Posted by
Lynn McConnell on Friday, May 23, 2008 at 2:34 PM
Categories:
Talent Management,
Training & Team Building,
Leadership Development,
Performance
Emotional Intelligence, or EI, seems to be the topic de jour for organizational development these days. Broadly defined, EI can be defined as HOW people use the smarts they have. Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer, professors from Yale University and the University of New Hampshire, defined emotional intelligence as “the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions.”
EI comprises four main areas:
- Self-awareness, or the ability to understand emotions and recognize how they affect oneself and other people.
- Self-management, or the ability to control one's emotions and impulses. Other attributes of self-management include trustworthiness, conscientiousness and adaptability.
- Social awareness, or the ability to be aware of others' feelings, needs and concerns. Key attributes of social awareness are empathy, service orientation and organizational awareness.
- Relationship management builds on the first three areas: communication, conflict management and the ability to influence others through inspirational leadership.
Why is this important?
Leaders set the emotional tone of an organization. Studies show that teams and individuals tend to be more creative problems solvers who adapt a win-win attitude toward conflict resolution.
We’ve all heard the phrase: “Employees don’t leave companies, they leave managers”.
In general, managers with a high emotional intelligence quotient tend to be empathetic, trustworthy, and have a knack for building relationships with others; while a manager with a low emotional intelligence quotient might be seen as critical and micro-managing.
Luckily, unlike intelligence quotients, emotional intelligence can be developed with training, feedback and coaching.
Does your organization measure and coach for emotional intelligence? If you don’t, you may be missing the boat when it comes to creating job satisfaction and developing those creative problem solvers who will become the leaders who will help your organization continue to thrive and grow!
Posted by
Lynn McConnell on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 3:31 PM
Categories:
Strategic Planning,
Leadership Development,
Miscellaneous,
Performance
I believe that corporations should take a pointer or two from the “Super Nanny”.
If you haven’t watched this show (on ABC) you should because it’s a great example of changing an organizational culture. Granted, ‘JoJo’ does it one family at a time, but she uses the same techniques that would work to change the culture in any organization.
First she comes in and talks with each parent, asking for their input into what the problems are and what outcomes they would like to achieve. She also gets their buy-in into making the changes in the household. Next, she observes behavior—how the ‘team’ interacts with each other, how they react to problems and stress, and how they go about resolving these problems.
She then gets the team leaders (parents) back together to discuss her findings and offer suggestions for changes. Together they develop an implementation strategy, for which she will hold them accountable, and again obtains their buy-in and commitment.
What happens next?
The plan is communicated to the team (the kids). Expectations are clearly outlined and process changes explained. Everyone is given tasks and roles to fulfill and there is usually a visual way of tracking successes and failures that everyone can refer back to. Then they go to work!
Do things instantly fall into place? NO! Expectations must be restated, processes re-explained and re-worked, and sometimes people end up on the “naughty chair” because they can’t seem to accept the new culture. Sometimes the leaders slip back into their old habits. But do they give up? Not usually. They realize that no matter how painful the process, falling back into old behaviors is more painful and more damaging. So, they re-group, talk about the problems they’ve experienced, redefine or rework the processes, re-commit to the process and realize that if things are going to change it is up to each of them to set the standards and commit to reaching them.
It is never an overnight process, but even when there are set backs, these eventually become less severe, and the team now has the tools in place for solving problems as they arise without placing blame and flying off the handle. These habits and processes soon become ingrained into the culture of the family (team) so that they eventually begin to go from a dysfunctional, out of control family to a high functioning, supportive team where everyone understands their roles and what is expected of them. They each begin to hold themselves and each other accountable and they understand the role that they each individually play in helping their family (organization) succeed.
Don’t you think every organization could use a Super Nanny?
