EQ or no EQ…? That is the question.

I know I promised that my next post would involve laying out the cost of what low EQ leaders are costing your business. However it has turned into a project of it’s own with two or three post being created for it. Due to it’s long process, I will post this at a later stage for you.

I felt that it would be usefull information to you if I pointed out the pro’s and con’s of having or not havving a best practice EQ system in your business. To find out what EQ is see: What is EQ (emotional entelligence) here… https://magnetostrategics.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/what-is-eq-emotional-intelligence/.

When it comes to the suggestion of implementing emotional intelligence strategies form someone within an organization, it is often met with some resistance. Why? People are resistant to change and the unknown frightens most of us on some level. And natrually, business people wonder what the impact on their business will be. So why would you like to implement EQ (emotional intelligence) in the business environment? Here are the top 4 reasons why.

1. Happy employees are productive employees

What is the number one activity that needs to happen on a daily basis in your business? Production. Let me ask you this about yourself: If you are not feeling up to things on a specific day for whatever reason, how is you performance, when speaking of productivity? And if you need to go to a job you hate going to, how does your performance add up then? I am sure all of us have hated a job we had at one point or another. Those two factors make production dip with frightening statistics. Did you notice? Both times I asked you ‘feel’ qestions, how you feel about work and your emotional state. How you feel about anything in life, affects your actions.

Let me ask you this: If you felt sick, demotivated and groggy one morning as you got up for work … BUT … You know, at work people and the environment are positive, supportive, caring, encouraging, motivating, it recharges you and you always feel like you are playing instead of working… Would you really want to stay in bed? Or would you prefer to go to a place that will make you feel better? However, if you are deathly sick and can’t stand… I recommend staying in bed rather than scaring everybody with your best zombie look…

Last question on this: What would you do keep your job with an employer that offered you happiness when you arrived at work? Work hard to keep it maybe? That is the point. Employees will work SO much harder and be SO much more productive for an employer that keeps them happy.

2. Great environments attract productivity and success

Emotion leaks. Think about that for a second. Association and environment influences. And think about that for another second.
‘Leaking emotion’ involves the law of reciprocity. It’s the old thing of, when you walk down the street and you smile at someone, they will reciprocate by smiling back at you. In other words, they will pay back your kindness. When you have low EQ leaders in your business, ten out of ten times, your employees that report to them are unhappy. For confirmation, check your staff turnover in that department – dead ringer give away! The person in your organization that is the unhappiest will ‘leak’ the most emotion (note to the manly men among us: – you leak emotion as well). It is human nature to sympathize with someone that is troubled in one way or the other. Hence, your other employees will sympthize, pick up on their emotion or vibe and ‘leak’ that same emotion. Because of the association or relationship colleagues share amongst themselves withing the same environment, they influence each other to ‘leak’ the same emotion. This type of ‘leak’ can be likened to a sewerage leak inside your business. If you literally had a sewerage leak seeping into your premises, would there be any production in your company that day? No!

The same is true for a bad ’emotional leak’. The opposite is true for a good ’emotional leak’. People that work for companies that keep them happy have the effect of stashing the company’s bank account with as much as 40% more profit, than businesses that don’t have a high EQ. Herb Kelleher set an astounding example of running a high EQ operation. When his employees were asked if they would work over time for no pay, they unanimously said yes! Will your employees do the same for you? I have included the YouTube link for you here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jggvkabsfbE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

3. People leave people – not organizations

Think about that department of yours that has that high staff turnover. Have you ever reviewed some of the exit interviews conducted with the people leaving? I am willing to stake a claim on it that 90% of them leave because of people that work there. The same is true for any other business as well. I worked for a high EQ company for just under four years. When the owners of the business called me up to say that they have sold the business, my words to my Sales Director was: ‘I will stay until you leave, but I am not working for those people.’ I left before them. Sure enough, my words were not clod yet, and the new people started eroding and breaking down a high EQ company to a no EQ company. And it shows, unfortunately. Their sales have never been the same, the company is now a stark and dull place when you walk in because most everybody is unhappy under the iron fists of the shareholders. You use to be able to walk in, go stand in front of the glass sliding doors to the glistening white factory, greet and wave at the floor staff – and they would all turn around and with a loud ‘Hello’, wave back at you! They don’t anymore. They now have big staff problems and massive staff turnovers and only more problems to add to it. I wish my words fell to the floor and never came true, but I warned them, and they did come true.

4. A team can only be as strong or as good as it’s leadership.

This in a positive situation, extremely fortunate, because you get great leaders like Herb Kelleher and Richard Branson! In a negative situation, it is tragically and desperately unfortunate. For example Hitler. And here is the sad, sad truth… There are more little Hitler’s out there than Herb Kelleher’s and Richard Branson’s. Leaders of big corporations some, of the biggest in the world have low EQ! I hear you say, ‘But they are successful!’. Yes, so we’re the Egyptions at building the pyramids with slaves that they whipped. It didn’t make it right or ethical and it doesn’t mean it could not have been an even greater success if they had done it in a kind manner.

