Emotional Intelligence At Work

By Kevin Dwyer

Emotional intelligence is more than 90 % of what makes the difference between one leader's success and another leader's failure. Intelligence measured by IQ is less than 20% of what makes the difference.

This is a popular refrain of Emotional Intelligence devotees. Is it true? My experiences with a group of twelve people in a hospitality organisation strongly suggest it is true.

The twelve people were part of a leadership development programme. In two groups of six, they attended face-to-face training over six months consisting of:

Leading yourself (two days)
Leading others (two days) and,
Leading change (two days)

During the three months between the face-to-face training, each team of six was required to complete a project in their own time, which would take them out of their individual comfort zones. As a team, they had never worked together before. Their backgrounds were as far apart as massage therapy, financial control, event management, kitchen and golf course maintenance.

As part of the two days on leading yourself, they completed an analysis using the Simmons EQ profile ably administered by Bob Wall.

Over the six months of training and the following three months after the training I came to a number of conclusions from observing their behaviour and relating it to their EQ profile.

The "after you" team

One of the teams had the following profile of Assertive, Tolerance, Considerate and Sociable attributes on a scale of one to ten:

Assertive: mostly unassertive - five at or below 5, one at 6.5 (10 is very unassertive)

Tolerance: very tolerant - six at 7 or higher (10 is very tolerant)

Considerate: generally not considerate of others - four below 5 and two between 5 and 7 (10 is very considerate)

Sociable: at the extremes of sociability - three at 4 or less, three at 7 or more, (10 is very sociable)

The first three months of their project meetings were depicted by no-one leading. Everyone refused to make an assertion about what they thought should happen and who should do it.

The sociable group met separately from the non-sociable group. Whilst they were not willing to assert what they believed they were coincidentally the group who were less considerate and spent much time criticising other's commitment.

They achieved little during those three months. All bar the project manager had a courage score of less than 5. Being risk averse as a group and generally unassertive, they did not want to challenge others at the property to get information to them on-time and in the manner they needed it.

Team selection was made before the EQ profiles were completed. If, however, their Emotional Intelligence could have been tested before selection, this team would not have been selected to achieve the difficult outcome they were given in their project.

At the end of three months they were required to make a report on their project progress. It was not pretty. They did poorly and the general manager let them know.

Their reaction to the feedback was dramatic. They changed both as a group and as individuals. The next three months were much more productive as they worked on improving their individual limitations, having experienced what impact they, as individuals, were having on the group.

The "Let ME do it" team

The other team had the following profile of Assertive, Tolerance, Considerate and Sociable attributes on a scale of one to ten:

Assertive: mostly very assertive - one below 5, five at 6 or higher (10 is very unassertive)

Tolerance: at extremes of tolerance - three below 5, three above 5 (10 is very tolerant)

Considerate: mostly inconsiderate of others - five below 5 including two below 2 and one above 5 (10 is very considerate)

Sociable: mostly sociable - one at less than 2, one at less than 5, four at 6 or above (10 is very sociable)

This team was expected to interact better because of the diversity of attributes and the combination of sociability, low tolerance and high assertiveness of most individuals. They did. They started with the speed and power of an express train. The very afternoon their project was explained to them, they started work contacting people, setting up appointments to get information and brainstorming ideas.

They all had high (greater than 6) change attribute scores and coped well with new ideas and changes in direction over the first three months. Their high work scores (five well above 5) and energy scores (five above 5 with two above 6.5) predicted they would work hard. They did.

Their mid-term project review was excellent. If we rated it out of ten, the score would have been seven or eight. The first team would have scored two or three.

With the positive feedback they received one might have expected them to power on. They did not. The general work environment outside the project was challenging. Time started to become difficult to set aside and fatigue was a factor. The low consideration levels kicked in and self preservation became the order of the day for four of the team.

This manifested itself in two ways. Two people withdrew, doing the minimum required to stay attached to the programme. Two people shifted their focus to where they thought the highest level of recognition lay on any one day. The other two, which included the project manager, soldiered on to complete the project as best they could, maximising their learning along the way. The project manager was the only one with a high consideration score.

The learners versus the deniers

The group of twelve as a whole can be split into:

those who learnt a lot about themselves and who are, today, better leaders,

those who learnt a little and can talk about what's needed to be a better leader and,

two who did not identify with the work required to change their profile and made no progress.

