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IEE Engineering Management | February/March 2006 11

this magazine, the chances are that well in your career. It might be that

alifying with a degree and perhaps aeld of engineering. Then perhaps you an engineering-focused business,r technical skills and knowledge to

and knowledge are important days of your career, but as you scale ability to manage and lead people

becomes more important than your knowledge.Becoming emotionally intelligent will assist you greatly

in this challenge. If you master it, you are highly likely tocarry on scaling into more senior roles. If you don’t, you maywell find yourself reaching a plateau. Studies on leadershipconsistently find that the key ingredients to transformationalleadership are core parts of emotional intelligence (EI). Sowhat is ‘emotional intelligence’? And how can you develop itquickly? ➔

Martin Palethorpe shows you how to improve your performance

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EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN TEAMSRecent research has shown that teams that act with moreemotional intelligence significantly outperform teams thatact with less, so there is scope to use EI as a method toassess and improve the team, as well as the individuals. Ifyou think about it, this makes great sense. In assessing theEI of the team we also assess the climate and culture of theteam – this is the foundation on which team EI builds. Infact, JCA uses the following areas in assessing theeffectiveness of a top team:

● Motivation and commitment;● Conflict handling;● Team climate;● Self-management;● Relationship management;● Openness of Communication;● Tolerance of differences.

2 IEE Engineering Management | February/March 2006 IEE Engineering Management | February/March 2006 13

Soft skills

mistrustful of you? How would you act differently if youcould live the experience again?

So take a moment now and ask yourself questions aboutthe four areas in fig 2. What are your strengths in eacharea? What do you need to improve?

KEY AREAS OF EI There are a number of EI tools on the market; currentlythere are about five available in the UK. I will be referringhere to a tool called ‘ie’ developed by JCA OccupationalPsychologists1, which is well-researched and very effective.In principle, the tools are similar in that they measure howintelligent you are, and provide you useful information tohelp you develop. The good thing about EI is that it focuseson your behaviours not on your personality, which meansthat if you embrace the feedback, you have the opportunityto become highly effective. You don’t need to change whoyou are, but simply refine and practise how you operatewith people.

In JCA’s tool, some of the key areas are measured asfollows. ‘Self-awareness’ means being in touch with yourfeelings and your intuitions and ‘other awareness’ meansbeing in touch with the feeling and states of others.

Using a set of ‘self management scales’, the followingdefinitions can be applied to other measures of EI:emotional resilience is being able to pick yourself up andbounce back; personal power is taking responsibility foryour outcomes and not exhibiting a victim mentality. Goaldirectedness is having behaviour linked into your long-term goals; flexibility is being able to adapt your thinkingand/or behaviour to change; personal openness is beingable to connect well with others; and trustworthiness isabout inviting trust from others.

JCA’s ‘relationship management scales’ defines trust astrusting in others appropriately; having a balanced outlookas having a healthy balance between optimism and realism;emotional expression as being able to express yourselfeffectively. Conflict handling is about being assertive but ina calm respectful way and interdependence is working wellalone and with others.

The assessment tools work out your rating in each areabased on clever analysis of many answers that you supplyto questions. However, for now, let’s undertake a simpleexercise. Go ahead and rate yourself using the table in thecase study (on facing page). On a scale of 1-10, 1 being noteffective, 10 being very effective, how would you rateyourself in the EI areas shown? What do you notice? Youcan now use this information, perhaps with your linemanager or your coach, to improve how you are being withyour self and others. What could you change right now?

I have been working with an engineering directorrecently and I will use this client as an example: see casestudy, opposite.

At this point, you may be thinking about your ownteam. You will probably know that different individuals inyour team have different levels of EI ability. You might nowstart to think about how you can best develop your people.But also take a moment to talk to them about the team as ateam. Is it a team? Is it a high-performing team? Is it anemotionally intelligent team? How would you assess on theareas listed above? ■

Martin Palethorpe is a senior executive coach at Inside Out(UK) Ltd. He works extensively in the engineering sector:www.insideout.biz

FOOTNOTERef 1: 'ie' is a trademark of JCA (Occupational Psychologists)Limited (www.ie-te.co.uk). JCA is a trademark of JCA(Occupational Psychologists) Limited www.jca.biz .

