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Mindfulness at the Workplace: do we really need it?

A couple of years ago, I attended a Learning & Development seminar. There were over a hundred senior professionals from the industry attending the seminar. The themes largely revolved around how to make learning more effective at the workplace.

The challenges most professionals articulated were the shortening attention spans for learning, especially amongst the millennial population. Increasing difficulty in getting learners engaged with learning. Coupled with this, the increasingly difficult VUCA environment & the need to be constantly evolving.

The solution, some participants felt, lay in introducing bite sized learning, using technology innovatively and similar strategies to enhance the learning experience. The inherent assumption here was, if learning was made more interesting, it would draw more people towards learning and make learning more effective.

Looking at ways to enhance the learning experience is always a great idea. At Shradha HRD, clients that we have worked with over 15 years come back to us because of the innovation we continuously introduce into the learning process.

However, I felt we were missing a crucial piece over here. The first step in learning is to make participants aware of the need for the training. Learning should ideally involve contemplation around where we currently are, where we would like to go and the journey in general. If we are able to move participants to become mindful about these processes, learning will automatically become much easier. Once participants sit back and view the bigger picture, they will automatically recognize the importance of learning for them to achieve their goals.

Technology and bite sized learning have their own utility in the learning process. However, to my mind if we are able to encourage mindfulness, stepping back & reflecting, the impact will be higher.

We are now slowly seeing the theme of mindfulness gain traction. It is a slow process but there is a definite movement towards reflection, being in the moment & recognition of the benefits that being mindful bring.

Control your emotions before they control you: Beware of the Amygdala Hijack

A couple of years ago, during a training session we conducted at Shradha HRD on Managing your Emotions, a participant stood up and narrated an interesting story. He said “last week I was under a lot of pressure due to a client dead line. A team member walked into my room and insisted that he wanted to speak to me about a project he was working on. I was aware that he was working on this project but I also knew that the project did not have an immediate dead line. At any other time, I would have answered, without losing my temper. I would have possibly given him a time later in the day to speak. Instead I ended up yelling at him and saying that he had no respect for another person’s time. He should send an email and request for a time to speak, as opposed to barging in unannounced and insisting that we have a conversation”

The participant said that he felt terrible about the way he had behaved. His team member began to send him emails, every time he wanted to speak. The easy & collaborative relationship they had shared earlier morphed into a formal exchange. One unpleasant interaction created a rift, which took months to heal. His questions were:

1.Why does this happen?

2.How do I prevent this from happening?

We explored why this had happened. Why is it that we behave irrationally when confronted with stressful situations? You can actually “Blame it on your Genes”.On your “Amygdala” that gets hijacked.

The term “Amygdala Hijack” was coined by psychologist Daniel Goleman in his 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Goleman used the term to recognize that although we have evolved as humans, we retain an ancient structure in our brain (Amygdala)that is designed to respond swiftly to a threat.

In other words, if we are faced with a situation that we perceive as a threat, even though it may not be life threatening, our body will react in much the same way as if we were faced with an actual physical threat to our life. This is what is responsible for us “losing it” when faced with subtler threats at the workplace.

How do we deal with such a situation?

1. Build awareness of the Amygdala hijacking

2.Watch your emotion. Tell yourself, “I’m entering the danger zone. Beware”

3.You have 3 seconds to calm yourself, before the hormones flood your brain.Practice watching your emotions. Take control, before its too late

We might have mental wiring that is “defective” & cause us to “lose it”. Simultaneously we also have the built in capacity to control our emotions before they spin out to control.

Controlling your emotions takes Self Awareness and Practice!!!!!!!

Demand for emotional intelligence skills soars six-fold in response to the rise of AI and automation

https://www.capgemini.com/in-en/news/emotional-intelligence-report/

I recently came across this report that Capgemini has compiled on the need for Emotional Intelligence. The research surveyed 750 executives & 1500 employees from large organizations in the Consumer Product and Retail, Retail Banking and Insurance, Automotive and Utility sectors.This need is estimated to increase by six times in the next 3-5 years, in the current environment where there is a steep growth in the use of Artificial Intelligence. However, an interesting aspect the report highlights is that organizations have currently not taken the necessary steps to adapt to this growing need.

