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Emotional Intelligence at the Heart of Performance — a Head / Heart Model

Aug 11

Posted by Admin in Management | No Comments

y received an email from a colleague who I haven’t heard from in years. He reminded me that in the mid 80’s I shared with him my model of factors affecting performance. He asked for another copy as he had given his last copy away to a corporate trainer while on a flight. After searching several sources, he emailed me with his request and described my model as, “probably the best tool ever for explaining why people do or don’t perform as desired.”

As my colleague implied, models are powerful tools providing insight into deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, pictures or images that influence how we understand the world and how to take action. My model serves the purpose of identifying performance problem areas and providing insights for remedies, focusing scarce resources on high leverage causes. Use of such a model avoids implementing solutions that may be inappropriate and costly such as formal training when all that may be needed is a simple job aid.

Since the mid 80’s, I have expanded my model to a new, dimensional model that includes Emotional Intelligence (EI) as an all-encompassing factor affecting performance in all areas. And because of its depth and breadth, this revised model is the one I have been using for over a decade.

My original model depicts a nine-box grid (3 boxes by 3 boxes), reflecting my Engineering background. The grid identifies over 30 factors affecting performance according to those who have the most control or influence over the factors – executives, managers, and individual performers. While this model implies that emotion is a factor affecting performance, I’ve discovered that emotion is a factor that all of us, we rational analyzers, have not paid enough attention to as critical to performance.

Research indicates that emotions play a much more important role than other factors. In fact, every sensory input we receive is processed through our emotional center first. When that occurs, an emotional meaning or flavor is attached to each input before it is sent on and processed in our rational mind, the neocortex.1 So our emotional center is the gatekeeper for every response to every input that we receive. Our emotional center attaches an emotional meaning to the assignments we are given (and how they are given), the workload we are given, the noise and lighting in our physical work environment, the information (or lack of information) that we have to do the job, etc.

To reflect the significant impact of emotions, my revised model adds a third dimension – the dimension of Emotion. With the inclusion of depth, this new model indicates that not only do all of those “Head” factors (in my original model) affect our performance, but also our emotions can negatively or positively affect our physical energy, our mental clarity, and our productivity. Just think of how people feel when the initial announcement of a downsizing is released. The vast majority of people perceive the announcement negatively and the result is a decrease in quality, productivity and morale by the vast majority of employees. On the other hand, how do you feel and what happens to you when you are given an honest compliment on your work, when you are genuinely appreciated. Doesn’t that give you an energy boost? Aren’t you more likely to do a little bit more than normal?

The Emotional dimension of the model could be viewed as a continuum. On one end is Fear; on the other is Appreciation. Ask yourself how well people perform when they are anxious, frustrated, fearful, or angry. My personal experience and my observation is that most people don’t perform well. On the other hand, if a person truly feels cared for and appreciated, then those positive emotions facilitate performance. I contend that this is what each of us wants. We want to be appreciated for our contributions; we want to feel that people care about us. We don’t want to act like we can check our emotions at the door in the morning when we come in to work and pick them up again when we go home. We have our emotions – our hearts – with us all of the time.

It’s disquieting to think that so much time is spent on the factors reflected in my two-dimensional, rational, “Head” model. I’m not saying that those factors aren’t important. Obviously they are. But the dramatic results achieved by implementing simple emotional management techniques in my programs tells me that I must actively use the “Head/Heart” model when considering interventions to help improve people’s performance.

1. Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence, 1995, Bantam Books.



By: Byron Stock

About the Author:

Byron Stock, a former engineer and director of corporate education, guides individuals and organizations toward excellence by helping them develop their Emotional Intelligence skills as a powerful tool to achieve strategic objectives, lead change and create resilient, high performing organizational cultures. Learn about Byron’s quick, easy, proven techniques to harness the power of your Emotional Intelligence in his new book, SMART EMOTIONS for Busy Business People available through his website http://www.ByronStock.com



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Emotional Intelligence: Good Business Sense

Aug 6

Posted by Admin in Leadership | No Comments

 

Emotional Intelligence: Good Business Sense.