The common attributes of the two who did not learn were low consideration, very high assertiveness, low optimism, moderate work, and low detail.

When life got tough, they worked for themselves only.

Overall learning

What I learnt during this six month period was that before people can utilise their emotional skills and have the drive to improve where they are weak, they must have a sense of direction. The sense of direction must first and foremost be personal. Without a personal goal people get lost. They have nothing to calibrate their current status in life against and no creative tension to drive the formation of skills, including emotional skills.

The behaviour of people in both teams changed for the better when they had a goal to believe in and for the worse without one. The first team as a whole, improved greatly. They developed skills and improved their emotional intelligence. When they knew they had done poorly in the first report out, their goal was simply not to feel that way again.

The second team tasted too much success and praise too early. After receiving the praise most of the team had a goal of completing the project with as little disruption to their normal work hours as possible.

The project leader of the second team had a goal to learn as much as he could about financial planning, project and people management. He wanted to improve his emotional intelligence attributes where he thought it would improve his people management skills. He remained constant, learnt the most and grew the most.

What I have also learnt is that emotional intelligence does indeed have a large bearing on how people cope. Not just with day-to-day life, but more importantly in times of stress. What I also unexpectedly learnt was that The Simmons EQ profile is an accurate predictor of behaviour and competence at work.

Kevin Dwyer is the founder of Change Factory. Change Factory helps organisations who do not like their business outcomes to get better outcomes by changing people's behaviour. Businesses we help have greater clarity of purpose and ability to achieve their desired business outcomes. Visit our website to learn more or see more articles on Leadership ©2008 Change Factory

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A Winning Choice for Leadership!

By Richard Gorham

"The only way to enjoy anything in this life, is to earn it first." -Ginger Rodgers

One bad apple can spoil the bunch! As a leader, we cannot allow "bad apples" to interrupt our efforts toward achieving our goals.

Leaders can quickly lose credibility with their team when we fail to immediately address issues that get in the way of the teams' mission.

So how do we best address an issue with an employee that we perceive to be a "bad apple"?
First, we self-assess our own actions. The three key leadership areas that we must consistently hold ourselves accountable to:

- Teach - Coach - Expect

Teach - Have you, as the leader, taken the time to communicate your expectations clearly? Have you taught the employee?

Coach - Have you provided the one-on-one training and coaching to ensure the employee is capable of meeting your expectations?

Expect - Have you witnessed the employee doing the task, or exhibiting the behavior you expect, so that you know they understand? Have you been consistent in your expectations so that you know that the employee could not have misunderstood?

Assuming you have met the above criteria, then the conversation with the offending employee can be pretty straightforward.

We never said it was going to be easy, but if you've done your job as the leader, the employee simply needs to understand his/her choices.

An effective leader understands the importance of acting quickly and fairly with problem employees.

To ensure fairness, leaders must remove their personal emotions from the professional issue at hand. Leaders must prepare themselves so that the entire discussion focused on two areas:

- Performance - Behavior

Stay focused only on Performance and Behavior when working through employee issues. Trust this advice and I guarantee that your Human Resources Rep. and/or any future Legal Rep., will love you for it!

Yes, there is always a risk, and possibility of legal consequences ie. someone suing you for wrongful termination. Serious stuff, right?

Still, you can be confident! Terminating someone due to repeated, specific behavior and/or performance issues, can be reasonably understood by a 12-person jury. Whereas, firing someone because "you just didn't like him/her" can raise serious doubt about the credibility of the manager.

So, one last time - always keep comments (verbal and written) focused solely on Performance and/or Behavior.

Let's consider a specific example.

How a great leader can present a WINNING CHOICE to a bad apple:

- Communicate clearly your expectations in terms of Performance and Behavior.

- Communicate the rewards of meeting your expectations ie. job security, future opportunity, respect and credibility

- Communicate the consequences of not meeting expectations ie. looking for another role where he/she will find more fulfillment.

- Allow the employee the opportunity to choose his/her own path (one road leads to rewards, the other road leads to new adventures - probably working for someone else)

- Ensure the employee that you will support the employee in either CHOICE he or she makes - but ultimately, the choice and the responsibility belongs to the employee.

- Confirm that the employee understands your expectations and that you will do your part by supporting him and holding him accountable.

