1

THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE OF THE PRINCIPAL IN

BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS

1
Zulfikar, 2Ishlahati
1,2
Graduate School of Islamic Education Management IAIN Lhokseumawe.
1
zulfikarhusein.zh@gmail.com
2
ishlahatizedha@gmail.com

Abstract
The Principals must have social competence, one of which is emotional
intelligence. This study aims to determine the relationship between the emotional
intelligence of school/madrasah principals in building partnerships with various
parties. This study used the library research method, namely by reading,
researching and reviewing three journals and writing sources that are closely
related to the issues discussed. The results of the study showed that emotional
intelligence is quite important for school principals. Emotional ability or
intelligence assists the principal in fulfilling the elements or principles of
cooperation or collaboration, namely the principle of equality, the principle of
openness, the principle of mutual benefit. Emotional intelligence is able to build
good relationships or relationships with various parties, including teachers,
students, and various parties outside the school, such as parents and agencies or
other institutions. Principals who have a high level of emotional intelligence are
able to control themselves and are able to build cooperation according to the
principle of partnership.
Keywords : Emotional Intelligence, Partnership, and Principal

Abstrak
Kepala Sekolah wajib memiliki kompetensi sosial, salah satunya adalah kecerdasan
emosional. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui hubungan kecerdasan emosional
kepala sekolah/madrasah dalam membangun kemitraan dengan berbagai pihak. Penelitian
ini menggunakan metode penelitian kepustakaan yaitu dengan membaca, meneliti dan
mereview sebanyak tiga jurnal dan menulis sumber-sumber yang berkaitan erat dengan
masalah yang dibahas. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kecerdasan emosional cukup
penting dimiliki oleh kepala sekolah. Kemampuan atau kecerdasan emosional membantu
kepala sekolah dalam memenuhi unsur atau prinsip dari kerjasama atau kolaborasi, yaitu
prinsip kesetaraan, prinsip keterbukaan, prinsip azas manfaat bersama. Kecerdasan
emosional mampu membangun hubungan baik atau relasi dengan berbagai pihak,
diantaranya guru, siswa, dan berbagai pihak luar sekolah, seperti orang tua dan instansi
atau lembaga-lembaga lainnya. Kepala sekolah yang memiliki tingkat kecerdasan
emosional tinggi mampu mengendalikan diri dan mampu membangun kerjasama sesuai
prinsip kemitraan.
Kata Kunci: Kecerdasan Emosional, Kemitraan, dan Kepala Sekolah
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A. INTRODUCTION
The Principal are required to have various competencies in their
leadership. One of them is social competence which is closely related to
emotional intelligence. Social competence is one of the five competency
dimensions that must be possessed by school/madrasah principals in accordance
with the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Culture Number 13 of 2007.
Emotional intelligence is related to several abilities that must be possessed
by principal. Among the active listening skills, empathy, managing emotions and
good communication. Good managing emotions, is able to make school progress,
especially in terms of building partnerships, both with students, teachers and
education staff.
This study focuses more on the emotional intelligence of school/madrasah
principals in building partnerships with the other parties. The principal who have
emotional intelligence are able to build partnerships with other parties.
Partnerships or collaborations carried out by school principals are one of the
supporting factors for schools to be better and more advanced in various ways.
One example is cooperation with parents or guardians of students. The principal
are required to involve parents of students in school management, for example
involving them in student activities such as entrepreneurship projects,
environmental preservation, and so on, including cooperation in supervising
student learning outside of school.
Partnerships held in the world of education can accelerate the
improvement of the quality of education in Indonesia. As there are still many
schools in areas that are difficult to progress due to information difficulties, this
can be overcome by creating a partnership program between these schools and
superior schools. In building partnerships, it is influenced by several factors,
starting from the factors of teachers, educational staff, students, and others.
Therefore, school principals must have adequate emotional intelligence in
realizing better institutions and having mutually beneficial partners.