Recently, there has been a lot of talk of “emotional intelligence” or (EI) and how it can greatly benefit people’s relationships. Even though there has been a great deal of hype surrounding emotional intelligence, especially in the world of business, there is still a number of people who may not realize the overall rewards of (EI) and how it can positively affect our lives.

As child and even up until my late 20s I was indirectly conditioned with the notion that people with soaring IQs were naturally going to succeed and climb the corporate ladder. This couldn’t have been further from the truth. This common misconception was exposed by Daniel Goleman in the author’s book entitled ‘Emotional Intelligence’. It is interesting to note that emotional intelligence has been around for hundreds of years but did not gain momentum in the business world until the late 90s.

In a nut shell EI makes us understand and perceive our own emotions, control them and use them in a more beneficial way. Emotional Intelligence also makes us influence, inspire and feel other people’s emotions, thus making it easier to deal with a situation and put one’s self into the shoes of another person.

Let’s put this into more practical terms. For example, in many businesses people get employed because they have a high IQ. They can reason analytically and logically, and have a steel-trap focus when it comes to completing tasks. They are able to learn new things quickly; however they tend to ignore how others around them are feeling. If things do not go their way, they lose their temper and lash out at others. This type of person lacks empathy, and is often unable to relate to others who are not as smart as they are. One may dare to say this limits their ability to be effective in team situations, which is becoming a big part of corporate infrastructure.

On the other hand, people who have high EI get along well with their colleagues, and manage their own emotions. This makes them highly effective in their work place, even though there are others in the organization with better IQs. Employees who are able to consider the emotional components of interaction, using both their cognitive abilities and their understanding of emotions, are the employees who are able to influence and motivate people. This is made possible because they understand what matters to them and their colleagues and are more often than not, excellent communicators. Authenticity and integrity make these people natural leaders. They are flexible and creative when faced with a challenge, and resilient in the face of temporary defeats. They are well-liked and well-respected.

This may sound a little strange, however it’s completely practical. People who cannot control their emotions say and do damaging acts that may damage business relationships for years to come. Yet emotionally intelligent individuals know how to deal with difficult situations to benefit all parties involved.

Ambar Anita

Jakarta English Training (JET)

T: 77885700/ 800

F: 7785900

www.jetindonesia.com



By: Ambar Anita

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Emotional Intelligence: an Inside-out Job

May 3

Posted by Admin in Management | No Comments

intelligence is your ability, either innate or learned, to acquire and apply knowledge from your emotions and the emotions of others. Using this information, you can make better decisions about what to say or do (or not say or do) in any given situation.

The Emotional Intelligence (EI) competencies fall into two categories: intrapersonal (existing/occurring within the individual) and interpersonal (existing/occurring between persons). The competencies build logically upon each other. The first few (emotional self-awareness, emotional self-regulation and emotional self-motivation) are intrapersonal and lay the foundation for the interpersonal competencies — empathy and managing relationships.

Emotional Intelligence is an inside-out job. It starts with oneself: developing the intrapersonal skills. The more skilled a leader or manager is at emotional self-awareness, emotional self-regulation and emotional self-motivation, the easier it is to pick up on the subtle social signals of others, be empathetic and manage relationships successfully. Effective interpersonal skills depend largely on developing effective intrapersonal skills.

Emotional Self-Awareness

Goleman(1) defines emotional self-awareness as “having a deep understanding of one’s emotions … how your feelings affect you, other people and your job performance.”

Emotional Self-Regulation

This is the ability to step back, to “hit the pause button” before, during or after an emotionally charged situation. Goleman writes that self-regulation “frees us from being prisoners of our feelings.”(1)

Emotional Self-Motivation

Self-motivated people not only know what they are feeling, they can transform their anxiety or negative emotions into positive, productive emotions and actions. They can call up feelings of confidence, optimism and enthusiasm.