Once you have had this discussion and placed the employee on a "Final Notice", you have truly empowered the employee to create his/her own destiny.

The actions of the employee, in terms of both Performance and Behavior, will soon signal to you his or her "choice".

Make sure you "support" the employee in whichever path she chooses to take.

Reward her for her progress, or release her from a situation that neither party is happy with.
By following the above guidelines, your team will respect you for your fair and decisive leadership.

No, it's never easy to let someone go, but it is the right thing to do if that's the employees' "choice".

Richard Gorham is the founder of Leadership-Tools.com. His web site, located at http://www.leadership-tools.com is the premier online resource for free and low-cost leadership tools and resources for today's aspiring leaders. Richard Gorham is also the creator and narrator of "The Leadership Series for Successful Living", located at http://www.leadershipaudio.com , and he is also a co-author of "101 Great Ways To Improve Your Life".

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Leadership - Every Day In Every Way

By Wally Bock

John and I were having lunch midway through his shift. It was the graveyard shift and John was a police sergeant, one of the best.

"I haven't talked to Spalding yet tonight," he said as he scanned down a list of the people who worked for him. "We'll head that way next. And I've got to talk to Smith about that complaint, so we'll meet her for coffee later."

Books about leadership make it seem like what leaders do is mostly strategy and mostly cosmic. Reality is different.

For most leaders, most of the time, leadership is a round of daily actions that help the team accomplish the mission while they help team members do better and grow. In other words, the results of your leadership spring mostly from what you do every day as part of the natural rhythm of work.

Every day you need to make your expectations clear. Master the art of giving clear directions. Deliver the same core messages over and over.

Every day you need to check for understanding. Don't let people leave your presence without checking to make sure that they understand what you want.

Every day you need to make sure to touch base with your people. Make sure they're turning understanding into performance. Great supervisors touch base a lot.

Every day you need to use every one of those contacts as an opportunity to improve team performance and morale. They're real "Moments of Truth." Here's what to do in those moments.

Coach the team members who need it. Help them succeed, along with the team. Encourage good behavior and honest effort to do better. Praise improvement and effort. Correct what needs correcting. Small course corrections are best. Think of problems as dinosaurs that are much easier to kill when they're small.

Counsel those that need it. For those who can't or won't change, lay out the consequences if things don't improve. Then make sure you deliver the consequences. It's your job. Every day you need to do the hard work of weeding out the unfit and the unwilling. Making sure you meet all the requirements for a fair and final firing is hard work, but it has a big impact on productivity and morale. Slackers and malcontents are cancers that kill your team.

Don't succumb to magical thinking about management. It's what you do every day, not magic traits that will improve your team's productivity and morale.

Wally Bock helps organizations improve productivity and morale by selecting and developing great leaders at all levels. He coaches individual managers, and is a popular speaker at meetings and conferences in the US and elsewhere. This article first appeared in the Three Star Leadership Blog (http://blog.threestarleadership.com/). Check out Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit (http://www.threestarleadership.com/supervisorsupportkit/).

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Finding The Leader In You

By Michael Ringrose

Identifying the Leader in You

Leaders have many attributes, many qualities, many styles and many faces. They can be presented in a formal way, easily enough identified, as for example, military leadership. Distinctive uniforms separate the soldier from the masses and within that category, badges, stripes, stars, braids, ribbons, ranks and titles, all assist in placing the individual at his or her appropriate place within the organisation.

In civilian life, other symbols are utilized to signal the importance and status of individual leaders within our societies and there are a multiplicity of agencies, PR professionals, State Agencies, Event Managers, etc., whose function in life, it appears, is to enable others to identify and build images of themselves and then use mechanisms to portray those images to appropriate audiences.

These strategies are used in order to add weight and importance to the presence of the individual leaders and also as influencers in communicating messages from leaders to their supporters and followers and also, to attract more support in advancing whatever is the campaign or mission.

We all succumb to these strategies and subliminally absorb them, from television programmes, newspapers, magazines, promotion events and rarely allow ourselves the time to analyse or even question the substance of the message propagated by such "leaders".

When it is time to elect a government, we do the same. When candidates present themselves, seeking our vote to elect them into high office, we readily accept the categorisation of policy. In the US we have Republican or Democrat; in Europe, divisions tend to be more diversified, with candidates coming from Labour Movements, Liberal or Conservative, Socialist, Communist, Democratic of Fascist camps of one kind or another. In other countries, of course, choice is not offered and is not an option. Winston Churchill is credited as saying; democracy is a dreadful process until you try the alternative.

