Use Emotional Intelligence to Increase your Team’s Effectiveness

I had a great time delivering a workshop in Chester this week titled “Use Emotional Intelligence to Increase your Team’s Effectiveness”.

Why do some highly qualified and apparently capable managers produce less successful outcomes than other seemingly less qualified individuals? The answer is often in their levels of Emotional Intelligence.

If you are a manager or leader in any capacity I highly recommend you develop your skill set around understanding, using and managing emotions, this will help you improve the quality of your communication and lead your team to achieve higher levels of success.

It was Daniel Goleman who first brought the term “emotional intelligence” to the forefront back in 1995. I recommend reading his book as a great introduction into Emotional intelligence:

“Goleman found that while the qualities traditionally associated with leadership—such as intelligence, toughness, determination, and vision—are required for success, they are insufficient. Truly effective leaders are also distinguished by a high degree of emotional intelligence, which includes self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill.” source

Read: Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ – Daniel Goleman

Amazon description:

The ground-breaking best-seller that redefines intelligence and success Does IQ define our destiny? Daniel Goleman argues that our view of human intelligence is far too narrow, and that our emotions play major role in thought, decision making and individual success. Self-awareness, impulse control, persistence, motivation, empathy and social deftness are all qualities that mark people who excel: whose relationships flourish, who are stars in the workplace. With new insights into the brain architecture underlying emotion and rationality, Goleman shows precisely how emotional intelligence can be nurtured and strengthened in all of us.

Emotional intelligence has a huge impact on your professional success , in fact emotional intelligence it the strongest predictor of performance in the workplace and the strongest driver of leadership. By becoming more self-aware and improving your emotional intelligence it can impact in many areas, including:

• Become an Emotionally Resilient Leader
• Learn Enhanced Communication Skills to Strengthen Team Dynamics
• Develop Self Awareness and Empathy
• Manage Emotional States for Improved Outcomes
• Identify your ‘Triggers’ – Learn Specific Self-Management Strategies
• Harness Stress and Use it Productively
• Create High Levels of Resilience to Perform under Pressure
• Improve the Quality of ALL your Meaningful Relationships

 

If you would like to be notified of my next workshop into Emotional Intelligence leave me a comment below.

 

 

Create an Outstanding Mental Blueprint

I am excited to be launching a six part webinar series “Creating an outstanding mental Blueprint”. This is the first time I have run a series of webinars so it will be great to connect with so many more people where location is no barrier!!

Here is the description of the event:

Dr Susie Mitchell is a Psycho-Neurologist, Professional Coach and Master Practitioner in NLP, Hypnotherapy and Time Line Therapy. Susie is the author of ‘Satnav for the Soul‘and ‘The S word’, writes for newspapers and magazines, has appeared on TV and Radio and is a motivational and a keynote speaker. Susie has built two successful businesses and loves working with people.

For us to truly excel at many areas of our lives, we need to make dramatic internal shifts, to fulfil our dreams and ambitions. Susie gets outstanding results with her Corporate Coaching and Personal Development clients from all types of backgrounds.

Susie now brings to you a six part webinar series that will give you the best ‘mental blueprint ‘to overcome life’s challenges and create the life that you desire. Through this series you will be guided through processes and techniques to enable your mind-set to the freedom to thrive.

Video Introduction:

This weekly webinar series will be delivered to you over six weeks every Monday at 8pm beginning February 3rd.  You will be emailed an exclusive link 24 hours before each webinar.  All webinars in the series will be recorded and made available to you.  After each session you will have the opportunity to submit questions that will be followed up the following week allowing you to get the most value from this series. If you need more information, please do get in touch through Eventbrite or my Facebook page!

Special early bird discount if you book before 27th January BOOK NOW

In the words of the great Jim Rohn “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job”. I will let him explain!

How do great leaders inspire us?