Empathy

Once a foundation of the first three competencies (all intrapersonal) is established, EI begins to influence a person’s interactions with others. From a traditional business perspective, empathy may seem inappropriate or unnecessary. However, in today’s economy, where teamwork, cross-cultural sensitivity and coaching and mentoring are essential, empathy is a core skill.

Managing Relationships (Social Skill)

This competency combines sincere care and friendliness with a purpose. To manage relationships effectively, leaders must understand and channel their emotions in useful ways, be motivated to take positive action and exhibit empathy toward others. Rather than trying to manage or manipulate relationships, this is about setting a positive tone of cooperation no matter what the circumstances. It can help all sides find common ground where collaboration can lead to movement in the desired direction.

Where Do You Start?

Laying a strong foundation in emotional self-awareness increases the likelihood of building strong skill in the other competencies. Some actions that can be taken to enhance skill in emotional self-awareness include…

Notice and name your emotions – being able to name what you feel provides information that can be used to make decisions about what you should or should not do or say in particular situations.

Identify triggers to negative emotions — these can be people, events, or situations that frequently trigger a strong, negative emotional response. By recognizing triggers, the learner will know when it might be helpful to change or regulate his or her emotions (the second EI competency, emotional self-regulation).

Identify what’s important in your life and the positive emotions they evoke – these positive emotions are the emotions the learner will want to experience more frequently. Increased frequency in experiencing these kinds of emotions is related to more positive energy. And research shows that when the emotions are positive, thinking is clearer and better decisions are made.

Outstanding leaders are often said to have “good people skills.” But the person they are most skilled at handling is themselves. They start from the inside and work out. The good news is that all of these competencies can be systematically learned, enhanced and developed.

Source:

1. Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence, 1995, Bantam Books.

Copyright 2008, Byron Stock



By: Byron Stock

About the Author:

Byron Stock, a former engineer and director of corporate education, guides individuals and organizations toward excellence by helping them develop their Emotional Intelligence skills as a powerful tool to achieve strategic objectives, lead change and create resilient, high performing organizational cultures. Learn about Byron’s quick, easy, proven techniques to harness the power of your Emotional Intelligence in his new book, SMART EMOTIONS for Busy Business People available through his website http://www.ByronStock.com



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Business Case For Emotional Intelligence Ei And Emotional Intelligence Eq

Jan 11

Posted by Admin in Training | No Comments

What is the Business Case for Emotional Intelligence?

Institute for Health and Human Potiential http://www.ihhp.com/

Research data from a variety of sources points to a beneficial bottom-line impact when your people develop their emotional intelligence (EI) skills, http://www.ihhp.com/what_is_eq.htm.

Findings are grouped by category:  executives and managers, supervisors, sales.

Executives and Managers

Experienced partners in a multinational consulting firm were assessed on 17 EI competencies and three other competencies.  Partners who scored above the median on 9 or more of the 20 competencies delivered $1.2 million more profit from their accounts than did other partners – a 139 percent incremental gain (Boyatzis, 1999).

Analysis of over 300 top-level executives from fifteen global companies showed that six emotional competencies distinguished stars from the average: Influence, Team Leadership, Organizational Awareness, Self-Confidence, Achievement Drive, and Leadership, http://www.ihhp.com/keynotes.htm (Spencer, L. M., Jr., 1997).

Of 515 senior executives, those who were primarily strong in emotional intelligence were more likely to succeed than those who were strongest in either relevant previous experience or IQ. In other words, emotional intelligence was a better predictor of success than either relevant previous experience or high IQ. More specifically, the executives were high in emotional intelligence in 74 percent of the successes and only in 24 percent of the failures. The study included executives in Latin America, Germany, and Japan, and the results were almost identical in all three cultures (Study by search firm Egon Zehnder International).

Financial advisors at American Express whose managers completed an emotional competence training program were compared to an equal number whose managers had not. During the year following training, advisors whose managers had been trained grew their businesses by 18.1% compared to 16.2% for those whose managers were untrained.