The Key findings of the report are:

1. As AI and automation accelerates, emotional intelligence is becoming a must-have skill

2. Organizations with an emotionally intelligent workforce are reaping the benefits

3. People processes in organizations have not been adapted to tackle the age of the machine, especially for non-supervisory employees

Anyone that has worked with the younger Millennial population and interacted with the Centennials will vouch for the fact that this generation is far more comfortable texting, as opposed to having face to face conversations. Written texts have their ownutility, however they cannot be a substitute for face to face conversations which build real relationships. The more technology invades our lives, the greater will be the shift towards using technology to communicate and poorer will become the quality of our communication.

These finding fit into the entire Neuroscience framework as well. Whichever Neural paths are activated become our default mode for working& communicating. The greater the use of technology, the poorer will be the quality of our communication. This is bound to follow naturally, unless we take proactive action to Change.

Bridging the Emotional Intelligence gap may well be the Key to Success in the coming years !!!!!!!!

The Fine Art of Inconveniencing People & Making Their Lives Miserable

“One can’t please everyone” – they say… and ruthless as it may sound,“the job has to get done”… It’s great to be a task-master, but eventually, it is one who has a way with words and dealing with people tactfully, who emerges the winner.

Consider this scenario:
Open office setting with multiple seating in one large hall
Last working day of a team member
Rest of the team preparing to huddle for a send-off party of sorts for a colleague, who has completed all exit formalities

One of the senior team members has been instrumental in hiring the replacement for this exiting employee, makes this statement loudly:

“Although the person who will replace you is much more competent than you, we will miss you”.

*Pin-drop silence ensues in the hall*

It was a well-meaning comment, intended to make the exiting employee feel missed, and also to excitedly introduce the new joiner to the rest of the team. While the objective of the comment was far from making the former team-member feel miserable while bidding farewell to the organization, the effect was that the said person swore never to set foot in the office premises ever again. Not to mention the effect it had on the team members that heard the comment. A few tactful team members changed the topic quickly to shift the conversation towards friendly banter as everyone shuffled into the farewell party zone.

Blame it on a case of lack of emotional intelligence. The person that made the comment did not intend to hurt anyone but lack of self awareness and the inability to see the impact of one’s words turned a happy moment into a bitter one for all those around. If it can happen to team members, it is only a matter of time before an external customer is at the receiving end of words that are not carefully chosen and weighed before being uttered. The ramifications may not be as simple then. Instances of poor customer experiences,due to lack of empathy, spelling doom for reputed brands aboundand this is reason enough to invest in emotional intelligence sensitization for team members.

Diversity and Inclusion-TRULY

There are several organizations that Shradha HRD has partnered with in the past for programs to promote diversity, improve Gender ratios & empower women. We recently conducted a program series for a remarkable initiative at a Global Outsourcing and Consulting company. Not only does the organization have a commitment of including people with special needs that they are seriously working towards; they also have an integration program that Shradha HRD is a part of

The learning journey we conducted consisted of classroom touch points, coaching and mentoring and an ongoing action plan for the internal team to implement, post the program. We had people with visual disabilities, hearing disabilities and motor disabilities. This program was part of an initiative to help them to better integrate into the work force.

Absolutely fantastic work!!!!!!

Companies hunt for CEO’s with High EQ and Humility

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/68880310.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Based on the statistics mentioned in this article, 70% of Organizations in India were looking for a CEO who is humble, has high EQ with good people skills.

I read an article a couple of months ago where a senior executive being considered for the position of a CEO was turned down because he was extremely rude to the driver that had come to pick him up for the job interview because he was running late.

Several companies may overlook senior leaders riding roughshod over the emotions of team members, however we see this trend changing. Slowly but surely, the value of control over one’s emotions, demonstrating emotional intelligence & being empathetic are slowly competencies that people hire for.

Way back in 2008, when Shradha HRD was conducting an intervention on Conducting appraisals for a Global Bank, it was interesting that the only thing that managers scored their team members on were hard skills. Even though there was a detailed matrix describing expected behaviors to be demonstrated, these were largely overlooked. Less than an hour in an entire year was spent talking about these competencies!!!!!!!!

Thankfully Change, ushered in by the growing Millennial population in the workforce & other factors has brought Emotional Intelligence to the forefront.

Emotional Quotient central to promotions in Top Management roles

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/emotional-quotient-central-to-promotions-in-top-mgmt-roles/articleshow/68799290.cms

At Shradha HRD, when we look at programs that have had the maximum impact, we see a variety of factors. One that comes up most often is: what are the behaviors that the Organization rewards. If the organization is truly committed to rewarding Emotional Intelligence, the learning interventions have the maximum impact.