Posted by
Lynn McConnell on Monday, February 25, 2008 at 2:19 PM
Categories:
Talent Management
I was watching one of the morning ‘news’ shows that seems to be less focused on the news than on fluff – but that’s probably another topic for another day. The reporter was interviewing two women with differing points of view:
Should a woman hold out for “Mr. Right” and potentially risk ending up an old maid and alone; or should she re-think her definition of “Mr. Right” and settle for someone who isn’t quite so perfect? At least she wouldn’t be alone.
Well, the debate continues on that point, but it got me thinking about how some companies conduct their hiring process – some seem to think that a warm body is better than none at all. I’ve even heard these words come out of an interviewer’s mouth: “Let’s give him 6 months to prove that he can do the job and then if it doesn’t work out we can start looking again.” WHAT? ARE YOU CRAZY??!!!
This is wrong on so many different levels. Number one, turn-over is expensive. Just in terms of hard costs you can anticipate it costing at least 25% of the first year’s gross salary to conduct the search, interview candidates, do the background checks, and then make the hiring decision. For a $50,000 a year job, that hard cost is $12,500. Then you start calculating in the soft costs of decreased productivity, training, and allowing the candidate to come up to speed on the job, your culture, and your procedures and you could easily be looking at a $15,000 - $20,000 impact on your company’s bottom line. And you think it’s OK to do that every 6 months? That’s just one position. Most companies replace more than one position during the year.
Then think of the effect on the morale of the other employees who are left trying to fill in for someone who isn’t carrying their weight in the department. They become frustrated and annoyed, their productivity begins to slip and you have a downward spiral that will impact your bottom-line.
So, what can you do to avoid settling for Mr. Right Now?
Make sure you have a clear picture of exactly what ‘Mr. or Ms. Right” looks like. What are the hard and soft skills that they would need to excel in the position? Develop that clear picture, communicate that to all your applicants, assess each applicant against those skills, and keep looking until you find that person.
It may take a bit longer, but it will be worth it to you, your staff, and your company!
Posted by
Lynn McConnell on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 at 9:58 AM
Categories:
Talent Management,
Leadership Development,
Performance
ARE YOUR EMPLOYEES ENGAGED………OR ON VACATION?
As a human resources professional, I am deeply interested in how and why people work, what motivates them, and what doesn’t. I’ve seen many companies paralyzed because they can’t seem to get their employees motivated or moving in the same direction toward the same goal.
Forget that “Employees are our greatest asset” – employees are your biggest expense! A company with a million dollars worth of equipment will spend whatever it takes to maintain that equipment and keep it running at top capacity. But that same company, if faced with tough financial decisions, will look at cutting training and positions before it will cut those maintenance costs. Why wouldn’t you want to take care of your people assets as carefully as you take care of your mechanical ones? It just doesn’t make sense.
The headline of an article** in a recent HR periodical stated that 25% of employees in a recent Gallup Management Journal survey would fire their bosses if given the opportunity. These were employees who felt alienated from their supervisors and were “actively disengaged”.
These “actively disengaged” employees are a drain on the finances, morale, and culture of an organization.
What’s an employer to do?
Employees need to feel valued and necessary. No one comes to work every day thinking they are really going to do a mediocre job. People want to feel that they are an integral part of what makes their organization succeed.
They have to feel like their opinions matter, that their suggestions have merit. They have to see that the mission of the organization isn’t a platitude hung on the wall, but that it has an impact on every aspect of the way the company does business – from the top down. They have to have the training and resources to do their jobs effectively, and they have to know where to go to get the answers they need.
Employees get disengaged when they work for managers who can’t make decisions, or change the decisions they have made; or when managers take a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ attitude in regards to the company mission and vision. Employees need to feel respected in the workplace – by their peers and their managers.
The old adage remains true: “Employees don’t leave a job, they leave a manager.” Good management begin at the top of an organization. If an organization has disengaged employees, then they probably have a disengaged management team as well.
If you want engaged, top performing employees, try treating them like you would any other asset in your organization.
**You can read this article by Garry Kranz in it’s entirety in Workforce Management, February, 2008 (http://www.workforce.com/section/quick_takes/53421.html )