Children's and conductor's perceptions of leadership behaviors that demonstrate emotional intelligence of female conductors of children's choirs

The purpose of this study was to explore children's and conductors' opinions regarding the leadership behaviors of female children's choir conductors that demonstrate emotional intelligence. In this study, the four areas of leadership behaviours from Daniel Goleman's list of Relationship Management competencies were selected based on an examination of current literature and informal discussions with colleagues including: (1) Developing Others; (2) Inspirational Leadership; (3) Building Bonds; and (4) Teamwork and Collaboration.; The study was designed as a descriptive study using a postal survey to collect data in two separate surveys. The results of the survey revealed that most singers were satisfied with the leadership behaviors of their conductors. However, the data showed that conductors felt more strongly than singers surveyed about the importance of leadership behaviors like Developing Others and Inspirational Leadership and that singers demonstrated a keen interest in having some input into the daily operations of the choir as well as in the musical decision-making.