Final answer:
The coaching leadership style is used to improve employee performance and develop long-term abilities by mentoring and providing personalized guidance and feedback.
Step-by-step explanation:
The type of emotionally intelligent leadership style used to help an employee improve performance and build long-term abilities is d. Coaching. This leadership style involves a one-on-one approach where the leader serves as a mentor and focuses on developing the employee's skills, knowledge, and professional growth.
Unlike other styles, coaching is personalized and developmental, and it is aimed at enhancing both the current performance and the future capabilities of an employee by providing guidance, feedback, and opportunities for learning.
In contrast, leadership styles like authoritarian, pace-setting, or even transformational, while effective in certain scenarios, do not provide the same level of individualized development that a coaching style does.