A little while ago, at Shradha HRD, we conducted a learning journey for First Time Managers at a Global HR Consulting company. The employee engagement scores showed that team members at the front line level were disengaged with their reporting managers. The intervention started with data for the Managers on how their team members perceived them. That was a little bit of an eye opener. The intervention was spread over 3 months with periodic touch points.

At the end of the year, when the Employee Engagement Survey was repeated, there was a substantial needle movement on the scores.

To my mind, what worked was the program supported by an Organizational Culture that rewarded Emotional Intelligence.

This article clearly demonstrates that Emotional Intelligence is a competency whose need is just going to grow.

Move up Program Series to Empower Women to “surge” ahead

As part of an organization wide initiative to promote Gender Diversity in Mid and Senior management, we are conducting this program series for Women Employees for a Global Consulting & Outsourcing Company.

The audience at Chennai was fabulous. The nicest parts of these programs is the feeling that emerges at the end of the program. “All of us have similar challenges and issues. Sharing best practices, building strong networks and creating a support structure is truly empowering and will help us achieve our Goals”

Is Emotional Intelligence Key to Success at School?

https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/emotional-intelligence-key-for-success-in-school-study-119121301054_1.html

While the jury for me is still out on whether there is a positive or a negative correlation between Intelligence Quotient and Emotional Quotient (there are studies that argue both sides eloquently), this article threw up an interesting insight. People that succeed are those that are able to manage their failures better than the others.

As a teenager, I saw Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar make their International debuts in 1989. While Sachin went to onto create history, Vinod did not perform to potential (his shot selection was deemed to be better than Sachin’s). Attitude was a big reason. However, awhile ago, I heard an interesting perspective from Harsha Bhogle. He said that Vinod Kambli had a flaw in his technique that bowler’s exploited. He struggled against the short pitched delivery. Till 1994, his talent had carried him. He never got over this low in his career and he played his last test match for India at 23.

Earlier as a student and now as a Leader at Shradha HRD, I have seen this theme repeated continuously. Life will bring its share of disappointment and elation. Team members that are able to maintain their equanimity through the tumultuous phases, keep their head down and work are inevitably those that end up with the promotion!!!!!!!!

Emotionally Intelligent Leadership !!!!

https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/chandrayaan-2-landing-how-abdul-kalam-dealt-with-the-failure-of-isro-first-satellite-launch-slv-3-in-1979-1596787-2019-09-08

“I learned a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organisation owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team. The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from that experience,” APJ Abdul Kalam

When I saw Mission Mangal recently, I was reminded of this quote of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. He had spoken about how his Boss, Satish Dhawan took upon himself the failure of a Mission and attributed to his team, the success of the subsequent Mission. The same incident replayed in the movie when Akshay Kumar took upon himself the failure of the Mission and gave the limelight to his team when they succeeded subsequently.

To my mind, this is Emotionally Intelligent Leadership at work. This incident had a huge impact on Dr.Kalam’s mindand shaped his persona as a leader. He referred to this incident several times during his Presidency and subsequently too.

This is a favourite anecdote at Shradha HRD. One we quote quite often during our programs on Emotional Intelligence for Leaders. It is rare to have a leader that is secure enough to give credit to the team for successes and accept responsibility for failures himself.

That is Emotionally Intelligent Leadership !!!!

Emotional Intelligence at work in the United Nations

In our world, we see so much around us through different media that we often become immune to messages and sometimes even cynical.

This video touched me so deeply that it brought tears to my eyes!!!!!

Bintou Keita of Guinea is currently the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations at the United Nations. This video is an excerpt of a speech she made at a forum in the United Nations. To my mind, this is one of the best examples of the importance of Listening and Understanding from the other’s point of view.

There are 2 stories she narrates in the video, which have the following take away’s

1.Even with the best intentions if we don’t Listen, we as managers & leaders can unknowingly cause harm.

2. Leadership harnesses the ability to step into the other person’s shoes and respond accordingly.

That’s Emotional Intelligence at Work!!!!!!!!!

Creating a Learning Journey for New Hires from Campus

The Campus to Corporate Program is a standard program that we have been running for over 20 years at Shradha HRD. We have been running this program across Sectors, ranging from Manufacturing to Automobile companies, Pharma, Telecom and the IT/ITES sector.