The marks of a truly great leader are listening, humility, empathy, reasonableness, kindness. You will always attract more hard working bees with honey. But a lot of flies with… John C. Maxwell also writes on the subject of humility for leaders.

If you find a team that sucks – check their leader out… The problem lies there.

Well there you have it! To upskill to EQ or not is still your choice. But the trouble you suffer everyday for not having it in your business is not really worth it.

I would love to hear from you, so do please leave a comment. Or if you prefer, mail me directly at suzy.wilson@magnetostrat.com. And remember to click on the ‘like’ and follow buttons… It means a lot to us and goes a long way. Until my next post…

Grow and Prosper!

Suzy Wilson

Low EQ bosses… Why do they get promoted?

Want is a low EQ (emotionally intelligent) boss? They are easily recognizable due to the following things:

-They are usually highly intelligent people, speaking of IQ.
-They have low tolerance levels for anything emotional. Using expressions like: ‘Just deal with it, you are a professional, aren’t you?’
-People are fearful of them.
-They typically have a negative reputation for their dealings with people and a nickname of sorts will accompany the water cooler chat about them.
-Their pride is to report to their superior about the results they are generating out of the team, giving mostly no credit to the people that do the work.
-They are typically (this is generalized and not limited) middle management, working for a big corporate.
-Their departments have a big staff turn over (businesses, please take note. This does affect your bottom line.)
-They will get labeled a ‘Bully Boss’.
-You do not feel free or want to encourage any type of engagement with them more than is necessary.

You would rather sacrifice your family time that face their wrath.

Simply put, these people are bad news. So why do they get promoted? They have learnt how to manipulate people and keep them in a state of fear to use to their advantage. The effect is this; They do get results out of a team and quickly. For any business, that is the sound of money being deposited in the bank. But is it as much as you think when you calculate your staff turn over against it? I will discuss this in an upcoming article.

So what it boils down to is that the ‘Big Boss’, business owner, MD, CEO or whatever the case may be, is happy. This is due to two things; like I just mentioned, it delivers money to the bank account and secondly, they see results. And there is your reason as to why they get promoted. They have mastered the art of manipulation and fear instillment that produces the results with their teams for them so they can promote themselves to their superior. Brilliant sale! Nasty tactics…

This is how these people survive. I am now going to empathize with them – I by no means justify or condone their actions. However, for the sake of understanding why they do what they do, I will explain. For someone to be able to give such treatment to others, they must find nothing wrong with it to a certain degree. To accomplish this, they have to treat themselves in like manner. The rule of thumb here is that a person will treat others the way they treat themselves. How does this work?

You can see it by their behavior. Typically they will work very hard and mostly over work themselves. They will work on weekends, form home or on leave, and make sure you know it. Then the behavior flips around and they have a different attitude. They will call the office and say they are working from home. Take a lot of single sick leave days, go on extended lunches and sit and talk to other colleagues for hours. They repeat this pattern with you as the employee. They make unusually high demands and expect you to deliver. They will also expect you to work weekends and from home or whatever the case may be. Then all of a sudden they will take you to lunch, spoil you with small gifts and gestures and round and round we go.

For your average level headed decent person this is confusing behavior. One minute you will be treated like dirt and the next like royalty. This has a very negative effect on you psychologically. Understand that they don’t know any better, it does bother their conscience, hence the sweet an doting behavior – but it is not viewed as ‘a big deal’. They will tell you to be an adult about it when they turn on you again. Realize that this situation will never be corrected in your favor. All your ‘Big Boss’ will see is his bank account and the results he is getting. Therefor you are replaceable but your emotionally unintelligent boss is the asset to the company. Which one of the short straws would you like…?

My advice to you – leave. Find a boss that will treat you with respect.

Look out for my next post: Low EQ leaders: What are they costing you?

I would love to have your opinion or simply hear from you if you have a question. You can mail me back a suzy.wilson@magnetostrat.com or leave a comment below on the WordPress site https://magnetostrategics.wordpress.com

Grow & Prosper!

Suzy Wilson

What is EQ (emotional intelligence) ?

No, I am not going to give you the usual rundown. You can Google that and read the hundreds of articles by the same title and they will give you the Doc’s facts and figures. I am going to write this article so you can find an example of high EQ in your own life! Someone you can relate to. I am also going to touch on EQ’s relation to IQ.

Have you ever heard someone you know say of someone else you both know, ‘They are just one of those people?’. You must know somebody like that? Think of them: They seem to have it all figured out. They are mostly always calm in any situation, know what to do, have great families and friends, they have good jobs and just overall a good life. Not without it’s up’s and down’s, but they just seem to manage better than others.

