What's the Bottom Line on Emotional Intelligence?

Before I give you a quick answer to the title question, I should put you fully in the picture: 

I have a bit of an issue with the term ‘emotional intelligence because, in my experience, it can create obstacles for people who: 

·         Believe ‘intelligence’ is something we’re either born with, or we’re not; and 

·         Feel defensive if anyone suggests they don’t have it – or could do with more of it – well, who wouldn’t?! 

Personally, I prefer Dr. Betty Rudd’s term: 

‘Emotional literacy’. 

Ok, so her work centres on children – and among adults, thinking you’re being tagged as ‘illiterate’ isn’t much more fun than thinking someone is calling you ‘thick!’  I know whereof I speak on that one – but that’s another story, for another post … 

That said, everybody recognises literacy is a skill – and skills can be improved. 

Whatever we call it, though, the answer to the title question this time is the same: 

The bottom line on emotional intelligence is that it feeds your business’s triple bottom line, because it enhances:

·         Decision-making, 

·         Personal stress management and 

·         Collaboration.

The last item on that list is not only central to effective conflict management; it’s also central to the World Health Organisation’s definition of ‘a healthy workplace’ - one where:

‘Staff and managers collaborate to promote health, safety and sustainability’.

 On the pod, I outline the components of Daniel Goleman’s ‘Performance Model’ of EI – including the one I want to explore in more detail here – motivation.

I’ve said that a common cause of conflict is misunderstanding – and within that, one of the most common examples is misunderstanding of the needs which motivate so much of our behaviour.  I finished the show with one of my favourite examples of that – a story of an American company who fell into an assumption trap about their new British team’s priorities.  If you haven’t heard it yet, you might think it’s just a storm in a teacup …

The tips I’ll give you this time are all about tools to help you become more aware of what you and the people around you really need – so you can avoid landing in similar holes!:

1  Open ‘The Johari Window’: 

This was developed in the 1950s, by two American psychologists – Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham – hence the name.  their aim was to improve communication within groups – not least at work. 

There are four quadrants: 

·         The ‘open’ area – things you know about yourself and would be happy to share with colleagues etc 

·         The ‘blind’ area – things you don’t know about yourself, but people around you do 

·         The ‘hidden’ area – things you know about yourself but don’t want to share and 

·         The ‘unknown’ area – I’ll give you three guesses as to what that covers …

No, you don’t need them, do you?!  As the name suggests, that covers things neither you nor any of your colleagues etc know about you – which could include the subconscious motivation for a particular emotional reaction.

Being able to expand the ‘open’ area of your own window helps to build trust with other members of your team – and also feeds back into your own self-awareness, by giving you fresh perspectives on how you behave – and why. 

2  Climb Maslow’s pyramid: 

In the middle of the twentieth century, Abraham Maslow came up with a five-level pyramid of human needs/motivations.  He later extended it to seven, then eight levels – but here are the original five: 

Level: 

1.      Biological/physiological needs –things like air, food, light and sleep. 

2.      Safety/security – including shelter and rules; 

3.      Belonging/love – alongside the need for affection from family and friends, that covers the need to feel accepted by the wider communities we’re involved in, including our professional circles; 

4.      Esteem – including the need for self-esteem, as well as the esteem of others; and 

5.      Self-actualisation – the need to achieve our full potential. 

This model was originally interpreted quite rigidly – it was thought each level had to be satisfied before a person could move on to the next.  Later, though, Maslow made it clear that he intended his hierarchy to be far more flexible.  Which need took priority for an individual, he said, could depend on: 

‘External circumstances or individual differences’. 

 (An example of perception beginning with perspective …). 

He also acknowledged that: 

Behaviour is often motivated by several needs at once and 

 we don’t all move smoothly up through the levels – those ‘external circumstances’ and ‘individual differences’ push us up and down through the course of our lives. 

As well as enhancing your own EI, Maslow’s model can help you build a healthier workforce – because, as you’ll see in the next section, that starts with making sure everybody’s basic needs are met. 

3  Hygiene is only the beginning:

Frederick Herzberg’s ‘Hygiene/motivators’ model came out of his interest in job satisfaction and dissatisfaction – key to motivation and demotivation at work. 

His research convinced him that these apparent opposites weren’t opposites at all!  They were, he concluded, actually two completely separate states - flowing from two completely separate sets of circumstances. 

Herzberg’s ‘Hygiene/motivators’ model distinguishes between: 

·         Hygiene factors’ –which don’t boost satisfaction, although their absence creates dissatisfaction; and

·         ‘True motivators’ – factors which create job satisfaction in their own right.

 The table just gives you a few examples from each category – enough, hopefully, to create a broad picture …?: 

Motivators	Hygiene factors
The job itself	Work conditions
Achievement	Security
Responsibility	Relationships
Advancement	Status
Growth	Money!

Herzberg is quoted as saying:

‘If you create a healthy work environment but do not provide members of your team with any of the satisfaction factors, the work they're doing will still not be satisfying’. 

On that point, I have to agree with him.  Although, looking at more recent studies,  I do need to challenge a couple of his classifications.  For instance: 

He would have classed Lighting and soundscapes (both being aspects of working conditions) as hygiene factors.  It’s true, when either is bad, it causes dissatisfaction/demotivation; but on Episode 7 of the pod, Dr. Jennifer Veitch was talking about research showing that natural light improves job satisfaction – and Julian Treasure, who was my first guest in this series, has sited several studies, which say the same thing about natural sound.  So there’s evidence to suggest both can also be true motivators. 

4  What have you learnt to put first?:

Maslow and Herzberg explored the needs which (they argued) affect us all in objectively similar ways; but David McClelland’s work focused on how our subjective responses to common motivations create difference.  His research convinced him that we’re all motivated by our own individual balance of three needs, in which one will always dominate.  They are:   

‘Affiliation’ - all about forming and maintaining relationships 

‘Achievement’ - concerned with reaching your own goals and 

‘Power’ either personal (for your own benefit)or institutional (for the benefit of the organisation). 

His ‘Three Needs Theory’ is also known as ‘Learned Needs Theory’ because while Maslow and Herzberg both include the needs we’ve developed through millennia of evolution, McClelland’s model is all about the results of an individual’s life experience. 

5  Find your place on the ‘DISC’:

This is probably the best-known of the five.  It’s about personality traits, rather than  needs; but it is designed to help people understand and adapt their own behavioural styles, so that they can work more effectively with others.   

In case you haven’t come across it – or you need a quick refresh – the acronym now stands for four broad personal attributes: 

·         Dominance – associated with a confident, results-driven approach; 

·         Influence - associated with social skills like persuasiveness, – which relies on building and maintaining good relationships;  

·         Steadiness – linked with calmness, sincerity and supportiveness; and 

·         Conscientiousness (also fairly self-explanatory) –all about producing high-quality, accurate work – making best use of expertise – although it does tend to come with a fear of ‘getting it wrong!’ 

That was definitely at the forefront with me when I worked for the boss I talk about on the show!

As with McClelland’s model, the theory is that everyone has a balance of all four elements, in which one tends to lead in shaping the individual’s behaviour. 

What I’ve given you is a very broad outline of each framework.  There’s much more subtlety behind all of them. 

It’s worth mentioning that there’s a strong cultural thread running through all five – even Maslow’s pyramid, which is so often pitched as ‘universal’.  Culture runs under, over, through and between everything else I’ve talked about on this first series of the pod – so it will be the subject of the final episode.

For now, if you need help with any aspect of conflict management at work – including EI - come and talk to me!  All my details are on the website – 

http://www.savvybusinessresolutions.com