Bill is a director in an engineering company,which he has been with for 15 years and in hiscurrent role for over eight years. There havebeen changes in the organisation during thistime, but fundamentally his role has remainedthe same. He wanted to develop his ability as amore effective leader so that he could beconsidered for future promotions. Bill was opento this development but he was unclear as towhat he needed to change. How doessomeone simply learn to work with people in abetter way?

Bill completed an EI assessment whichprovided him some science to the thoughts andfeedback that he had been receiving. What didBill find out? His scores in the test were asshown in the table.

EI Areas Mark out of 10Self-awareness 7Other awareness 4Self-management scalesEmotional resilience 1Personal power 3Goal directedness 8Flexibility 4Personal openness 8Trustworthiness 8Relationship management scalesTrust 6Balanced outlook 3Emotional expression 6Conflict handling 4Interdependence 4

Bill used the above information to assess hisactivity, and this formed the foundation of ourcoaching work. The assessment helped Billidentify the following key points:

1. Bill generally builds good relationships withpeople. He does this through being likeableand easy-going, but sometimes this limits hiseffectiveness as a leader.

2. In tough times he is not resilient. He tends tostruggle under pressure and other people inthe organisation notice this. As a leader,people look up to him in these times. If heis stressed, this impacts the performance ofothers.

3. He tends to be somewhat negative in certainsituations. He will often play the ‘Devil’sadvocate’. While this serves him in somesituations, it limits him in others. He realisesthat being more optimistic and constructivein his approach would have a very positiveand influential impact on his staff and hisboss.

4. Currently he shies away from conflict. Hedoesn’t like giving bad news or being hardon people. He wants to be a stronger leader.

5. Because he grew up as an engineer, he lovesdetail and likes to do things perfectly. As aresult, he tends to execute too many taskshimself. He wants to learn to delegate moreand in the process empower his team togrow.

You may be able to relate to some aspects of

this example and identifying these helped Billspecifically look at how he was behaving. Hehad previous had some 360° feedback, but Billfound that the EI assessment provided greatercontext and the science behind how he neededto develop.

Bill and I then worked on his development.Firstly, Bill enlisted the support of his boss andone of his subordinates. He shared the focus ofhis development plan with them and they wereable to provide him with ongoing direct andconstructive feedback based upon how theysaw him changing in the business. For example,when they saw him delegating they encouragedhim; when they saw him not delegating ordelegating badly, they helped him analyse howhe could do things better.

Bill and I met on a monthly basis over anine-month period to assess the change and todiscuss his current challenges. This helped Billincrease his self-awareness and shifted hismindset about how he needed to behave. Self-awareness is the primary key to causing change.The coaching work also helped Bill thinkthrough what changes he needed to make andhow he should make them.

Bill’s improvement has been dramatic andimpressive. It has been noted by many in theorganisation and he is now being considered forother roles. As you can imagine, this is asignificant step forward for Bill.

My question to you is: What did you find outabout yourself in the above categories? Whatchanges could you now make?

The elements of emotional intelligence are related as infig 1. So what we are saying is that if we increase ourawareness of our self and others, we can then moreeffectively look at how we can manage our self and others.You become extremely emotionally intelligent when youdo this most effectively.

Can you think of a time when you acted intelligently inthis way? Perhaps when you used your intuition cleverlyto make a decision; perhaps when you were in touch withthe feelings and concerns of your team; perhaps when youdid well to manage your conduct in the face of a difficultsituation; or perhaps when you successfully managedothers in a way that achieved a great result?

Can you think of a time when you acted unintelligently?Perhaps when you ignored your feelings; perhaps when youcompletely mis-read the feelings of your boss; perhapswhen you let your anger get the better of you; or perhapswhen you did something that left others de-motivated or

SUPERIOR PERFORMANCEEI is what distinguishes superior performance from run-of-the-mill performance both in individuals and in teams.It is made up of two parts:

● Intrapersonal intelligence – being intelligent inidentifying our own thoughts and feelings (selfawareness) and being effective at dealing with thosethoughts and feelings (self management).

● Interpersonal intelligence – being intelligent inidentifying the thoughts and feelings of others andbetween others (other awareness) and being effective inhow we tailor our actions to work with others mostappropriately (relationship management).

Fig 2: Ask yourself questions about the four areas above. What areyour strengths in each area? What do you need to improve? (EI = emotional intelligence)

Fig 1: The elements of emotional intelligence are inter-related.