This program that we ran for an Oil & Gas Public Sector Company was interesting. The “New Hire Induction Program” was staggered. Instead of doing all the programs together, there were 4 sessions staggered across a 6 month period.

What made this program interesting and an absolute value add for the participants was that they came in for each class and discussed how they had implemented learnings and the challenges they faced. As participants had a facilitator, that was external to the organization, they used the sessions as a forum to share their experiences, learn and look at solutions for challenges they encountered in their first jobs.

Are people that have a better vocabulary more emotionally intelligent?

Last month, at Shradha HRD, we were designing a learning intervention for managers. One component of the module was the skills and behaviors that emotionally intelligent people display. We came across this question during our research.

There is an external vocabulary that can help you describe “the world well”. Then there is an vocabulary that can describe your emotions well. The difference is striking, even though we are speaking about vocabulary in both cases.

While interacting with teenagers, most experiences are “awesome”. A McDonalds burgers, a Professor, a movie and even a trip to the moon would all be categorized as “simply awesome”. The challenge here lies in our inability to correctly label our emotions while going through different life experiences. Emotional intelligence above all is the ability to be in touch with your own emotions. Are you happy, overjoyed or ecstatic. Moved, profoundly impacted or going through a life changing experience.

Building awareness around our own emotions helps us deal with our emotions better. Including anger, pain, depression and despondency !!!!

There is a little bagful of words that we carry around all the time, the one we often refer to as our Vocabulary. We replenish our wardrobes often, throwing out old shirts and dresses that no longer fit and add fresher ones that define us better with each growing year. But that little bag of words remains unchanged. Years go by and we often hear ourselves saying the same words… “Oh that makes me so mad” “I feel bad” “I am so angry”… especially with our feelings, we tend to use very few and generic words to express how we feel.

While all of us experience a wide array of emotions, only a select few can accurately identify them and use the right words to express them. This capability of individuals to recognize their own emotions and those of others, discern between different feelings and label them is what is known as emotional Intelligence. Research shows that only 36 % of people have the words to do this. Without the insights into exactly what we are feeling and without the right words to express them, we are binging on many problems. Unlabeled emotions often go misunderstood, which leads to irrational choices and counterproductive actions.

While many might describe themselves as simply feeling “bad,” emotionally intelligent people can pinpoint whether they feel “irritable,” “frustrated,” “disappointed” or “anxious.” The more specific your word choice, the better insight you have into exactly how you are feeling, what caused it and what you should do about it.Like the anecdotal angry career women profiled in the #shradhahrdblog#, Recognizing and identifying emotions is a prerequisite for developing emotional intelligence.

So growing our kitty of words, with feeling words and self awareness is just one of the five things we can do to be more emotionally Intelligent at the workplace. According to David Goleman there are 4 more- self regulation, intrinsic motivation,Empathy and Social Skills. Developing these skills improves our Emotional quotient which plays a vital role in many everyday decisions we make at the work place, such as how we deal with pressure, decisions on promoting, hiring and firing employees and dealing with conflict and change.

Pack then a bag of feeling words and get on the long but rewarding journey of emotional intelligence. It is a journey with 5 flagship places (as listed by David Goleman ) to visit. Strew with events and eventualities, you may find yourself trudging slowing, one word or thought at a time, but a journey that rewards with better mental health, wellbeing and career success.

Emotional Intelligence and Leadership

A couple of years ago during a program I was facilitating, we came up with an interesting question. If we were asked to describe an emotionally intelligent leader, we would all be able to do it. If we were asked to identify an emotionally intelligent leaders & a not so-emotionally intelligent leader we have worked with, we would all be able to do it with ease. The question we all asked was, if you know what behaviors to display, then why is it that organizations are replete with examples of apathetic behavior?????

So what makes a good leader a great one? It seems today, conventional wisdom favors the fluid ability of Emotional Intelligence as compared to the fixed capacity of brainpower or IQ as an important precursor to CEO success.

This article analyzes which top 10 Fortune 500 company CEO fits the bill of being the ‘emotional thermostat’ of their companies. What definitely sets these CEO’s apart is a level of disciplined self-awareness that helps them develop as leaders faster than the average CEO, as well as knowing how to attract a complimentary team around them.

