Emotional Intelligence and Management - Cultivated Management Newsletter
Hi
Welcome to this week's Cultivated Management newsletter.
This week I attended an excellent conference called the EQ Summit. And yes, a large part of attending the conference was because Sir Ken Robinson was speaking at it. Fan boy moment.
First though, I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who filled in the form from last week's newsletter. Very helpful feedback indeed and plenty to talk about on the blog over the next few months.
I do intend to write an article on each of the comments/suggestions as they are clearly parts of management that people want help with.
In a nutshell the topics revolve around: Budgets, training, arrogant producers (great output but nightmare to manage), managing remote workers, building remote teams, building a learning culture (and keeping it) and managing people from different disciplines. I can certainly help with most of these and I'm very excited to be able to help others in their careers.
I'll keep the form open for one more week if you feel you'd like to let me know what you want to read about on this blog.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1iDN-xfPDA0sy4TjefYne_Sck1CcRmlxSB_zClWwuEBs/edit
EQ Summit
I was very lucky this week to attend the EQ Summit in London where the main theme of the day was Emotional Intelligence and Mindfulness. What a great line up with Dr Martyn Newman, Jeremy Darroch, Dan Goleman, Sir Ken Robinson, Baroness Susan Greenfield and Ruby Wax.
A brilliant day for a Cultivated Manager. Why? Because it was all about how to manage and lead people by treating people like people. It was the exact opposite of Command and Control and the speakers all presented countless studies, numbers and examples of how Emotionally Intelligent leadership gets better results in business.
One story that stood out, was about how Dr Martyn Newman spoke to a group of bankers about why EQ was important, what skills people have, why it makes numbers go the right way and why leadership needs to have high levels of EQ - to which the CEO of the bank said "You've summed up exactly the kind of people this bank doesn't want”! Even thought leaders, renowned authors and world experts on EQ in business can't get through to some people. No wonder we often struggle in our day to day lives :)
All of the talk were great (although I had to skip out early and missed Ruby Wax). Of course, Sir Ken Robinson was a legend. Incredibly funny, superb message about innovation coming from a place of emotional intelligence and I was super excited to see the great man himself on stage. Those who have sat my Communication Workshop will know I always mention Sir Ken Robinson’s talk as one that is worth repeated viewing and studying as to why it works so well.
Here are some key points about EQ and why it is so important for the future of leadership, business and management:
An enriching, playful environment actually grows brain cells, brain connections and may lead to more creative breakthroughs. There is a reason many offices are fun environments to be in.
Building rapport needs Mindfulness (being present and aware), our bodies to be in sync with each other and a positive emotional connection (i.e. - it should feel good for both people). People with high EI/EQ (Emotional Intelligence) are good at doing this.
Leadership is about getting good work done by other people (I have a post on this soon).
Our emotions tag every single record, file and piece of information in our brains.
Self awareness is a key skill of leaders. Self awareness about business challenges or opportunities can often not be quantified though, sometimes it just feels right or wrong. Trust this feeling.
Cognitive Control (i.e., sticking to the plan, delaying gratification, being resilient and pursuing goals) is a hallmark of successful people. The more kids can do this the more successful they are in life too.
When hiring, don't hire just for skills, instead look at your high performers and break down what it is they do and how — then hire people like that. (This is exactly what we did when we ramped up our hiring and hired 70+ people in Dev. We broke down our best employees and hired people who had similar skills and abilities and attitudes. I even got a talk and book out of it - 10 Behaviours of Effective Employees)
You need to be emotionally intelligent to lead, but you also need to observe the wider system and see what consequences actions and behaviours have. The lack of both is catastrophic.....
Strategy and planning are a tiny percentage of business leadership — the rest is executing the strategy with the right people. This rings so true from my own experience where defining the strategy and generating ideas is important, but not the long hard bit -> that's finding the right people, communicating with clarity and working with people to achieve the end goal — kind of why purpose and mission are everything.
There are really only 2 management strategies. The first is to exploit what you have. Do more with less. Cut costs. Drive through efficiencies. Improve little bits here and there. Drive your staff harder. Get more from what you currently have. The second is to explore what is new. What new markets are there? What new products or services could we offer? What new ways are there to work? What new processes, ideas and systems can make us better? What new research is there that can guide our decision making? What skills do people have that are not being used? I prefer the second - I suspect many people work in the first.
Meditation and mindfulness are not hippy trippy spiritual mumbo jumbo — they are essential for brain health, happiness, creativity, innovation, business growth and a fulfilled life. Life is happening in this moment — right now — mindfulness is the key to unlocking awareness about that life.
In leadership Emotional Intelligence is around 80-90% of what leadership is about.
Everyone has the same product or service really. If you really are the only one in a strong market, that won't last long. So why would they buy from you? Brand? Customer Service? Connectedness? All aspects that can be amplified by emotional intelligence.
Lots to dwell on.
Here in the UK it is a bank holiday weekend and the weather is looking fab - BBQ time. Wherever you are in the world have a great weekend and thanks for your ongoing support.
Until next time
Rob