Why is EQ so important?

Because of the furious pace of change in business today, difficult to manage relationships sabotage more business than anything else – it is not a question of strategy that gets us into trouble; it is a question of emotions. John Kotter, Harvard Business School

The Institute for Health and Human Potential (IHHP.com) reports that research tracking over 160 high performing individuals in a variety of industries and job levels revealed that emotional intelligence (EQ) was two times more important in contributing to excellence than intellect (IQ) and expertise alone.

IHHP further reports that emotional intelligence not only greatly contributes to job performance and leadership skills, but it has also been found to increase profits.

IHHP claims that training in EQ competencies develops stronger leaders. The following chart depicts the number of times those individuals who became president or CEO displayed emotionally intelligent competencies, compared with those who were passed over.

Note: Although those who became president or CEO showed cognitive competencies more frequently than those passed over, this difference was not significant.

In his book, The Ideal Team Player, Patrick Lencioni presents a simple model that every business leader can adopt to improve the EQ competencies of their team; not only when hiring new talent, but in shaping and molding the existing team.

The model shows that the best teams are comprised of individuals who have a good balance between three key virtues: Humility, Hunger, and Smarts. Lencioni specifically emphasizes that smarts in this model is more of the EQ variety.

Building, molding, and maintaining balanced teams requires intentionality, for which a leadership coach can serve as a catalyst and guide.

Herb Mast is Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.

A fallacy in leadership is that vulnerability is weakness. Rather, vulnerability is the birthplace of the virtues we all strive to attain. That is the paradox.

It is true that trust is the foundation of every great team. Not just any kind of trust, but vulnerability-based trust, which will not emerge unless vulnerability exists amongst the team. And for vulnerability to exist it must be modeled by the leader first.

Henry Cloud, in his book Boundaries for Leaders, presents the case for how leaders get two things: what they create and what they allow. Hence, leaders must choose what kind of environment or culture they want to foster in their organizations…an environment of positivity or one of negativity, politics, silos, and turf wars. By default human nature will always tend towards an environment rife with fear, greed, selfishness, shame, and hate. But with intentionality a great leader is able to create a positive and healthy environment.

Research has shown that vulnerability is the doorway to a positive and healthy environment.

Few team members will show vulnerability, however, and at least not for long, unless they see vulnerability modeled by their leader. Hence, leaders must take the first step…and when they do amazing things happen as the rest of the team follows and opens up.

But allowing ourselves to be vulnerable is not easy, even for leaders. Nonetheless, recognizing the importance of vulnerability, great leaders courageously take the first step and learn to model it for their teams.

And, with vulnerability people are less apt to take conflict personally. Rather they embrace it as a necessary part of healthy conversations.

As Andy Stanley is known to say, “In an environment of trust conflict is nothing more than the pursuit of truth to achieve the best possible solutions.”

Herb Mast is Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.

I am reminded of a story shared by a finance manager recently. F&I production was not great at this store in past years. This finance manager took a different approach, put in a big effort, and significantly increased back-end gross, especially in the first eight months of the current year. During this time the department was short staffed and he was working long hours.

The finance manager shared how he was tired and that not once in past year had the general manager acknowledged his efforts. The straw that broke the camels back, however, came when he missed his numbers in the ninth month while was going through some personal issues. Instead of inquiring how he was doing the general manager reminded him that he missed his numbers and that he expected him to do better in the next month.

The general manager was right, the finance manager had missed his numbers, but his approach, lack of care and empathy, was not helpful.

People who are in charge tend to be competitive. So, being right naturally makes them feel good. Being right feel like a win. Unfortunately, being right also has the potential to puff up while it takes away from others, especially if being right comes at another’s expense.

Remembering that the goal of leadership is to get the team, not oneself, over the finish line [together], being right should not be something a leader fights for. Rather, if time allows,  it is often, if not usually, better to be helpful, sharing what you believe to be right, and letting others discover what is actually right. In the process others will feel respected and built-up. At the same time you allow room for the possibility that there is a better way or even that your thinking is flawed in some way.

Leaders accept their own humanity and resist the urge to fight for being right. Great leaders work at getting themselves out of the way so that the team can win. In fact, great leaders, accept responsibility when the team loses and give credit to the team when celebrating a win.

Good Leadership Rule: Be helpful, listen, be the last to speak, give away credit, let others recognize [on their own] when you are right, and never say “I told you so.”

Herb Mast is Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.

Merriam-Webster defines mistake as a wrong action or statement proceeding from faulty judgment, inadequate knowledge, or inattention.

William McKnight, the legendary chairman of 3M, said, “The best and hardest work is done in the spirit of adventure and challenge…Mistakes will be made.”

Maybe it was this kind of culture that led to the invention of the Post-It note…by mistake!

According to Wikipedia, in 1968, Dr. Spencer Silver, a scientist at 3M in the United States, was attempting to develop a super-strong adhesive. Instead he accidentally created a “low-tack,” reusable, pressure-sensitive adhesive.

For five years, Silver promoted his “solution without a problem” within 3M both informally and through seminars but failed to gain acceptance. In 1974 a colleague who had attended one of his seminars, Art Fry, came up with the idea of using the adhesive to anchor his bookmark in his hymn book. Fry then utilized 3M’s officially sanctioned “permitted bootlegging” policy to develop the idea. The original notes’ yellow color was chosen by accident, as the lab next-door to the Post-It team had only yellow scrap paper to use.

Great leaders understand that mistakes are an inevitable by-product of imperfect people trying new things and challenging past achievements. Great leaders recognize that innovation is birthed in the realm of the unknown.

Hence, great leaders don’t dwell on mistakes, but rather see them as opportunities [even celebrating them] to expand knowledge, build wisdom, and increase intentionality in themselves and others.

Even repeats of the same mistake are seen as revealing a pattern and providing an opportunity for action.

Moment of Reflection:

As a leader, how are you handling mistakes? Do you react, get angry, and dole out punishment? Or, do you respond by encouraging people to push established limits and use mistakes as coaching opportunities?

How you react or respond impacts on your organization’s culture and will either expand or limit its potential.

Herb Mast is Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.

People often use the words react and respond interchangeably, but these two concepts are not the same. The differences are subtle but significant, and lead to very different outcomes, especially when you react when you should respond, and vice versa.

Merriam-Webster defines the words, as follows:

• Respond: to say something in return : make an answer
• React: to move or tend in a reverse direction

Both reacting and responding involve behaviors following an impulse. The difference ultimately comes down to whether time is available and/or taken to gain awareness in order to shape the best possible behavior.

In his book Triggers, Marshall Goldsmith presents a model he calls the Circle of Engagement, suggesting that all people are triggered by different things, which lead to impulses and behaviors.

Being REACTIVE involves a trigger leading to an impulse and a behavior. It is a shorter loop, which is appropriate when time does not allow for gaining additional awareness. Most times these behaviors take on a negative overtone such as fight, flight, or freeze, which are appropriate when faced with an emergency situation, but not when collaborating with others.

Being RESPONSIVE also involves a trigger leading to an impulse, but with the benefit of additional awareness to help choose the best possible behavior. As a result responsive behaviors tend to be viewed in a more positive manner and typically result in better outcomes.

Great leaders choose to respond, reacting only when there is not enough time to gain additional awareness and to choose a better behavior.

TIP: Take a breath before acting on an impulse.

Any time you feel triggered, and especially in non-emergency situations, take a breath before acting. Even a short breath will do two things: allow emotions to settle down (dissipating cortisol from your system and reducing the fight, flight, or freeze urge) and provide time to gain awareness.

Herb Mast is Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.