CASE STUDY – MAXIMISING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

EI Areas Strengths Areas to improve

Self-awareness I sometimes ignore myintuition

Other awareness I know when my staffare unhappy orunmotivated

I need to improve myunderstanding andawareness of my boss’thoughts

Self-management I am open, trustworthyand flexible

I need to be more resilientunder pressure

Management ofothers

People trust me. Theyare open with me

I need to improve how Imanage conflict. I alsowant to improve how Imanage my boss

Self-awareness

Self-management

Other awareness

Management of others

?

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN TEAMSRecent research has shown that teams that act with moreemotional intelligence significantly outperform teams thatact with less, so there is scope to use EI as a method toasseyouEI oteamfacteffe

● M● C● T● S● R● O● T

12 IEE Engineering Management | February/March 2006

Soft skills

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mistrustful of you? How would you act differently if youcould live the experience again?

So take a moment now and ask yourself questions aboutthe four areas in fig 2. What are your strengths in eacharea? What do you need to improve?

KEY AREAS OF EI There are a number of EI tools on the market; currentlythere are about five available in the UK. I will be referringhere to a tool called ‘ie’ developed by JCA OccupationalPsychologists1, which is well-researched and very effective.In principle, the tools are similar in that they measure howintelligent you are, and provide you useful information tohelp you develop. The good thing about EI is that it focuseson your behaviours not on your personality, which meansthat if you embrace the feedback, you have the opportunityto become highly effective. You don’t need to change whoyou are, but simply refine and practise how you operatewith people.

In JCA’s tool, some of the key areas are measured asfollows. ‘Self-awareness’ means being in touch with yourfeelings and your intuitions and ‘other awareness’ meansbeing in touch with the feeling and states of others.

Using a set of ‘self management scales’, the followingdefinitions can be applied to other measures of EI:emotional resilience is being able to pick yourself up andbounce back; personal power is taking responsibility foryour outcomes and not exhibiting a victim mentality. Goaldirectedness is having behaviour linked into your long-term goals; flexibility is being able to adapt your thinkingand/or behaviour to change; personal openness is beingable to connect well with others; and trustworthiness isabout inviting trust from others.

JCA’s ‘relationship management scales’ defines trust astrusting in others appropriately; having a balanced outlookas having a healthy balance between optimism and realism;emotional expression as being able to express yourselfeffectively. Conflict handling is about being assertive but ina calm respectful way and interdependence is working wellalone and with others.

The assessment tools work out your rating in each areabased on clever analysis of many answers that you supplyto questions. However, for now, let’s undertake a simpleexercise. Go ahead and rate yourself using the table in thecase study (on facing page). On a scale of 1-10, 1 being noteffective, 10 being very effective, how would you rateyourself in the EI areas shown? What do you notice? Youcan now use this information, perhaps with your linemanager or your coach, to improve how you are being withyour self and others. What could you change right now?

I have been working with an engineering directorrecently and I will use this client as an example: see casestudy, opposite.

At this point, you may be thinking about your ownteam. You will probably know that different individuals inyour team have different levels of EI ability. You might nowstart to think about how you can best develop your people.

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tis

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Bill is a director in an engineering company,which he has been with for 15 years and in hiscurrent role for over eight years. There havebeen changes in the organisation during thistime, but fundamentally his role has remainedthe same. He wanted to develop his ability as amore effective leader so that he could beconsidered for future promotions. Bill was opento this development but he was unclear as towhat he needed to change. How doessomeone simply learn to work with people in abetter way?

Bill completed an EI assessment whichprovided him some science to the thoughts andfeedback that he had been receiving. What didBill find out? His scores in the test were asshown in the table.

EI Areas Mark out of 10Self-awareness 7Other awareness 4Self-management scalesEmotional resilience 1Personal power 3Goal directedness 8Flexibility 4Personal openness 8Trustworthiness 8Relationship management scalesTrust 6Balanced outlook 3Emotional expression 6Conflict handling 4Interdependence 4

Bill used the above information to assess hisactivity, and this formed the foundation of ourcoaching work. The assessment helped Billidentify the following key points:

1. Bill generally builds good relationships withpeople. He does this through being likeableand easy-going, but sometimes this limits hiseffectiveness as a leader.

2. In tough times he is not resilient. He tends tostruggle under pressure and other people inthe organisation notice this. As a leader,people look up to him in these times. If heis stressed, this impacts the performance ofothers.

