Resumen
Intrapersonal competencies complement the interpersonal skills of emotionally intelligent leaders. Experts believe that general intelligence (IQ) contributes to no more than twenty- five percent of ones overall success. The extent to which employers are capable of indentifying and meeting their employees job satisfaction needs can be a significant characteristic of their emotional intelligence (EI), in contrast with their cognitive abilities. In this study, the quantitative research method was used to determine the employees perceptions of their leaders intrapersonal competencies and their influence on their job satisfaction; the six competencies being self-awareness, self-confidence, self-expression, self-control, adaptability, and optimism. In order to be satisfied at work, the findings of this study clearly indicate that employees prefer to be led by leaders who are confident in their leadership role, who send out clear, unambiguous messages, who maintain self-control, who are adaptable and flexible, who face the future with optimism, and who support the establishment of a collegial working environment. Evidently, the findings corroborate the hypothesis that employees believe that the intrapersonal competencies of leaders have a positive influence on the employees sense of job satisfaction. This studys findings, therefore, confirm that the key to the leaders self-knowledge is access to their own feelings and the ability to discriminate among them and draw upon them to guide behaviour in their organisations. It makes a contribution to the emerging research being accomplished on leaders intrapersonal intelligence with more research still needing to be done on how these competencies impact on the organisational climate and culture.