Are you Recruiting for Emotional Intelligence?

Traditionally organisations recruit new leaders based on an individuals’ previous results and their track records, increased profitability etc. This recruitment is often conducted without attention to how they achieved these results. In some cases, these individuals have been unchecked thus permitting them to leave a trail of devastation in their wake, inducing long term stress on their colleagues resulting in loss for the company as valuable people leave the organisation.

The latest evidence backs the need to focus on how a leader is being when running their team or organisation on a day to day basis, in other words, “what finger print are they leaving” in every interaction? In essence, ensuring that the leader engages with the hearts and the minds of the people within their organisations.

Jim Rees, Ultra Cyclist, Ironman Triathlete, Author and Executive Coach

A recent global study conducted by Gallup (2013) reported that ‘only 13% of employees from 142 countries were actively engaged, in other words, only 1 in 8 employees are psychologically committed and likely to be making a positive contribution’.

At the other end of the stats, ’24% of staff were actively disengaged, meaning, 1 in 4 were unhappy and unproductive at work and liable to spread their negativity on to their coworkers’. The impact of these findings on the ‘bottom line’ is predictable and a number of organisations have started to look at this topic of Emotional Intelligence.

There are a number of EI measurement tools that are available, for the past 15 years we have been working with the below model developed by JCA Occupational Psychologists .

A critical aspect of Emotional Intelligence is to have a balance between Self Regard, which measures how OK you are with yourself and an equal measure of Regard for Others which looks at how OK are you with other people.

These two aspects are the foundational blocks of EI, someone with a high Self Regard and a low Regard for Others can be critical and judgemental of others. The reverse is true for someone with a low Self Regard and a high Regard for Others, these individuals can become submissive, leading to a lack of delegation and taking on too much.

The Individual Effectiveness report measures a total of 16 scales of Emotional Intelligence on top of the 4 from the core framework, these include:- Emotional Resilience, Personal Power, Goal Directedness, Flexibility, Connecting with Others, Authenticity, Trust, Balanced Outlook, Conflict Handling, Interdependence and Reflective Learning.

Mark Foster 8 Times World Record Holder

Emotional Intelligence is not a static element of a person, it is in constant flux throughout our lives as we improve, grow and are changed by our life experiences. As with everything in life the first step down the road of change is awareness. once a person has become aware of the patterns of behaviour that you slip in to and the impact that these have on both oneself and others (Perhaps this is an opportune moment to reflect on the question of ‘What Finger Print are you leaving?’). Here at ‘The Long and the Short of It’ our experience is that we have seen significant improvements in leaders who have fully engaged in developing their personal Emotional Intelligence and awareness of self.

The framework we use in every coaching situation or Leadership Programme is the ABC of Success;

1st Step:

Creating Awareness,
2nd Step:

Challenging Beliefs

3rd Step:

Pledging Commitment to seeing a goal through completion and in to fruition.

The way we do business is changing. We are focusing on our work-life balance as evidenced by working from home, flexible hours and job-shares all being commonplace. Start-up companies are choosing to have flatter hierarchies and forward thinking organisations have fused psychology and architecture to plan their office environments. The office environment is becoming unrecognisable with swings, ping-pong tables, coffee bars, art, gyms, soft furnishings, slides and putting in bars that people spend their Friday/Saturday nights at with their colleagues.

As part of this change in the way we do business, the investment and nourishment of those within an organisation is beginning from the start, as the recognition that changing the way we do business is proving fruitful. Increasingly forward-thinking organisations are utilising ‘The Long and the Short of It’ as catalysts for change and to develop their leaders from the top down.

Wish you were here

The office is now the place to be and increasingly where people are wanting and choosing to spend their time in. All of which is increasing engagement and cohesion of staff, with the added by-product of a more cohesive and happier work-force who stay in their roles for longer and are more productive. The business revolution has begun. Come and join us.

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If you would like to book Jim & Mark, or wish to know more about Jim Rees, please call or email the office.

Tel:  +44 (0) 20 7607 7070
Email:  info@speakerscorner.co.uk