B. RELEVANT THEORY OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

According to Goleman, emotional intelligence is a person's ability to
regulate his emotional life with intelligence, maintain emotional harmony and
express it through self-awareness skills, self-control, self-motivation, empathy and
social skills. Goleman stated that the results of many studies stated that general
intelligence can only predict the success of a person's life by as much as 20
percent, while the other 80 percent is what he calls emotional intelligence. If it is
not supported by healthy emotional management, intelligence alone will not
produce someone who is successful in life in the future.
The elements in emotional intelligence are:
1. Know Your Emotional
Know your emotional is the ability to know our feelings as they occur.
This ability is the basis of emotional intelligence, namely one's
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awareness of one's own emotions. Self-awareness makes us more aware

of moods and thoughts about moods, if we are less alert then individuals
become easily absorbed in the flow of emotions and are controlled by
emotions. Self-awareness does not guarantee emotional mastery, but it is
one of the important prerequisites for controlling emotions so that
individuals can easily control their emotions.
2. Managing Emotional
Managing emotions is an individual's ability to handle feelings so that
they can be expressed appropriately, so that a balance is achieved within
the individual. Keeping troubling emotions under control is the key to
emotional well-being. Excessive emotions, which increase with intensity
for too long will tear our stability. This ability includes the ability to
entertain oneself, let go of anxiety, moodiness or resentment and the
consequences it causes, as well as the ability to rise from pressing
feelings.
3. Motivate Yourself
Achieving achievement must be accomplished by having motivation
within the individual, which means having the persistence to refrain from
satisfaction and controlling impulses, as well as having positive feelings
of motivation, namely enthusiasm, passion, optimism and self-
confidence.
4. Know Other Peoples Emotional
The ability to know other people's emotions is also called empathy.
Individuals who have the ability to empathize are better able to perceive
hidden social signals that hint at what other people need so that they are
better able to accept other people's points of view, are sensitive to other
people's feelings and are better able to listen to other people.
5. Build of Relationship
The ability to build relationships is a skill that supports popularity,
leadership and success among people. Communication skills are the basic
ability to successfully build relationships. Sometimes it is difficult for
humans to get what they want and it is also difficult to understand the
desires and wishes of other people. Goleman (1995) suggests the
characteristics of individuals who have high and low emotional
intelligence are : (a). High emotional intelligence, namely being able to
control feelings of anger, not being aggressive and having patience,
thinking about the consequences before acting, trying and having the
endurance to achieve life goals, being aware of one's own feelings and
those of others, being able to empathize with others, being able to control
negative moods or feelings , has a positive self-concept, easily makes
friends with others, is proficient in communication, and can resolve
social conflicts in a peaceful way. (b) Low emotional intelligence,
namely acting according to feelings without thinking about the
consequences, grumpy, acting aggressive and impatient, having unclear
goals and ideals in life, easily giving up, not being sensitive to feelings of
oneself and others, unable to control feelings and moods negative, easily
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affected by negative feelings, have a negative self-concept, unable to

make good friendships with others, unable to communicate well, and
resolve social conflicts with violence.
Partnership is defined as a cooperative relationship between people or
groups of people who agree to share responsibility for achieving certain goals that
have been set. Partnership means a relationship or collaboration as partners.
Sulistyani (2004), Partnership can be interpreted as a form of alliance between
two or more parties that forms a bond of cooperation on the basis of agreement
and a sense of mutual need in order to increase capacity and capability in a
particular field of business, or certain objectives, so as to obtain the desired
results. good (Sulistyani, 2004). Porter in Risambessy (2013) Partnership is an
agreement in which a person, group or organization to work together to achieve
goals, take and carry out and share tasks, bear together both in the form of risks
and benefits, review each other's relationships regularly and improve the
agreement again if needed (Porter in Risambessy et al., 2013).
Ely Mahniza HM (2016), found that emotional intelligence is
psychological values that must be developed and managed properly through the
learning process. What is needed by a child in order to become a successful adult
human being is not merely general intelligence which is only cognitive in nature,
but what is no less important is emotional intelligence. According to Nurmala, Ira;
Rahman, Fauzie; Nugroho, Adi; Erlyani, Neka; Laily, Nur; Yulia Anhar (2018)
there are 3 (three) key principles that need to be understood in building a
partnership by each partnership member, namely (1) the Equality Principle; (2)
The Principle of Transparency; (3) The Principle of Mutual Benefit. Emotional
intelligence has a big influence in building partnerships with various agencies,
including parents. The success of cooperation is determined by how the principal
manages emotions in dealing with various groups. Principals/madrasas must have
high emotional intelligence, namely the ability to control feelings of anger, not be
aggressive and have patience, think about the consequences before acting, try and
have the endurance to achieve their goals in life, be aware of their own feelings
and those of others, be able to empathize with others. others, can control negative
moods or feelings, have a positive self-concept, easily make friends with others,
are proficient in communication, and can resolve social conflicts in a peaceful
way.

