Emotionally intelligent leaders have achieved a healthy work-life balance and enjoy challenging personal and professional goals. What about you?

According to consultant psychologist Dr. Martyn Newman, who has an international reputation in the field of emotional intelligence and leadership: 

“Emotionally intelligent leaders have an enthusiastic commitment to long-term goals and have achieved a healthy (and workable) work-life balance. They derive satisfaction from their accomplishments and enjoy setting challenging personal and professional goals.” 

It’s the blend of a workable work-life balance, coupled with a commitment to setting and achieving long term personal and professional goals that provides the ‘rocket-fuel’, as Dr. Newman puts it, to get out of bed in the morning and tackle the day with authentic enthusiasm, day after day. Do you know someone like that, or work with him or her? Could it be you?

Now contrast this with those who seem to lack that enthusiasm, energy and direction: perhaps a colleague, family member or friend, who seems to be ‘running on empty’, going through the motions. He or she may seem burnt out or even depressed.  It’s likely they lack motivating personal and professional goals. They are probably ‘living to work’ as opposed to ‘working to live’. Could that be you instead? 

This particular competency in Dr. Newman’s model of Emotional Intelligence is termed ‘self-actualisation’. Along with a further eleven competencies, it can be measured through assessment.

There is a strong and proven link between leaders who have high(er) levels of emotional intelligence and leadership success because they are able to manage their own emotions effectively and develop mutually beneficial relationships with others, both personally and professionally. And the good news is that Emotional Intelligence can be increased through awareness and practice.

So what does this mean for you? What will it encourage you to do? What could be the benefits, personally and professionally?

If you would like to complete an Emotional Capital Report to assess your Emotional Intelligence, please get in touch at markgrant1@me.com .

For more about Dr. Newman, check out his book: ‘Emotional Capitalists’ and visit www.rochemartin.com

High performing leaders and their teams know this secret formula for high performance. Do you?

With flatter organisational structures and the breaking down of silos, collaborative working across functions to achieve organisational objectives is widely accepted as the most effective route to high performance. Having technical competence alone is no longer sufficient – no man is an island.

Team members and their leaders need a broader set of skills if they are to interact effectively with each other, often in pressure situations to produce great results. And so how we behave towards each other and how we feel about those interactions with our colleagues are just as important as our technical abilities in the pursuit of business objectives.

Here’s a simple formula to illustrate:

Technical Competence + Emotional Intelligence + Values Alignment  = High Performance

Looking at each element:

Technical Competence: This is self-explanatory. It’s our knowledge of our subject or function – it’s ‘what’ we do and how well we do it.

 Emotional Intelligence: This is our awareness of our thoughts and feelings and our ability to connect with others. It includes attributes such as self-confidence, self-control, assertiveness and very importantly, relationship skills and empathy. In some models, how well we interact with others is called social intelligence. Here, we have wrapped them both together as emotional intelligence.

Values Alignment: Our values are the things we hold dear and could include attributes such as honesty, inclusiveness and respect for others. The more our personal values are aligned with the organisational values and the visible/practised behaviours around us, the more likely we are to feel relaxed and stress-free. If the fit is less aligned, we are likely to feel more anxious and that can affect our thoughts and feelings as well as our behaviours and performance.

So, give yourself a score. On a scale of 1-10, where would you rate your competence, your emotional intelligence and your values alignment? Add them together.  The maximum score is 30. What’s your total? What’s this telling you? Where is there head-room? Where will you put your focus? What one or two things will you action as a result? And what will be the benefit to you, your team and your organisation as a result?

What’s your experience of high performance? Post a reply. It will be great to hear from you.

Make time for a 2 minute leadership road-worthiness check…

As a leader:

• Can you lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse? (source: Adlai Stevenson)
• Can you expect anyone to willingly follow you if you don’t know where you’re going?

It’s very likely that you agree with the sentiment in both questions.

Now ask yourself this:

• Do you have a clear written vision that you articulate regularly with your team?

Be honest with yourself:

• How clear is your vision?
• Is it written down?
• Are you strongly motivated by your vision?
• Do you articulate it regularly with your team?
• And do you have their commitment to it?

We’re more likely to secure our team’s buy-in if they’ve been consulted and our vision connects with them emotionally and logically.

If 100 of us were standing up at the beginning of this piece and we sat down as soon as we answered ‘no’, how many of us are standing now?

5? 10? I’ll wager it’s fewer than 20. And more importantly, are you still standing?

If you’re not:

• What will you take from this?
• More importantly what will you do about it and when?
• What will be the outcomes?
• What will be the benefits for you, your team and your organisation?
• And what advantage will it give you over your competitors?

Post a reply. Let me know. It will be great to hear from you.

As a Leader, how self-aware are you? And does it matter?

The term self-awareness is bandied about a lot. But what exactly does it mean? Why does it matter? How do we develop it? This article aims to clarify…

What is self-awareness?

Starting with the Concise Oxford English Dictionary definition:

Self-awareness noun. Conscious knowledge of one’s own character, feelings, motives and desires.

