"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

If your company could:

• Fully engage employees
• Increase commitment
• Improve retention
• Improve morale and motivation
• Increase innovation and creativity
• Increase customer service
• Improve sales
• Increase profits

Would you do it?  See case studies 

If you knew that between 60 - 90% of the difference between good and star performance is down to a set of competencies, would you want them?

These sounds like silly questions!  Of course we want those things.  But the reason that these continue to be issues in organizations is due in part to the fact that we only use our rational brains, leaving our emotional brains at the door.  We are taught that emotions cloud our thinking, that decisions should be made using logic and analysis.  But we are emotional beings and discounting the wisdom of our emotions is what is causing the problems in the first place.  Emotions are like drops of water rippling through your organization affecting everyone from yourself to your customers.

Let me put it this way.  Have you ever said something in your organization that you later regretted?  Do some people just rub you the wrong way?  Does your 'gut' ever tell you something different from the facts? Are the relationships with yourself, your peers and your teams strained at times?  When was the last time you overreacted to a situation?  Many of us would fooling ourselves if we said we never did any of the above.  But operating only with the rational brain result in these things happening.

What star performers and great leaders know, is that it isn't just the IQ and the technical skills that matter.  It's the EQ (Emotional Intelligence) that matters too.  It's both head and heart that produce extraordinary results (read article). We are most powerful when emotion and thought work together.

At Ascent Coaching & Consulting assessments, training and coaching are used to support EQ practices in organizations and with individuals.   Contact me to find out how to incorporate EQ into:

·   Leadership Development	·   Sales Training
·   Recruitment	·   Coaching
·   Performance Evaluation	·   Stress Management
·   Succession Planning	·   Customer Service training

What is Emotional Intelligence (EQ)?   (Click here for books on emotional intelligence)

Emotional Intellience, often referred to as EQ, is a set of skills that focuses on four areas:

1. Identify emotions to recognize how they and those around them are feeling,
2. Use emotions to assist thought, make decisions and solve problems,
3. Understand emotions and complex emotional 'chains',
4. Manage emotions in themselves and others.

 It is important to understand what EQ is not.  It is not:

1. "Being nice†or having a technique to work the room.
2. Giving people free reign to "be emotionalâ€.  Rather, it means managing emotions appropriately and effectively.
3. A fixed set of attributes or styles, like personality.  People can learn to manage their emotions and thereby improve their relationships with colleagues, clients and supervisors. 

And as emotional intelligence expert David Caruso writes, "It is very important to understand that emotional intelligence is not the opposite of intelligence, it is not the triumph of heart over head - it is the unique intersection of both.† In a recent study conducted with a major international petroleum corporation, overall it found that the EQ competencies (70% of total competencies) created an environment that allowed the IQ competencies (30% of total competencies) and technical skills and knowledge to be maximized.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Competencies

Using the Six Seconds Model of Emotional Intelligence, there are eight competencies clustered into three groups.  Mastering these competencies takes time and energy, but with training, coaching, and change, it will produce results. 

Know Yourself:  These competencies focus on increasing self-awareness.  It is based on understanding how you function and behave.  The competencies are:

• Enhance Emotional Literacy
• Recognize Patterns

Choose Yourself:  These competencies are about building self-management.  They focus on consciously choosing your thoughts, feelings and actions.  The competencies are:

• Consequential Thinking
• Navigate Emotions
• Intrinsic Motivation
• Optimism

Give Yourself:  These competencies are about developing self-direction.  They focus on using empathy and principled decision-making to increase wisdom.  The competencies are:

• Develop Empathy
• Pursue Noble Goals

EQ Articles:

1.  "Emotional Intelligence:  The Hidden Ingredient in Star Performance?" 

Written by Kimberly Kniveton

The Harvard Business Review has several articles on Emotional Intelligence for purchase, including:

What Makes a Leader, by Daniel Goleman

Primal Leadership: The Hidden Driver of Great Performance, by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee

The Enemies of Trust, by Robert Galford and Anne Seibold Drapeau

Case Studies:

1.  GSA Region 3

Written by Josh Freedman, Six Seconds

GSA Region Three is a government run IT contracting and consulting business.  By focusing on emotional intelligence, the team improved customer service scores by over 17% and revenues by over 50%.

Read More...

2.  Sheraton Studio City Hotel

Written by Josh Freedman, Six Seconds

In an 11-month project of emotional intelligence training and coaching, organizational climate improved by 20%.  The climate improvement correlated with a 19.6% drop in turnover, a 23.4% increase in market share, and an 8.2% improvement in guest satisfaction scores.