3. He tends to be somewhat negative in certainsituations. He will often play the ‘Devil’sadvocate’. While this serves him in somesituations, it limits him in others. He realisesthat being more optimistic and constructivein his approach would have a very positiveand influential impact on his staff and hisboss.

4. Currently he shies away from conflict. Hedoesn’t like giving bad news or being hardon people. He wants to be a stronger leader.

5. Because he grew up as an engineer, he lovesdetail and likes to do things perfectly. As aresult, he tends to execute too many taskshimself. He wants to learn to delegate moreand in the process empower his team togrow.

You may be able to relate to some aspects of

this example and identifying these helped Billspecifically look at how he was behaving. Hehad previous had some 360° feedback, but Billfound that the EI assessment provided greatercontext and the science behind how he neededto develop.

Bill and I then worked on his development.Firstly, Bill enlisted the support of his boss andone of his subordinates. He shared the focus ofhis development plan with them and they wereable to provide him with ongoing direct andconstructive feedback based upon how theysaw him changing in the business. For example,when they saw him delegating they encouragedhim; when they saw him not delegating ordelegating badly, they helped him analyse howhe could do things better.

Bill and I met on a monthly basis over anine-month period to assess the change and todiscuss his current challenges. This helped Billincrease his self-awareness and shifted hismindset about how he needed to behave. Self-awareness is the primary key to causing change.The coaching work also helped Bill thinkthrough what changes he needed to make andhow he should make them.

Bill’s improvement has been dramatic andimpressive. It has been noted by many in theorganisation and he is now being considered forother roles. As you can imagine, this is asignificant step forward for Bill.

My question to you is: What did you find outabout yourself in the above categories? Whatchanges could you now make?

The elements of emotional intelligence are related as infig 1. So what we are saying is that if we increase ourawareness of our self and others, we can then moreeffectively look at how we can manage our self and others.You become extremely emotionally intelligent when youdo this most effectively.

Can you think of a time when you acted intelligently inthis way? Perhaps when you used your intuition cleverlyto make a decision; perhaps when you were in touch withthe feelings and concerns of your team; perhaps when youdid well to manage your conduct in the face of a difficultsituation; or perhaps when you successfully managedothers in a way that achieved a great result?

Can you think of a time when you acted unintelligently?Perhaps when you ignored your feelings; perhaps when youcompletely mis-read the feelings of your boss; perhapswhen you let your anger get the better of you; or perhapswhen you did something that left others de-motivated or

SUPERIOR PERFORMANCEEI is what distinguishes superior performance from run-of-the-mill performance both in individuals and in teams.It is made up of two parts:

● Intrapersonal intelligence – being intelligent inidentifying our own thoughts and feelings (selfawareness) and being effective at dealing with thosethoughts and feelings (self management).

● Interpersonal intelligence – being intelligent inidentifying the thoughts and feelings of others andbetween others (other awareness) and being effective inhow we tailor our actions to work with others mostappropriately (relationship management).

Fig 2: Ask yourself questions about the four areas above. What areyour strengths in each area? What do you need to improve? (EI = emotional intelligence)

Fig 1: The elements of emotional intelligence are inter-related.

CASE STUDY – MAXIMISING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

EI Areas Strengths Areas to improve

Self-awareness I sometimes ignore myintuition

Other awareness I know when my staffare unhappy orunmotivated

I need to improve myunderstanding andawareness of my boss’thoughts

Self-management I am open, trustworthyand flexible

I need to be more resilientunder pressure

Management ofothers

People trust me. Theyare open with me

I need to improve how Imanage conflict. I alsowant to improve how Imanage my boss

Self-awareness

Self-management

Other awareness

Management of others

so take a moment to talk to them about the team as aIs it a team? Is it a high-performing team? Is it an

onally intelligent team? How would you assess on thelisted above? ■

Palethorpe is a senior executive coach at Inside Outtd. He works extensively in the engineering sector:nsideout.biz

TNOTE1: 'ie' is a trademark of JCA (Occupational Psychologists)ited (www.ie-te.co.uk). JCA is a trademark of JCAcupational Psychologists) Limited www.jca.biz .

IEE Engineering Management | February/March 2006 13

ss and improve the team, as well as the individuals. If think about it, this makes great sense. In assessing thef the team we also assess the climate and culture of the

– this is the foundation on which team EI builds. In, JCA uses the following areas in assessing thectiveness of a top team:

otivation and commitment;onflict handling;eam climate;elf-management;elationship management;penness of Communication;olerance of differences.

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