Posted by Tash Newby on Thursday, June 23, 2011
“No doubt emotional intelligence is more rare than book smarts, but my experience says it is actually more important in the making of a leader.” Jack Welch
So what does emotional intelligence have to do with your work place? Is it relevant in all work places and for all roles or just leaders? Is emotional intelligence something that can be taught or trained? These are the common questions that generally arise when the topic of emotional intelligence comes up.
So does emotional intelligence have any impact on your workplace and is it relevant for all roles? “Research shows convincingly that EQ is more important than IQ in almost every role and many times more important in leaderships roles” (Stephen Covey). We have all at some stage experienced that Manager that just seemed to be an “exceptional leader”; they lead with passion, integrity and an apparent clarity of decision. But more importantly they ignited in you these attributes. There is no arguing that these skills are invaluable in every workplace; what business owner wouldn’t want their team to be more passionate, driven, innovative and stay in the business?
Until recently these such leaders seemed a rarity, they seemed to possess a skill that you either had or didn’t, and the focus was on holding onto these people, rather than developing a whole team of “exceptional leaders”. Thanks to years of rigorous research and case studies, it seems that these skills - while rare naturally in individuals, can be developed. Martyn Newman gives us more than just theory, he gives us practical tools to develop these skills.
Newman has distilled his years of research in emotional intelligence relating to leadership into 10 core competencies:
Self-knowing
Self-confidence
Self-reliance
Straightforwardness
Self-Actualization
Relationship skills
Empathy
Adaptability
Self-control
Optimism
Lets expand on one to make more sense of it all. ‘Self-knowing’, what is the relevance of this in a work place? Self-knowing encompasses emotional awareness, behavioral awareness and non-verbal communications. Typically someone who is low on self-knowing is often not good at recognizing or verbalizing their own emotions and is generally unaware of their impact of behavior on others. Now imagine this person as a manager in a work place, undoubtedly you have encountered them before, maybe they tend to ‘act out’ emotional experiences and then are surprised by your reactions; or perhaps you have come across someone who you found ‘hard to read’, as they kept their emotions & thoughts close to their chest. Both of these examples can lead to a lack of trust in the team and a general disengagement to their leadership, which is detrimental to all relationships and the working environment.
So where to from here? Well the Emotional Capital Report (ECR) focuses on these clear, tangible competencies and highlights an individual’s strengths and areas for improvement in leadership, and also gives simple coaching strategies to help develop these skills. For example, with the above illustration of self-knowing, a coaching strategy may be to:
• Introduce a brief pause before responding/reacting to check your emotional pulse
• Pay particular attention to other people’s emotional reactions to you and consider our behavior in light of the feedback.
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Posted by Stacey Newman on Thursday, November 25, 2010
Most of us agree that great leaders are those that inspire us to act and give us a sense of purpose that has little to do with any external incentive or reward. They have a remarkable ability to tap into the very personal, intrinsic motivations that drive each of us and help us reach for something better in ourselves. And we know that people who love going to work, are more creative and more productive, and they treat their colleagues, clients and customers better.
Imagine if more people inside the organization could learn to think, act and communicate like those who inspire us? Leadership abilities, such as those described by emotional intelligence (EQ), explain what leaders do, but not why they perform. Furthermore, knowing what to do is all very well, but the big question is how to do it.
According to more than 20 years of research in psychology, there are at least seven common factors that contribute to creating positive behavior change.
1. Engagement
Being clear about your aspirations and dreams, and being able to articulate the values that shape your beliefs, goes to the very heart of great leadership. Your job as a leader is to tell and re-tell the story of why you do what you do, and what your business is capable of achieving. Most importantly, it is about enabling people to understand the value of their contribution to the story.
2. Benchmarking: Self-Discovery & Self-Directed Change
Even when people are motivated to develop their EQ and leadership skills, they can often remain unclear about how to do so – until they become aware of how they measure up. There are many ways of gaining feedback on performance, but by far the most credible and compelling way is to benchmark emotional and social competencies and provide feedback using high-quality psychometric assessment tools.
3. Create Manageable, Measurable Goals & Share Them
Performance in training programs improves dramatically when participants set explicit goals for change. In fact, the motivating power of such goals is greatly enhanced when they are declared publicly and put in writing. Even Benjamin Franklin insisted that setting daily and weekly goals was indispensable to becoming a virtuous person!
4. Model The Skills
Provide people with opportunities to observe the skills they want to acquire. Modeling is a more effective learning method than simply being told about the skills because it requires greater attention and accelerates learning.
5. Practice New Skills & Provide Feedback
A common mistake in EQ training is to assume that leaders can acquire these behaviors quickly by attending motivational seminars. Although these activities can certainly inspire the desire to change, real behavioral change requires practice and repetition over an extended period.
Organizational psychologists have long known that consistent constructive feedback is the most effective way to motivate people and provide direction.
6. Provide Follow-Up Support
Research has shown that the value of learning is maintained, if not greatly enhanced, when people receive targeted coaching support from a reinforcing reference group or an individual. In other words, providing coaching and mentoring to people on the job contributes greatly to positive change.
7. Evaluate Change
Documenting individual progress by evaluating changes in both understanding and behavior reinforces learning, charts the way forward and demonstrates return on investment. Nothing succeeds like success.
The seven elements described here represent the why of building sustainable leadership skills and are the core features of the revolutionary online leadership development tool - SmartCoach™.
Find out how SmartCoach can help you build an inspiring leadership culture today.
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Posted by Stacey Newman on Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Yes, these are uncertain times. Some of the old economic certainties have given way and we've had to rethink and recalibrate what really matters. We don't know what the future holds, but we do know that in addition to financial security, our most enduring wealth is still to found in our emotional and spiritual health. Last year in a article
'Why happiness is good for business' I wrote about the impact that a happy workplace culture had on the bottom-line in business. This year I'd like to continue that theme and provide seven key strategies for helping employees sustain greater health, wealth and wisdom at work.
Martyn
TIPS for Building Your Emotional Wealth
1. Relationships - Get connected
2. Compassion - Try a little kindness
3. Go with the 'Flow'
4. Cultivate Optimism - Look on the Bright Side
5. Smile and the World Smiles with You
6. All Work and No Play....
7. Fit Body, Fit Mind
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