Emotional Intelligence at Work: The why, what, and how of leadership soft-skills

Presented by Paul Wood

OPRA Consulting Group

Who are OPRA?

HR and IO PSYCHOLOGY SOLUTIONS EXPERTS

Specialists in the delivery of practical and robust HR and IO Psychology solutions

Vibrant, dedicated and expert team of professionals and associates who continually deliver research based, commercially sound products and services

Agenda

• The State of Play

The Performance/Productivity Relationship

• Emotional Intelligence

What does the research say?

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional Intelligence defined and quantified

• Recap

The State of Play

• Productivity: Managerial soft-skills impact upon perceptions of

effective leadership Effective leadership leads to increased productivity and morale

Perceptions of workplace injustice occur when people don’t feel they are treated fairly Feelings of victimisation lead to counterproductive behaviour

• Turnover: People join organisations and leave managers!

64% of NZ employees are considering organisational change in the next 12 months

Talent is mobile!

The Performance/Productivity Relationship

-$10k $10k $30k $50k $70k $90k $110k

Research shows Emotional Intelligence:

• Leadership effectiveness

• Recruitment and retention

• Teamwork

• Innovation

• Performance, productivity, satisfaction, and loyalty

• Sales and customer service

Emotional Intelligence is…

• Have you ever … Decided not to hire or trust someone because “something just

didn’t feel right” Not asked someone for a favour when they were having “a

bad day”?

• Feelings also play a large role in our outward displays and behaviours. They help define our …

Use of words Tone of voice Body language Facial expressions

Genos Model

• Best practice development

• Research based

• Coachable skills

(1) Emotional Self-Awareness

People high in this dimension…

– Are “in-tune” with their moods, feelings and emotions at work.

– Demonstrate greater awareness of how their emotions may be influencing their thoughts and decisions.

– Demonstrate greater awareness of how their emotions may be influencing their behaviours and performance at work.

– Are “in-tune” with how their demeanour and behaviour may be impacting on colleagues.

Rob Fyfe

Self-Awareness:

The ability to perceive and understand one’s own emotions

(2) Emotional Expression

People high in this dimension… – Effectively communicate how they feel

about various issues at work; that is, in the right way, to the right degree and at the right time.

– Effectively utilise non-verbal emotional cues e.g., body language, tone of voice etc, to communicate how they feel.

– Create greater understanding about themselves amongst their colleagues.

– Are often described by colleagues as “genuine and trustworthy”.

Expression:

The skill of effectively expressing one’s own emotions

Jim Carrey

(3) Emotional Awareness of Others

People high in this dimension…

– Are adept at reading others’ non-verbal emotional cues at work.

– Understand what typically makes people feel various ways in the workplace.

– Are adept at reading others’ emotional/mood states at work, e.g., bored or stressed with a given task, environment etc.

Awareness of others:

The skill of perceiving and understanding others emotions

Ricky Jervais, (aka“Martin Brent”

from The Office)

(4) Emotional Reasoning/Decision Making

People high in this dimension…

– Consult others’ feelings on issues at work to help derive solutions.

– Consider their own feelings on issues at work when decision-making.

– Account for the emotional/mood state of others prior to interacting or communicating with them.

– Achieve greater buy-in to decisions they implement in the workplace.

Reasoning/Decision Making: The skill of using emotional information (from self and others) in reasoning and decision-making

Spock

(5) Emotional Self-Management

Self- Management:

The skill of regulating and managing one’s own emotions.

People high in this dimension…

– Maintain an optimistic and positive disposition at work.

– Move on quickly from events that cause them adversity.

– Don’t ruminate on issues.

– Cope well with occupational stress.

– Implement strategies to help them maintain positive moods and emotions in the workplace. Nelson Mandela

(6) Emotional Management of Others Management of Others:

The skill of influencing the moods and emotions of others.

People high in this dimension…

– Create environments that make people feel more optimistic and positive in the workplace.

– Communicate and interact in ways that motivate and engage others at work.

– Help others see things from different perspectives.

– Help people identify more effective ways of responding (behaving) to events that are causing them adversity. Dalai Lama

(7) Emotional Self-Control

Self-Control: The skill of effectively controlling strong emotions experienced at work (within one’s self).

People high in this dimension…

– Have a long “fuse”.

– Overcome anger at work by thinking through what’s causing it.

– Find it easy to concentrate on a task when really excited or upset about something.

– Express anger and other strong emotions in the right way, at the right time, and with the right person. Gordon Ramsey

To Recap…

• Talented people will not work as productively for

ineffective leaders, and they’ll leave them!

• Organisations can not afford reduced productivity

or a loss of talent

• Emotional intelligence is a crucial component of

effective leadership

• Emotionally intelligent behaviour can be coached

and developed

Questions and Comments?