O Consulting

Home

Emotional intelligence

"Oh no, not another management fad, here today and gone tomorrow!" Or is it?
Consider two scenarios:

Scene 1		It's Monday morning. You and your team have to attend an important meeting with your boss to discuss progress on an important project. The team has been working hard and putting in a lot of hours to keep things on track and solve the complicated and demanding problems that have come up. Your project team are stretched but motivated to deliver the project on time and within the tight budget; morale is good. Your boss comes in and you immediately see that he is tired and looking like thunder. He opens the meeting with a tirade of negative criticism and berates your team for underperforming. You are not allowed to answer any of his criticisms and your team leaves the meeting feeling dejected, in low morale and thinking what's the point of us working so hard when all we get is criticism and negativity from him? Morale plummets, the project goes 'off-track' and isn't delivered on time or within budget. *This boss is unaware of his emotions, the impact he has on other people or how much his management style adversely affects performance. He is not emotionally intelligent.*

Scene 2		Same day; same meeting! Only this time your boss comes in, makes contact with everybody and shares that he has been up all night with a sick child and is anxious about his child's well-being. He shares his feelings of anger with his doctor who refused to come out to his child in the night. He confesses that he is probably going to be a bit irritable today. He listens to your progress report, appropriately challenges your team on a couple of points, but thanks you all for the good job you are all doing and tells you how much he believes that you will produce a superb project on time and within budget that we can all be proud of. Your team leaves the meeting feeling valued, praised for their hard work and highly motivated. You deliver the project on time and within budget. This boss is aware of his emotions and the reasons he is feeling that way. He is conscious of not projecting his anger on to other people and knows the impact he has on others - he is emotionally intelligent.

Emotional intelligence is about being aware of and honest about your own and other people's feelings. It's about knowing how to keep your emotions in check and using them positively to motivate yourself and others. And it's about building better relationships. There are five key competencies or skills which build upon each other to raise our level of emotional intelligence:

Self awareness – to know and understand your thoughts, feelings and behaviour
Appropriate use of your emotions - to encourage honesty and responsibility
Self motivation – to overcome obstacles and promote action
Empathy with others – to foster greater connection and understanding
Building and maintaining effective relationships – to improve performance and cohesion

At O" we strongly believe that improving your emotional intelligence will pay substantial dividends for you and your Company. Research clearly demonstrates that an emotionally intelligent person will:

Build and maintain more effective relationships
Continually motivate themselves and others
Help develop a culture of continual learning and responsibility
Create an atmosphere of 'learned optimism'
Be more personally and professionally effective

We build increasing your emotional intelligence into every coaching programme we undertake at O" and help you consciously and unconsciously improve your emotional intelligence skills in all five key competencies by encouraging you to practise the skills needed throughout your coaching programme.

O" specialise in Business Performance Coaching. We are not a general business development consultancy. Unlike most coaching companies, we help you resolve the psychological barriers which stop you and your employees performing to their full potential as well as assisting them to improve their management and leadership skills. To find out more contact either Robin Johnson or Philip Perry info@o-consulting.com Tel: 0845 260 7700 (local rate)

To find out more contact either Robin Johnson or Philip Perry
info@o-consulting.com Tel: 0845 260 7700 (local rate)

Home