C. RESEARCH METHODS
This research is more focused on library research, namely by reading,
researching and reviewing journals and writing sources that are closely related to
the problems discussed. Analyzing According to Zed in Rahayu, (2020) that
literature or literature study can be defined as a series of activities related to data
library collection methods, read and record and process research materials,
especially scientific journal reviews. The author compares as many as three
journals related to emotional intelligence and building partners or working
together. In reviewing, the authors reveal the strengths and weaknesses and
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analyze the three journals by paying attention to theories relevant to the research
theme.

D. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

The first journal reviewed was a journal written by Noni Nimas Ariyanti,
Nur Ittihadatul Ummah. The research was conducted in October 2021 on
Emotional Intelligence-Based Madrasah Leadership in Building Partnerships, a
case study of the leadership of the Fajrul Islam 02 Pulo Elementary School
Principal, Lumajang Regency and published in the journal LEADERIA: Journal
of Islamic Education Management, Volume 3, Number 1, Year 2022 The purpose
of this study was to determine leadership based on emotional intelligence in the
dimensions of personal competence and social competency dimensions of
madrasah principals in building partnerships. Researchers used descriptive
qualitative research methods with research subjects using purposive techniques.
Data collection techniques in research using passive participatory observation
techniques, semi-structured interviews, and documentation. Data analysis used an
interactive model consisting of four steps, namely data collection, data
condensation, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The validity of the data
in this study used source triangulation and technical triangulation. The results of
this study are: 1) Emotional intelligence-based Madrasah Principal Leadership on
the personal competence dimension shows that leaders have self-awareness and
are able to manage themselves. 2) Emotional intelligence-based Madrasah
leadership on the dimension of social competence in building partnerships shows
that madrasah heads have social awareness and have the ability to manage
relationships by building partnerships with parents through discussion forums
(Forsafi), partnerships with agencies/institutions including partnerships with:
(Global Institute Training and Course Education), CV. Indah Permatasari, East
Java BPR, At-tartil, Al-Falah Social Fund Foundation (YDSF), Ummi
Foundation's, Village Hall, Health Center and the community.
The advantage of the research conducted by Noni Nimas Ariyanti and Nur
Ittihadatul Ummah is that the researchers separated the research objects into two
categories, namely personal competence and social competence of the madrasa
head. Making these categories makes it easier for researchers and readers of their
research results to find the characters of social intelligence. The classification
referred to as personal competence is the ability of the madrasa principal to
manage his own emotions. While social competence refers to the ability to
communicate, cooperate, socialize, and give to others.
While the weakness of the study, the researchers did not elaborate on their
findings. For example, in the results section, it is stated that madrasa principals
have emotional intelligence in the form of fairly good personal competence, such
as being open, having initiative and being able to motivate others. Researchers do
not explain examples based on findings from research conducted. Another
weakness is that the research did not mention the form of collaboration, and
several outcomes from the collaboration carried out by the head of the madrasa
with several institutions mentioned in the study, including the cooperation of the
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Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Fajrul Islam 02 Pulo, Tempeh District, Lumajang Regency

