Emotional Intelligence In The Workplace

Research shows convincingly that EQ is more important than IQ in almost every role and many times more important in leadership roles.
–Dr. Stephen R. Covey

Dear Leaders,

Some people say leaders are born, others say leaders are made. Regardless of your position on this, leaders possessing certain behaviors and skill-sets obtain greater results and are more likely to have satisfied, higher producing, and more collaborative team members.

As leaders we need to be aware of our behaviors and actions, understand how they impact others, and manage the expectations in order to obtain the results we desire. We don’t just need to be intelligent and knowledgeable in our life, we also need to be emotionally smart.

Psychologist Steven Stein and psychiatrist Howard Book state that strong leaders have both a high IQ (Intelligence Quotient) and a developed EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient). Intelligence will only go so far; leaders must also be aware of how they present themselves and respond to others.

Our IQ is considered to be non-dynamic and is an indicator of how we perform intellectual tasks. Our Emotional Intelligence in the workplace, on the other hand, can increase through self-development and consists of 4 areas: Self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

Self Awareness is critical when engaging in communication

Self Management is key for managing emotions in difficult situations

Social Awareness leverages awareness of others to perform at your peak

Relationship Management manages relationships to increase job performance and integrates EQ professionally and personally

Emotional Intelligence in the workplace is the genuine ability to feel emotions, understand what you’re feeling and why, understand how others are feeling, and respond appropriately. Having a high EQ builds relationships and fosters communication even in the most difficult of times.

Some consider EQ to be the single biggest predictor of performance in the workplace and the strongest driver of leadership and personal excellence. By developing our EQ, we position ourselves to more successfully cope with organizational demands and pressures.

Do you know your EQ?

Successful Hiring

Those of you that have worked with PeopleTek in the past have heard us say on numerous occasion: “Hire Hard or “Manage Hard – Which would you rather do”?

Hiring can be a challenge. Don’t limit your hiring approach to satisfying your technical needs only. We need to ensure the applicant has the skills we require, but equally important we must verify they will be a good fit for our organization.

Did you know attrition costs for “misfit” hires equates to 55% – 200% of an employee’s annual salary with additional impacts to the team and organization?

Sometimes we as leaders “settle” for a new hire thinking that we’re better off filling the open position immediately instead of investing the time and effort to find the applicant that is the best fit. The results can be painful!

Now is the time to fine-tune your hiring strategy. Many companies are ramping up as the economy improves and due to sales growth surpassing expectations. (Google is preparing for its biggest year in employee growth in the history of the company).

There are many tools available that identify individual preferred styles.
Remember, these are not “tests” and don’t determine good/bad traits but rather are instruments that help identify strengths and preferences.

The most common include Myers-Briggs and DiSC, but another great instrument is “Team Dimensions” which assesses approaches to innovation and teamwork. This Inscape tool believes ideal teams are comprised of individuals performing the following five roles:

CREATOR Generates concepts and ideas

ADVANCER Develops ways to promote new ideas and direction in the early
stages

REFINER Analyses and challenges concepts and identifies potential
problems

EXECUTOR Follows up and ensures processes are in place

FACILITATOR Moves process along by overseeing the hand off of tasks

By understanding these different roles and by leveraging invaluable individual contributions, the result is a high-performance team. Is your team comprised of individuals possessing these roles? Are you part of an organization that is committed to hiring talent that enhances your organization?

Remember, if you don’t “hire hard” you’ll be utilizing time and talent to “manage hard.” Let us know if we can help.

Strategic Thinking

Thinking Strategically Is A Process Not An Event!

Many of us have been told that we need to start thinking more strategically; that we need to stop being so tactical (even though we may excel at it) and become better visionaries. Sounds good, but this isn’t easy for some of us.

To get started we need to understand what “strategic thinking” means. Some common definitions include:

“The ability to make decisions and or solve problems from a broad perspective”

“Taking in information from a variety of sources and integrating the information by analyzing various options and approaches”

“Understanding how options and choices may impact others”

“In general taking a holistic approach to day to day issues and challenges without over reacting to pressures to change course”

How to Start Thinking Strategically

  • Define the business we are in
  • Know who our customers are
  • Identify what services we do (or could) provide
  • Determine what we want our department to be known for
  • Analyze what strategic alliances we want and create a plan to find them
  • Document where we want to take our organization in the next 3-5 years

As leaders, we make decisions daily that are critical to the success of our organization. We need to supplement these decisions with a course of action that aligns with our corporate strategy.

We need to make smart decisions that link and support initiatives across the organization. We also need to spread levels of awareness for understanding how behaviors and processes link with our strategy, our vision, and our goals.

The intent is to align staff to collaborate and support the attainment of desired short and long term results and provide new ideas and fresh thinking for growth and opportunity.

Remember, being a leader means having the ability to influence a group to achieve specific goals. It’s taking and empowering people to go where they’ve never gone before and wouldn’t go by themselves!

Building Leaders

“Your competition can copy every advantage you’ve got – except one. That’s why the world’s best companies are realizing that no matter what business they’re in, their real business is building leaders.”
—Geoff Colvin

Dear Leaders,

Building leaders builds success. Simply stated, without strong leadership you won’t have a strong company, you won’t consistently achieve your goals, you won’t have a content workforce, and you won’t grow your bottom line. Yet, how many of us make it a priority to invest in ourselves and members of our leadership team? How many of us even know what to invest in?

We’ve talked a lot about the need for trust in leaders and it’s no coincidence there’s a link between trust and ideal companies to work for.

Fortune magazine partnered with the Great Place To Work Institute and identified the top 100 companies to work for.  Did you know two thirds of the score was related to a trust index? Included were detailed questions about management’s credibility, job satisfaction, and camaraderie. The other third of the scoring was related to pay, benefits, hiring practices, communication, training, recognition, and diversity efforts. (Results for the top 100 companies may be found in the February 7th, 2001 issue of Fortune magazine).

Here’s a brief synopsis of what employees from the top 100 companies stated were critical for success:

  • Treating employees right
  • Employees love having their job and being part of “x”
  • Compensation and benefits
  • Focus on morale
  • Community spirit –  local volunteering and helping other employees during a crisis
  • Employee focused culture = high returns for investors
  • Growth and development
  • Smile and have fun
  • Diversity and reputation
  • Hardworking, honest, ethical
  • Flexible work schedules

As development plans are being completed now would be a good time to solicit feedback from your employees to see how you and your leadership team rate.  Some of the items on the list above may be out of your control, but minimally you could request input related to credibility, treatment of employees, job satisfaction, morale, diversity, communication, training, recognition, reputation, and levels of honesty and ethics.

Once this important information is obtained you can identify your focus areas, update development plans accordingly, and begin to build a stronger leadership team.

Remember, building leaders builds success!