Personal effectiveness for “Techies”

The VUCA environment throws up some interesting challenges for us as Learning and Development professionals at Shradha HRD. We recently conducted a series of workshops for a large telecom service provider in India. They had a team of professionals that was technically competent but lacked a customer service orientation and the necessary skills to effectively interact with their clients.

At Shradha HRD, we have conducted several interventions for participants from different industries and levels. What was a little unusual about this intervention was that due to the constant change and churn in the Telecom industry these “techies” were increasingly moving into a Client facing role. Their new deliverables included being able to present their ideas effectively, network and influence clients when they were over for reviews and handle difficult client situations.

We ran a detailed diagnostic for this project, designed a learning journey that included classroom training and hand-holding post completion of training. The results were immensely satisfying !!!!

The Value of Emotional Intelligence

“I overvalued intelligence”-Bill Gates. I read this article a couple of years ago (relevant sections are appended below). It appeared in the Times of India and its stayed with me since then.

3 points stood out in my mind from this article:

1. The importance of emotional intelligence for people in Leadership

2. People management skills are not correlated with Scientific IQ and may even be negatively correlated

3. It is rare to find someone who combine Scientific skills with IQ

We often quote this as an example in our People management programs at Shradha HRD. We often ask participants to reflect on anyone they have met at the workplace, past or current that possesses both these skills.

To my mind, if you have both these skills you mind well be on the Satya Nadella path !!!!!!

We had Satya Nadella (Microsoft’s present CEO) as Guest Editor barely a fortnight ago. We’d love to hear what you think of him.

I’m really happy that he’s running Microsoft, so that I don’t have to. I still love Microsoft, I still worry about it and I spend 15% of my time on it and Satya’s very good at using that time. He’s always telling me “Go meet this group. Are they doing a good job, let me know.”

I’ve worked with Satya for a long time. He was always very thoughtful, very good at working with people, He has this very calm way of dealing even with very hard problems. Happily the board endorsed him, because I was so enthusiastic that he should be the CEO. Why is he such a good CEO? It’s hard to say. His book talks about his (quadriplegic) son – which may explain a lot. He’s a very Zen person (laughs). In that respect, he’s probably better than I was. I was too emotional –if something’s not going well – “This is terrible”. But it’s fun to work with him.

Sometime ago, you gave a speech about how you once used to “overvalue intelligence”. Can you elaborate?

There’s a certain type of IQ where I can give you a 500-page book on meteorology and you read it and you understand how tornadoes work. I always admired people who were good at that, and I thought if you were good at that, then everything else is easy. Managing people? Just use common sense. Understanding profit and loss? That’s just a little mathematical equation. “You’re a smart person. You know physics. Go manage this group. It can’t be worse than the Navier-Stokes equation (a complicated fluid dynamics equation),” I used to think. I was wrong about that.
The idea that some of these skills were not correlated with scientific IQ, in fact, that some of them were negatively correlated, it took me a while to figure that out. Those who combine scientific IQ with people skills—like Satya –are rare. You have to learn to build a team with different capabilities and as Microsoft got bigger, it became more important. I’m a little broader in my understanding of different talents now.

Leadership Lessons With Justin Trudeau

Whether Justin Trudeau’s display of emotional intelligence in this particular incident is genuine can be debated, what is undeniable is that emotional intelligence is a critical competency for leaders. The concept of Emotional intelligence has gained traction in Corporate India in the last 5- 6 years. At Shradha HRD, we have seen this emerge as a top ask with our clients. We have run several learning interventions around this theme, especially for first time managers. Our experience tells us, while class room training is great as an introduction and a sensitisation to this behaviour, it will only become a part of an organisation’s DNA if this behaviour is rewarded along with the hard competencies in the Performance Management System.

https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-emotional-intelligence-trudeaus-best-skill-pays-dividends

The “Emotions” of Emotional Intelligence

Recently on a short trip with a friend, I overheard her conversation with her 7 year old, who was immensely upset at the prospect of going to school alone the next day, because his older brother was sick and needed to take the next day off. He begged and cried to urge his mom to let him stay at home as well, for which his mom replied that when he is sick his brother doesn’t stay home and goes to school alone. This little 7 year old responded “ but Ma, I am a different person from him, I have my own feelings and I am scared to go alone in the bus”

Now for a 7 year old that was pretty impressive. He was not only able to communicate that he was his own person with his own set of feelings but was clearly able to pinpoint exactly what feeling (Fear of the bus) stopped him from going alone to school.