A large beverage firm found that 50% of division presidents left within two years, generally due to poor performance. When the firm started selecting based on emotional competencies such as initiative, self-confidence, and leadership, only 6% left in two years. Furthermore, the executives selected based on emotional competence were far more likely to perform in the top third based on salary bonuses for performance of the divisions they led: 87% were in the top third. In addition, division leaders with these competencies outperformed their targets by 15 to 20 percent. Those who lacked these competencies under-performed by almost 20% (McClelland, 1999)

The Center for Creative Leadership found in their research that the primary causes of derailment in executives involve deficits in emotional competence. The three primary ones are difficulty in handling change, not being able to work well in a team, and poor interpersonal relations.

Accurate self-assessment is one of the foundations of emotional competence.  Competence in this area was associated with superior performance among several hundred managers from 12 different organizations (Boyatzis, 1982).

At Sears, the most successful store managers were those best able to manage their feelings and handle stress, emotional intelligence competencies.  Successful managers achieved higher net profits, sales per square foot, sales per employee, and per dollar of inventory investment than managers less able to cope with their emotions and stress (Lusch & Serpkeuci, 1990).

A study of 130 executives found that how well they handled their own emotions determined how much people around them preferred to deal with them (Walter V. Clarke Associates, 1997).

Supervisors

Supervisors in a manufacturing plant were trained in emotional competencies such as listening skills and helping employees resolve problems on their own.  As a result, lost-time accidents were reduced by 50 percent, formal grievances were reduced from an average of 15 per year to 3 per year, and the plant exceeded productivity goals by $250,000 (Pesuric & Byham, 1996). In another manufacturing plant where supervisors received similar training, production increased 17 percent. There was no increase in production for a control group of similar supervisors who were not trained (Porras & Anderson, 1981).

Sales

A national insurance company found that insurance agents who were weak in emotional competencies such as self-confidence, initiative, and empathy sold policies with an average premium of $54,000. Those who were very strong in at least 5 of 8 emotional competencies sold policies worth $114,000 (Hay/McBer Research and Innovation Group, 1997).

Optimism is an emotional competence which leads to increased productivity. New salesmen at Met Life who scored high on a test of optimism sold 37 percent more life insurance in their first two years than pessimists (Seligman, 1990).

At a computer company, sales representatives who were hired based on their emotional competence were 90% more likely to finish their training than those hired on other criteria (Hay/McBer Research and Innovation Group, 1997).

Sales people at a national furniture retailer who were hired based on emotional competence had half the dropout rate during their first year, compared to the previous selection method (Hay/McBer Research and Innovation Group, 1997).

The most successful debt collectors in a large collection agency had an average goal attainment of 163% over a three-month period. They were compared with a group of collectors who achieved an average of 80% suring the same time period. The successful collectors scored significantly higher in the emotional intelligence competencies of self-actualization, independence, and optimism. (Self-actualization refers to a well-developed, inner knowledge of one’s own goals and a sense of pride in one’s work.) (Bachman et al., 2000).

At American Express, sales people trained in Emotional Intelligence outsold sales people not trained in EQ by 10%.

At Hallmark Communities, sales staff who developed their EQ generated 25% more sales than untrained sales staff.

A US corporation measured the EQ of 1000 sales people, based throughout the U.S. and in Japan, England, & Germany.  They measured the EQ of both successful (at 100% of goal or better) and unsuccessful sales people (at 70% of goal or less).  The

successful sales people were 2.7 times more likely to score well on the EQ measure.  Of the 262 highest scoring salespersons, 95% were at 100% of goal or more.

At L’Oreal, sales agents selected on the basis of specific emotional competencies significantly outsold salespeople selected using the company’s previous selection procedure. On an annual basis, salespeople selected on the basis of emotional competence sold $91,370 more than other salespeople did, for a net revenue increase of $2,558,360. Salespeople selected on the basis of emotional competence also had 63% less turnover during the first year than those selected in the typical way (Spencer & Spencer, 1993; Spencer, McClelland, & Kelner, 1997).