with the Al-Falah Social Fund Foundation (YDSF), Ummi Foundation's, and CV.
Beautiful Gems. Researchers should also be able to mention successful forms of
collaboration with parents of students in the discussion forums they study.
The second journal was written by Nurfiyani Dwi Pratiwi, with the title
The Partnership between Schools and Parents in the Discipline of Worship
Students at SMA Negeri 5 Yogyakarta. This research has been published in the
Journal of Islamic Religious Education, Volume 8, Number 2, 2016. The purpose
of the research conducted by Nurfiyani was to find out the forms of school and
parent partnerships in establishing student worship discipline, as well as the
supporting and inhibiting factors. It is a qualitative research with a sociological
approach and uses observation techniques, interviews and document collection as
material for the author's analysis. The results showed: (1) Forms of partnership:
teacher and parent meetings, correspondence between schools and parents, home
visits, parental involvement in school events, parent and teacher associations, and
periodic reports. (2) Supporting factors: teacher's social competence, parents'
interest in children's education, and schools' open access to parents. Inhibiting
factors: parents' education and occupation as well as the administrative burden of
teachers.
The advantage of the research that has been done is that the researcher has
clear enough restrictions on which part of the cooperation that has been carried
out by the school which is a supporting factor and controlling of cooperation or
partnership. In the journal it is stated, based on the results of the analysis that has
been carried out, it has succeeded in uncovering supporting and inhibiting factors.
These two things can be a reference, especially for schools which are the object of
research as a form of evaluation of activities that have been carried out. Then as a
school support in making changes in a better direction. The journal also writes
down the forms of cooperation between the school and the students' parents,
including through regular meetings, visiting students' homes, and providing
periodic reports.
The weakness of the research conducted is that it overrides the role of the
principal in partnership or collaborative activities carried out by schools and
parents. In fact, the role of the principal is important enough to be one of the
objects that must be observed. The school principal has a role, especially in terms
of making policies on cooperation programs in schools. Then how can the
principal be a motivation for teachers and parents of students so that the
collaboration between the two is quite good. Then, the research is too focused on
the school's contribution to the parents of students, not much discusses what
parents also do so that the collaboration can run well and be successful.
The last journal reviewed was written by Rais Hidayat, Vicihayu Dyah M,
and Himmatul Ulya with the title Competence of 21st Century School Principals:
A Theoretical Review. This research was published in the Journal of School
Leadership and Management, Volume 4, Number 1, 2019. The purpose of this
research is to find out the competencies that school principals must have in the
21st Century. The writing uses the literature review method, is there a descriptive
data analysis technique by looking for references theory that is relevant to the
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cases or problems found. Based on the results of the analysis, conclusions can be
drawn that answer the research problems, namely (1) the principal is someone
who is given the task of leading a school, (2) leadership in question is the ability
to influence organizational resources to move according to orders to achieve
goals, (3) Effective leadership of school principals in terms of entrepreneurial,
exemplary, intelligent, and democratic leadership, (4) the 21st century is the era of
technological advances in the fields of information, communication, and
transportation, (5) The characteristics of the 21st century are information that is
available anywhere and can be accessed anytime, faster processing, and
communication that can be done from anywhere and anywhere, (6) The
competencies that school principals must have to face the 21st century, namely
the dimensions of personality, managerial, entrepreneurial, supervision, and social
competencies.
Based on the results of the review, the strength of this research is that it is
able to uncover important competencies that must be possessed by school
principals. Associated with 21st Century competencies. One of the abilities or
competencies that must be possessed by school principals includes the dimensions
of personality, managerial, entrepreneurial, supervision, and social competencies.
The weakness of this research is the lack of use of theory that is relevant to
competencies related to 21st Century competencies which are the object of
discussion. Researchers must include Goleman's theory which states that 80
percent of success is influenced by emotional intelligence. Then it can also
include 21st century competency theory which includes creative thinking skills,
critical thinking and problem solving, communication, and collaboration.

E. CLOSING
It can be concluded that emotional intelligence is quite important for
school principals. This competence is able to build good relations or relationships
with various parties; teachers, students, and various parties outside the school;
parents and agencies or other institutions. Principals who have a high level of
emotional intelligence are able to control themselves and are able to build
cooperation according to the principle of partnership. The downside of emotional
intelligence is that principals need more time to encourage collaboration. The
principal cannot be forced to build a partnership relationship, because it relates to
other people. In order to make decisions or resolve conflicts that must be done
immediately, the principal needs to think further before making a decision.
Emotional intelligence tends to make a person consider the feelings of others too
much, thus sacrificing feelings and self-interest.

F. REFERENCE
Direktorat Sekolah Dasar, Direktorat Jenderal PAUD, Dikdas, dan Dikmen,
Kementerian Pendidikan, Kebudayaan, Riset, dan Teknologi: Kemitraan
Pendidikan Sekolah Dasar, 2021
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Nomor 2, 2016.

Goleman, Daniel., Richard Boyatzis, Annie Mckee: Primal Leadership:

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Nurfiyani Dwi Pratiwi, “Kemitraan Sekolah dan Orang Tua Dalam Penanaman
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