We recently said goodbye to one of the 20th century’s great leaders, Nelson Mandala passed away on the 5th December, 2013.  His passing marks the end of an era, South Africans will remember him as the father of the nation, who brought an end to apartheid and delivered the nation from the brink of civil war. He won admiration around the world when he preached reconciliation after being freed from almost three decades of imprisonment. He leaves behind an extraordinary legacy of reconciliation and forgiveness which has inspired so many people and will continue to do so.

How do leaders inspire us?

When looking at developing your leadership skills we can learn so much from great leaders. This Mandala quote sums up how I choose to truly live my life:

 

Which great leaders have inspired you and what are their qualities? Great leaders have the ability to inspire people to greatness, to help them achieve the impossible. Leaders have passion and vision and are able to communicate that passion and vision so others can feel passionate, too. It’s important to inspire others with words and actions, teach others by example. If you do it, they will follow.

Mandala was put in jail by a brutal regime for 27 years simply because he was fighting for fairness and equality. On his release instead of looking for revenge he became a stronger leader, never becoming bitter. He found common ground, embracing those who were once against him and helping the country bridge a seemingly impossible gap.

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

Find willing people to work with. Most of us have gotten caught up at least once in the emotional roller-coaster that is wanting to work with or help someone who has the talent, the potential or the need, even if that person is unwilling or incapable. Move on from those that don’t want to do or be where you want them to do or be. And don’t carry their burden. Let them go through their journey and spend your time and energy looking for like-minded people who you can partner with.

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.

What leadership lessons can we learn from a football manager?

Sir Alex Ferguson is arguably the greatest football manager of all time, love or hate Manchester United most people will agree that his 25 year reign is one of the most successful in history, not only did he manage a football team, he shaped a club that ‘ ranks among the most successful and valuable franchises in sports’. This week I came across a fascinating case study by Harvard Business School professor Anita Elberse examining Ferguson’s management approach, I recommend you read the full article here, below are the highlights which I believe all leaders can apply in business.

Set High Standards—and Hold Everyone to Them

We talk a lot on this blog of standards, vision and goals. Getting the team to buy into these standards is crucial for business success but it can also apply to our personal lives:

Ferguson speaks passionately about wanting to instill values in his players. More than giving them technical skills, he wanted to inspire them to strive to do better and to never give up—in other words, to make them winners….

Ferguson: Everything we did was about maintaining the standards we had set as a football club—this applied to all my team building and all my team preparation, motivational talks, and tactical talks.

If you are not happy with some aspect of your life perhaps its time to raise your standards and strive to live up to them. Sometimes we need to take a moment and reevaluate the things that we have accepted in our lives. It is not an easy task but if you can commit to it; life will be much more enjoyable.

Have you got strong enough reasons to follow through everyday?

Is your vision strong enough to pull you everyday?

Ferguson had a very strong work ethic and energy which spread throughout the team, he was always the first one there in the morning because he knew there was a job to be done; attitudes can become contagious if you lead from the front. When players stepped out of line and didn’t uphold the standards set by the club they were dealt with quickly, no matter how big the name!

In 2005, when longtime captain Roy Keane publicly criticized his teammates, his contract was terminated.

Sometimes holding ourselves accountable to the standards we have set for ourselves is the hardest challenge but great leaders do exactly that, everyday!

 It doesn’t matter if the person is the best player in the world. The long-term view of the club is more important than any individual.

Match the Message to the Moment

Communication in business is still one of the hardest challenges to overcome. The media portrayed Ferguson as quite a fearsome leader, with stories of half-time team talks which resulted in the throwing of coffee cups so I was quite surprised to read that he worked hard to tailor his message to the situation.

Fear has to come into it. But you can be too hard; if players are fearful all the time, they won’t perform well either. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to see that showing your anger all the time doesn’t work. You have to pick your moments. As a manager, you play different roles at different times. Sometimes you have to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a father.

As a leader you have to inspire, teach and reprimand when necessary. How you deliver your message is just as important as the words you use.