In jobs of medium complexity (sales clerks, mechanics), a top performer is 12 times more productive than those at the bottom and 85 percent more productive than an average performer. In the most complex jobs (insurance salespeople, account managers), a top performer is 127 percent more productive than an average performer (Hunter, Schmidt, & Judiesch, 1990). Competency research in over 200 companies and organizations worldwide suggests that about one-third of this difference is due to technical skill and cognitive ability while two-thirds is due to emotional competence (Goleman, 1998). (In top leadership positions, over four-fifths of the difference is due to emotional competence.)

The US Air Force found that the most successful recruiters scored significantly higher in the emotional intelligence competencies of Assertiveness, Empathy, Happiness, and Emotional Self Awareness. The Air Force also found that by using emotional intelligence to select recruiters, they increased their ability to predict successful recruiters by nearly three times. The immediate gain was a saving of $3 million annually. These gains resulted in the Government Accounting Office submitting a report to Congress, which led to a request that the Secretary of Defense order all branches of the armed forces to adopt this procedure in recruitment and selection. (The GAO report is titled, “Military Recruiting: The Department of Defense Could Improve Its Recruiter Selection and Incentive Systems,” and it was submitted to Congress January 30, 1998. Richard Handley and Reuven Bar-On provided this information.)

References

Bachman, J., Stein, S., Campbell, K., & Sitarenios, G. (2000). Emotional intelligence in the collection of debt. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 8(3), 176-182.

Boyatzis, R. E. (1999). From a presentation to the Linkage Conference on Emotional Intelligence, Chicago, IL, September 27, 1999.

Boyatzis, R. (1982). The competent manager: A model for effective performance. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam.

Hay/McBer Research and Innovation Group (1997). This research was provided to Daniel Goleman and is reported in his book (Goleman, 1998).

Hunter, J. E., Schmidt, F. L., & Judiesch, M. K. (1990). Individual Differences in Output Variability as a Function of Job Complexity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, 28-42.

Lusch, R. F., & Serpkeuci, R. (1990). Personal differences, job tension, job outcomes, and store performance: A study of retail managers. Journal of Marketing.

McClelland, D. C. (1999). Identifying competencies with behavioral-event interviews. Psychological Science, 9(5), 331-339.

Pesuric, A., & Byham, W. (1996, July). The new look in behavior modeling. Training and Development, 25-33.

Porras, J. I., & Anderson, B. (1981). Improving managerial effectiveness through modeling-based training. Organizational Dynamics, 9, 60-77.

Richman, L. S. (1994, May 16). How to get ahead in America. Fortune, 46-54.

Seligman, M. E. P. (1990). Learned optimism. New York: Knopf.

Spencer, L. M., Jr. , & Spencer, S. (1993). Competence at work: Models for superior performance. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Spencer, L. M. J., McClelland, D. C., & Kelner, S. (1997). Competency assessment methods: History and state of the art. Boston: Hay/McBer.

Walter V. Clarke Associates. (1996). Activity vector analysis: Some applications to the concept of emotional intelligence. Pittsburgh, PA: Walter V. Clarke Associates.



By: Bill Benjamin

About the Author:

Bill Benjamin: The Science behind Great Leaders. How will you keep talent and engage young generations? How will you manage demands and find time to coach your team? Few leaders’ have clearer solutions than Bill Benjamin, an expert in Emotional Intelligence. The CEO of the Institute for Health and Human Potential, Bill has presented to clients that include The U.S Army and NASA. Keynotes, Leadership 2.0, The Science behind Great Leaders: Managing emotions more intelligently to lead more effectively; Why EI counts more than IQ in leadership performance; Reasons people get promoted and achieve results; Science of emotions that drive behavior. The Big Disconnect, Why most Leaders miss out on engaging the next Generation: Strategies to engage the ‘new generation’; How high potential Gen X & Y’s become more effective leaders. High Performance Sales, What Makes a Successful Sales Person? Qualities that differentiate the top 20%, Resilience in the face of setbacks and adversity, Connect to the needs of clients.



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