Where do such leaders get their power? Excepting countries where there is no choice and, indeed even there, there is choice but the subject of another article) they derive their power from the people. Who are the people? Most of "the people" are content to exercise their 60 seconds of democracy, the time it takes to cast your vote, once every 3, 4 or five years. In casting that vote we identify the leaders we wish to put in place to rule us and our lives and expectations over the next number of years.

The real leaders are the individuals who choose the leaders but we do not permit ourselves to create and establish that identity in the process. We rather go through it as a duty and allow those seeking our support to present as if we have no choice but to give it to them and they, by and large, accept it as of right.

Individual people, all of whom collectively constitute community, society, country, possess a range of power and influence in our lives. No matter where we are and what our status we are in control of our own lives. The exercise of choice, having due regard to the rights and entitlements of others, is the key to our success and happiness. It is the exercise of our authority over our lives. It can be, judiciously utilised, be a key influencer, for the better, over the lives of others. Use it, use it wisely and use it well.

Michael D. Ringrose is a retired Senior Police Officer. He is currently engaged in building a national advocacy cross disability organisation enabling individuals and their families to influence and impact on decisions and policies that effect their lives and experiences.

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Inspire To Lead And Lead To Inspire

By Melissa Vokoun

Inspiration comes at both ends of the leadership equation. Leaders are called to guide and lead from many different directions but there is always an element of emotion and inspiration. The call to act as a motivator, guide, teacher, and mentor is usually the first step in a process whereby an individual begins a journey to lead. Many leaders describe this as an inner need to share their vision and influence it's emergence into the world. While it may be a product or an idea or a service, this vision is deeply held and difficult to contain. The decision to lead is a natural progression once the individual finds the confidence and commitment to step up and accept responsibility for the direction of others.

Feeling the inspiration that tells someone, "I can be a leader, I can motivate and direct others to fulfill my vision," is a step that most people do not take lightly. There is a degree of security and safety in being a follower, even in being a very involved follower. But leaders are inspired to take risks and put themselves on the line everyday. Our great social and political leaders have all had to make tremendous sacrifices in order to lead and many people question why they are so motivated to lead when the costs can be so great. The answer is simple-the inspiration to lead was irresistible. When you feel your message so strongly that the costs and consequences pale in comparison, you are destined to lead. The business owner invests both emotional and material interests to bring their message to light. They too are moved by an irresistible impulse to lead.

At every staff meeting, every sales consultation, at every conference a leader is called upon to influence those around them. Being the boss isn't always an enviable position and the stress associated with being the boss is not for the faint of heart. But a true leader finds conflict challenging, dissent motivating, and loyalty truly precious. And the reward they seek is seeing their message become reality through decision and action. This is where the second part of the equation comes into the formula-leading to inspire.

Being a follower may have a negative connotation but followers are not mindless sheep. They have strong opinions and viewpoints and are very discerning. They can tell an authentic leader from a figurehead a mile away. The mark of the truly authentic leader is the feeling and excitement that they inspire in their followers. The ability to inspire others, to bring them to join in their journey, and help them realize their potential is the hallmark of authentic leadership. Genuine leadership has a tangible quality where excitement can be felt and the risk- taking leader motivates others to share in their risks. Indeed, inspiration has a reciprocal quality. A leader is inspired to lead, a follower is inspired by a leader, and the inspiration becomes mutual.

An employee can become a contributor and partner when the quality of a leader's message comes through in a persuasive and moving manner. Haven't we all had moments when we are listening and the moment of understanding and enthusiasm overtakes us and we become a partner in the message? It is a moment of excitement and comprehension that has the unique ability to turn followers into partners and then into a "co-leader." When leadership becomes collaborative the leadership/inspiration equation is complete. The message becomes self-renewing and the energy it produces fuels its mission. Those inspired to lead have inspired others and the magic of emotive reasoning becomes reality. It is indeed the foundation of any group process and what can translate in success for any organization.

