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Helping people enhance their Emotional Intelligence (EI) competence can offer an organization significant benefits that can provide a significant return on investment. Leaders and employees can make better decisions and take more appropriate action when they are able to access both theirs and other’s emotions. These actions and decisions can directly impact the business’s customers and the bottom line.

A number of years ago, Heskett et. al. identified a set of factors driving business profitability (HBR “Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work”). Their work remains relevant today as it provides a model describing how a business’s profitability is dependent upon effective leadership. The leader’s emotions drive the company’s climate and culture. More specifically, the emotions of the leaders affects the culture by impacting the emotions of the employees, which, in turn, affects employee satisfaction, which, in turn, impacts how willing employees are to put forth the extra effort (i.e., efficiency and productivity) and their loyalty.

And further, how the employee feels and performs his or her work impacts customer satisfaction, which, in turn, determines customer loyalty. In the end, how loyal customers are directly impacts organizational profitability.

This set of relationships is driven by the leader’s emotions. The leader is not necessarily the Vice President, Director or CEO. The leader is the “in-charge” person of any team, staff, supervisor, manager, etc. Self-leadership, then, becomes one of the most important skills to focus on. It is the internal ability to lead oneself to make the best choices, exhibit the most appropriate behaviors, or take the best actions.

Positive and negative emotions affect every employee and the customers they serve. For example, when employees experience negative emotions, the result might be low moral, poor teamwork, increased errors, increased conflict, poor quality and more. Employee performance, business objectives and key initiatives would all be compromised. As a consequence, customer satisfaction may decrease with an increase in customer complaints and defection. In the end, profitability would be compromised.

The value of developing Emotional Intelligence competence is supported by additional research. Daniel Goleman, author of the best-selling book, Emotional Intelligence, reported that EI was twice as important as other factors for excellent performance He also found that EI factors rather than cognitive factors made up 90% of the difference in the profiles between star performers and average performers (HBR Nov./Dec., 1998). Additionally, he discovered that when top management had positive moods, they worked together more cooperatively and achieved better business results (Primal Leadership, Goleman et. al.).

The Results:

Unlike typical organizational improvement interventions such as team building or effective communication, EI skill development is unique in that it has the potential to positively impact a multitude of organizational problems at the same time. It goes beyond just leadership competencies or management skills. The effects are profound. Additionally, EI skill development enhances and complements other principle-centered and values-based programs. As foundational skills, EI skills enable people to improve the “how” of achieving results.

Reported EI training results are significant. Participants have experienced improvements that range as high as 35% to 40% in reduction in stress and worry, increased personal productivity and increased teamwork, and similar improvements in management of emotional reactiveness, personal motivation, work/life balance, creativity and more.

About the Author

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

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Tags: developing emotional intelligence test, emotional intelligence, Emotional Intelligence Leadership, emotional intelligence training, emotional intelligence workplace

by ndev2k on August 16th, 2009 | RSS | trackback