confined to the cognitive abilities (IQ) of the educator alone and whether this would be sufficient to focus on educational leadership traits. We also need to ask ourselves whether there is a symbiotic relationship between collegial leadership and emotional intelligence (EI) seeing that many of our leaders in education are guilty of behaving largely as traditional managers or technocrats. Research on leadership over the past two decades strongly suggests that the EI of leaders matters twice as much as that of cognitive abilities such as IQ or technical expertise. Apparently, social and emotional abilities are four times more important than IQ in determining leadership success. Researchers therefore argue that managers and leaders are different types of people, managers being more reactive and less emotionally involved, and leaders being more proactive and more emotionally involved. Furthermore, research findings as discussed in this paper, confirm that collegiality influences the emotionally intelligent leadership behaviours of educators and these findings clearly indicate that a significant relationship exists between the development of a collegial environment that is identified by collaborative teamwork amongst educators at all levels, shared decision-making, shared core values, a shared vision, shared leadership opportunities and meaningful empowerment opportunities. It is therefore inconceivable, in terms of the research findings, to speak about collegial leadership in the absence of emotional intelligence.