Melissa Vokoun is a successful Business Advisor and Trainer. From 1983 to 2005 she was COO and VP of Sales and Marketing for a national telecom equipment distributor. Her passion for business, working with clients in solving critical issues in the strategic, tactical and operational areas of growth continues. She is now President and Founder of NuVo Partners and Successful Business Advisors. To learn more about the services available, please visit the website at: http://www.nuvo-partners.com or call 847-392-6886.

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Leadership Exposed: Things You Thought You Knew About Leadership

By Tim Maher

Much has been written about leadership: rules, pointers, styles, and biographies of inspiring leaders throughout world history. But there are certain leadership ideas that we ourselves fail to recognize and realize in the course of reading books. Here is a short list of things you thought you knew about leadership.

1. Leaders come in different flavors.

There are different types of leaders and you will probably encounter more than one type in your lifetime. Formal leaders are those we elect into positions or offices such as the senators, congressmen, and presidents of the local clubs. Informal leaders or those we look up to by virtue of their wisdom and experience such as in the case of the elders of a tribe, or our grandparents; or by virtue of their expertise and contribution on a given field such as Albert Einstein in the field of Theoretical Physics and Leonardo da Vinci in the field of the Arts. Both formal and informal leaders practice a combination of leadership styles.

• Lewin's three basic leadership styles – authoritative, participative, and delegative

• Likert's four leadership styles – exploitive authoritative, benevolent authoritative, consultative, and participative

• Goleman's six emotional leadership styles - visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting, and commanding.

2. Leadership is a process of becoming.

Although certain people seem to be born with innate leadership qualities, without the right environment and exposure, they may fail to develop their full potential. So like learning how to ride a bicycle, you can also learn how to become a leader and hone your leadership abilities. Knowledge on leadership theories and skills may be formally gained by enrolling in leadership seminars, workshops, and conferences. Daily interactions with people provide the opportunity to observe and practice leadership theories. Together, formal and informal learning will help you gain leadership attitudes, gain leadership insights, and thus furthering the cycle of learning. You do not become a leader in one day and just stop. Life-long learning is important in becoming a good leader for each day brings new experiences that put your knowledge, skills, and attitude to a test.

3. Leadership starts with you.

The best way to develop leadership qualities is to apply it to your own life. As an adage goes "action speaks louder than words." Leaders are always in the limelight. Keep in mind that your credibility as a leader depends much on your actions: your interaction with your family, friends, and co-workers; your way of managing your personal and organizational responsibilities; and even the way you talk with the newspaper vendor across the street. Repeated actions become habits. Habits in turn form a person's character. Steven Covey's book entitled 7 Habits of Highly Effective People provides good insights on how you can achieve personal leadership.

4. Leadership is shared.

Leadership is not the sole responsibility of one person, but rather a shared responsibility among members of an emerging team. A leader belongs to a group. Each member has responsibilities to fulfill. Formal leadership positions are merely added responsibilities aside from their responsibilities as members of the team. Effective leadership requires members to do their share of work. Starting as a mere group of individuals, members and leaders work towards the formation of an effective team. In this light, social interaction plays a major role in leadership. To learn how to work together requires a great deal of trust between and among leaders and members of an emerging team. Trust is built upon actions and not merely on words. When mutual respect exists, trust is fostered and confidence is built.

5. Leadership styles depend on the situation.

How come dictatorship works for Singapore but not in the United States of America? Aside from culture, beliefs, value system, and form of government, the current situation of a nation also affects the leadership styles used by its formal leaders. There is no rule that only one style can be used. Most of the time, leaders employ a combination of leadership styles depending on the situation. In emergency situations such as periods of war and calamity, decision-making is a matter of life and death. Thus, a nation's leader cannot afford to consult with all departments to arrive at crucial decisions. The case is of course different in times of peace and order---different sectors and other branches of government can freely interact and participate in governance. Another case in point is in leading organizations. When the staffs are highly motivated and competent, a combination of high delegative and moderate participative styles of leadership is most appropriate. But if the staffs have low competence and low commitment, a combination of high coaching, high supporting, and high directing behavior from organizational leaders is required.

Now that you are reminded of these things, keep in mind that there are always ideas that we think we already know; concepts we take for granted, but are actually the most useful insights on leadership.

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Tim Maher is interested in personal development in all its facets and has read many books on this topic. It is an interest that is fed and nurtured by listening to audio books and seminars when possible. To assist your own personal growth journey get your audio resources at ==> www.magillaudiobooks.com/list.aspx?catId=137