So our kitty of words needs to grow, with feeling words..and you will be surprised how many there that we can start to use. The right words go a long way and as Rumi famously said “Raise your words, not voice, it is rain that grows flowers not thunder”

Forgiveness and Happiness

This video talks about the relevance of forgiveness. The doer of the action will get the results of their action. That is the law of Cause and Effect. Forgiveness does not change that. Forgiveness unburdens the person who has been hurt by the action from carrying the hurt. They are able to get release from that hurt and pain. Forgiveness is the ultimate art of acceptance & moving on.

The concept of Forgiveness comes in when an action is performed and there is hurt generated as a result. If we look at Forgiveness fundamentally: there is an action that has been performed & the result of the action will accrue to the doer of the action. That is certain. Whether the doer of the action is forgiven by the person who has been hurt or not, the doer will still get the fruit of his/her action. That cannot be wished away.

Then how does forgiveness matter or help? Is it just a sham? Why is there so much talk and thought around forgiveness when in the ultimate analysis, it does not help the person being forgiven?

Forgiveness is for the person that has been hurt. If someone has been hurt, the person can either brood, plot revenge, hurt the person back or forgive. Forgiveness is the ultimate art of accepting a hurt & moving on. The person that forgives, will benefit. He/she is not burdened by the hurt. Forgiveness does not take away the consequences of the action for the doer, it just releases the person that carries the hurt from the pain of the hurt. Someone that is carrying the burden of hurt is always stressed out and in pain.

Forgiveness is not in the interest of the doer; it is in the interest of the person that has been hurt. It allows them to start living life, stress free and unburdened.

Neuroscience of Emotional Intelligence (EI)

It’s very likely that you have come across the term ‘EI’ or even ‘EQ’ quite frequently in recent times, especially as part of corporate soft skills training calendars. What exactly is EI / EQ or Emotional Intelligence / Emotional Quotient, and why is it much hyped of late? Read on to find out.

Consider this real life scenario: A sudden change at the top management level resulted in ‘nil appraisal’ (read zero increments) for all the team members at ABC Corporation. In the absence of lucrative alternate job options, most team members were forced to continue working, albeit grudgingly. As for the team managers, it was business as usual and pressure to achieve organizational goals was at its peak. Stuck between junior teammates who were not bothered and the top management that didn’t care, the managers had no choice but to deliver results, come what may.

There are two popular ideologies to tide over such situations –

I. “Shape Up or Ship Out!” Announce that those who don’t perform may simply resign

II. “Don’t Burn Bridges!” Reason with the junior team in all earnestness about the need to perform as long as they are employed and ease out the transition process

How do you think a team manager with comparatively higher EI would respond? (Hint: Tactful is the way to be)

Ponder over the following 5 characteristics of Emotional Intelligence that would be covered during any standard business soft skills training program to enhance Emotional Intelligence:

1. Self-awareness: Be able to accurately recognize your true emotions, strengths, limitations, and how these affect others around you.

2. Self-regulation: Harness the power of Positive Imaging; look at the positive side of things and conduct yourself accordingly.

3. Empathy: Attempt to feel the emotions that those around you are experiencing.

4. Motivation: Do whatever it takes to keep those around you pepped up and putting their best foot forward.

5. Social Skills: Be known as an accommodating and adaptive person, as against being ‘stuck-up’.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is closely interlinked with a fair understanding of how the brain works and the neuroscience behind it. An interesting analogy equates the following:

Brain = Management | Body = Workforce | Heart = Workforce Representative

Earlier, human behaviour was described only in terms of stimulus and response. However, with advancements in psychology and neuroscience, it has been inferred that there are several stages of information being filtered, by way of our Attitude before being processed as Feelings, Emotions and Thoughts. Factors such as Knowledge and Action being controlled by mutually exclusive parts of the brain namely Neocortex and Limbic region, have provided clarity as to why forming good habits take diligent effort despite having the best intent.

Simply put,
• EI is about Attitude
• EI is about Relationships
• EI is about Awareness
• EI is about Practice
• EI is about Self-Management

Clearly, Emotional Intelligence is not an optional ‘extra’ for leaders, considering the fact that it unlocks one’s untapped potential and helps translate it into effective performance. By identifying the underlying attitudes that underpin an individual’s thought process, it is possible to help them make sustainable behavioural change.

Effective Leadership skills training guarantees outstanding results; enroll for one today!