No one likes to be criticized. Few people get better with criticism; most respond to encouragement instead. So I tried to give encouragement when I could. For a player—for any human being—there is nothing better than hearing “Well done.” Those are the two best words ever invented. You don’t need to use superlatives.

The case study goes on to mention that if a player did play badly during a game Ferguson would give the feedback straight away, he wouldn’t wait until Monday. When Monday arrived it was already forgotten as he was thinking about the next game. Giving timely feedback and moving on is another lesson we can learn.

Rely on the Power of Observation

As Ferguson started to delegate the training sessions to his assistant manager and coaches it gave him  the opportunity to supervise:

 The switch from coaching to observing, he told us, allowed him to better evaluate the players and their performances. “As a coach on the field, you don’t see everything,” he noted. A regular observer, however, can spot changes in training patterns, energy levels, and work rates.

It’s very easy to be caught up in the day-to-day tasks of business, some managers can find it difficult to delegate tasks and trust their team. But as a leader you have to be able to spot potential issues before they become a problem.

My presence and ability to supervise were always there, and what you can pick up by watching is incredibly valuable. Once I stepped out of the bubble, I became more aware of a range of details, and my performance level jumped.

Are you to involved?  What tasks can you delegate to become a better leader for your team?

 

Source: Ferguson’s Formula

How to build morale in your team?

There are many factors that can affect the morale of a team, if you are in a leadership position it’s vital that you recognise the level of morale. As a leader if you want a team to perform it’s your responsibility to inspire and lead your team to create a productive environment.

According to sociologist Alexander Leighton, “morale is the capacity of a group of people to pull together persistently and consistently in pursuit of a common purpose.” – See more

You might not be able to measure morale as such but teams with high morale have low turnover of staff, low sickness rates, high productivity, high levels of staff engagement, all of which can be measured.  These will directly affect the profitability of your business so I urge you to pay attention to team morale!

Ways to boost morale

1. The first step begins with you as the leader. You have to inspire your team if you have the attitude that employees are easy to replace or people should be grateful for their position you will not recognise the signs of low morale. You must recognise the value of your employees!
2. Mix it up! Being stuck in the same routine day after day gets boring for you and your team. Find ways to change the day-to-day grind. If you always have a meeting in a boardroom, go out for lunch instead. Find ways to make life more pleasant in general for employees, could you offer flexible schedules, work from home schedules, gym memberships etc ?
3. Understand that the work environment can greatly affect employee morale. Ask your employees what they would like to improve and make it happen
4. Recognise the special events in employee’s lives. Birthdays, weddings, births, the accomplishments of employee children—if you have a reason to celebrate, do it!
5. Open, 2 way communication is a must. Communication is often one of the biggest challenges in business, you must encourage the lines of communication between management and the team. Employees what to feel important and have their ideas and opinions listened to, likewise the want to be trusted with important company data and business decisions. Most employees in the workforce want to work for a company they can trust and believe in!
6. Invite in local experts. Find out what interests your employees have outside of the work environment and perhaps once a month invite in an expert to give an hours talk or class. Provide lunch and refreshments, make it fun! It could be a Zumba class, a gardening hour, personal trainer, massage therapist, whatever the subject it gives a break from the routine.
7. Train employees to develop positive attitudes. Mindset makes the difference in business, one negative mindset can affect the moral of the whole team. Invest in your team with training days, workshops, coaching, whatever is suitable for your business.  Understanding each others different perspectives will go along way in boosting morale and reducing conflict. To truly  reach the top your team needs to shed its limiting beliefs and embrace opportunities to shine.
8. Saving the best till last, above all HAVE FUN! You don’t have to dress in a clown’s costume, but you can promote a feeling of happiness and satisfaction in the workplace. Go out and talk to your employees. Smile. Recognize what they do, for without them, you wouldn’t have a business to start with.

What’s worse than training your workers and losing them? Not training them and keeping them.”

—Zig Ziglar

 

Visit my website http://www.transform-my-life.com/ for more information; get the right mindset and lead the transformation!