Why does it matter in leadership?

Based on this definition, the more self-aware a leader is the more he/she has a conscious understanding of what he/she is feeling and why. In turn, the self-aware leader will understand how these feelings/motives/desires will impact on their decisions and actions.

In “The Art of Happiness at Work” His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D. describe greater self-awareness as the route to a clearer view of reality. That those who have an inflated view of themselves through arrogance, ego or pride may ascribe themselves with qualities and skills they don’t actually possess. Conversely, those with low self-esteem may view themselves as less than they are in terms of their qualities and skills. In either case, whether through exaggeration or devaluation, the result is a distorted view of oneself.

It can be argued then that the more self-aware a leader is the more he/she sees through a lens with less distortion than he/she who is less self-aware. And in turn, that such a leader is more likely to make better decisions. If that is so, then they surely put forward the case unequivocally for greater self-awareness in our leaders.

According to world-leading expert in Emotional Intelligence, Dr Martyn Newman…

“Emotionally intelligent leaders are aware of their emotional experience and know what they are feeling most of the time. They have the capacity to recognise how their feelings and emotions impact on their personal opinions, attitudes and judgements.”

So when a leader has higher levels of self-awareness, he/she…

• May be more able to recognise his/her emotions, feelings, desires
• May find it easier to put his/her feelings into words
• May be more consciously aware of and in control of his/her emotions in situations or events

And when a leader has lower levels, the converse is the case.

How do we develop higher levels of self-awareness?

Here are some options to consider:

• Completing self-awareness assessment tools such as Myers-Briggs, Emotional Capital Report or other Emotional Intelligence tools, 360 appraisal
• Discussion of the findings from these type of self-assessment tools
• Investing time in honest self-reflection
• Seeking feedback either formally or informally from a trusted colleague, confidant, mentor or coach without interruption, judgement or sanctions
• Paying greater attention to what we are feeling at the time and writing it down if possible – linking the feeling to the event/behaviour

If leading is about inspiring others and enrolling followers, which type of leader would you prefer to follow? One who is less or more self-aware? And if you are a leader, which would you prefer to become? One who is less or more self-aware? Becoming more self-aware is a never ending journey and there is no end point.

What is your experience or thoughts on the importance of self-awareness in leadership? It will be great to hear from you. And if you found this piece helpful, perhaps you have a colleague or friend that would benefit from seeing it. Thanks for reading.

Top 3 Behaviour Resource Recommendations For Busy Leaders…

There is a profusion of reading material and countless assessment tools for those in positions of responsibility to raise their self-awareness about leadership style and become even more effective. But busy people like yourselves just don’t have the time to find what they need, so here are 3 recommendations covering EQ, Unwanted Behaviours and Personal Drivers to save you the bother, to help you get greater insights into who you are and how you can be the best you can be…

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Here’s a definition…

emotional quotient (EQ) is a (notional) measure of a person’s adequacy in such areas as self-awareness, empathy, and dealing sensitively with other people.

EQ develops through life peaking at around 50, though it can be accelerated, as it is a set of skills that can be developed. Leaders with high levels of EQ generally achieve greater levels of success, personally and professionally as they engage in more satisfying and mutually beneficial relationships with others.

Dr. Martyn Newman is a world-leading expert in this field. His book ‘Emotional Capitalists’ is an easy read and will provide you with insights and guidance on what you can do to increase your EQ. Visit his website www.rochemartin.com for more information and follow the links if you want to complete an online assesmment that will provide you with your profile in 10 different emotional competences.

Unwanted Behaviour Patterns. Do you ever find yourself in repeating patterns of unwanted interaction with a colleague, friend or loved one? For instance, you might feel that you are always in the wrong with them or that they’re always judging or being aggressive towards you. Transactional Analysis (TA) is a simple yet useful model to help you decode what going on and provide you with insights as to what you can do about it. It will help you identify which ego state you/the other person is in at that time. Go to this youtube clip to watch a short video on TA. You can then navigate to the other two clips in the series to get more awareness and insights. If you have the appetite, then refer to Dr. Eric Berne’s best selling book ‘Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships‘ written in 1964 will raise your awareness further. It’s a great companion to the TA clips above.

Have you ever wondered what’s really driving you? We’re talking psychological drivers here. And are these drivers the same as your colleagues? Do you have an over-reliance on your drivers? Yesterday’s blog piece ‘Leaders don’t have to have all the answers’ focussed on two drivers. A simple model developed by Dr Taibi Kahler (1975) on J.D.Meier’s blog describes 5 different drivers to help you understand what’s really driving you, why you feel the way you do and when it is helpful/unhelpful to you as a leader. You will also gain a greater understanding what’s driving those around you and what do when there is a difference between you.

To finish on a lighter note, here’s a clip called Stop It! that reminds us and me in particular to lighten up , laugh out loud and not to take things too seriously, though there may be an element of truth to it…

Let me know what your experience is regarding EQ, Interactions with others and your drivers so that I can learn from you. It will be great to hear from you.