Most noticeable about them is that people love them. They seem to have a type of ‘groupie following’, but done with great respect. They do this regardless of personality type or that fact that they are an introvert or an extrovert. (Introverts are commonly misunderstood as to shyness. Most of them are not shy, they simply deal with social situations differently. In some cases they are better at this then some extroverts. FYI: I am heavily extroverted)

My favorite example to use is Sir Richard Branson. He left school at the age of 15 due to his dyslexia. Now, I am sure it is plain to everybody that Richard Branson is an intelligent man. However if IQ was the only determining factor of success in this world, I am a bit perplexed about the many people like Richard Branson who excel in whatever they do even with a very average or even a not so average IQ. It is clear, Richard Branson, is ‘one of those people’.

Take for instance Carin Hendricks. I have great respect for this lady; she is dynamic, a leader, determined and people want to be sound her. You know when she enters a room because she has a great presence about her. If you know a bit about me, I acquired most of my business acumen form MLM’s (Multi Level Marketing companies). This is where I know Carin Hendricks from. Early in my career I joined Herbalife. They have some of the best training around as far as running your business. Carin was an air hostess when she joined Herbalife. She loved the products and the idea that it could generate an income for her. So she quit her job and became a full time distributor. I sat in one of her trainings as she told her story one day and she added a little bit that I did not know. This stuck in my mind. At the time I was still on my journey to founding Magneto and it sharpened my questions for me. What she said was this: She had to study hard to get a C average at school and needed to be diligent about it. My jaw dropped and her words kept spinning in my head. My old friend ‘The Question’ made his voice loud, screaming at me: ‘What makes her successful?’. The last time I checked what she was earning monthly, it was around $36 000.00! Heaven knows what it is now… And she is an outstandingly good leader. Carin is obviously intelligent, it is plain to all that know her. My question was answered years later when I learnt about emotional intelligence. Everything that I had researched and put together up to that point, revolved around emotional intelligence. I just never had the words to describe it though. Now it is plain that Carin as a very high EQ. In fact she is a master at it!

Can you relate to it now? Did you find someone you know that is like this? I am sure you did. For those that like the facts and figures, I have briefly listed the emotional intelligence description below:

Rundown of what emotional intelligence is:

Knowing your emotions.
Managing your own emotions.
Motivating yourself.
Recognizing and understanding other people’s emotions.
Managing relationships, i.e., managing the emotions of others.

This is how you recognize them and I am sure you must have sat and marveled (as I did) at one of them. The thing is that, emotional intelligence is a learnt skill. Unlike IQ, it can be developed and grown. This is our mission at Magneto Strategics, to mentor people and develop them in their EQ skills so they to can enjoy the benefits it brings.

We are running a special at the moment for you to be able to do so. Check out the top of our blog page on our site under the events section. You can get a Strength Channeling session (learning to channel your personality to strengthen your EQ) for half price. This is a special to celebrate the launch of our site www.magnetostrat.com .

I would love to have your opinion or simply hear from you if you have a question. You can mail me back a suzy.wilson@magnetostrat.com or leave a comment below on the WordPress site https://magnetostrategics.wordpress.com .

Next time: Low EQ bosses. Why do they get promoted?

Until next time!

Grow & Prosper!

Suzy Wilson

The 6 top reasons why some self-help guides, motivational speaking and coaching DON’T WORK

This is my first post for Magneto Strategics and it is bound to be controversial. But I am quite willing to take the plunge. I want to clearly convey my feeling about this matter first and what triggered the response.

I am sure my fellow colleges all around the world who have made a study in their specific field of the human/social/psychology/psychiatry put in a lot of hard work, like myself, to become authoritative on the subject. Hence my aversion to people that one day get out of bed and decide that they are now a life coach or something to the effect. This is the problem with the motivational/coaching/mentoring industry. Every Tom and his two friends are now “Life Coaches” or “Motivational Speakers” or whatever.

I was searching for video’s to post on our site when I stumbled across an interview conducted with a person that was introduced as a life coach and a trusted advisor to Harvard Business. This individual also writes articles for a publication of Harvard Business. This person was speaking on the ‘Alfa Male’ and the ‘Alfa Female’. With reference to humans, yes. Two minutes into the interview I knew that this individual had no idea what she was speaking about. And judging by the body language of the interviewer (I felt very sorry for him, at least he was good at his job), he was thinking the same thing as me. And by her babbling and uncomfortable body language, she had no idea on how to answer the interviewer.

She was speaking on my field of expertise (applying Personality types and body language as tools to learn Emotional Intelligence). What she didn’t know is that she was referring to the Formidable Commander personality type (commonly ‘A’ type), not even knowing how to classify they type of personality! Supposedly what she is knowledgable about! She could not explain why, what she describes as the ‘Alfa Male’, behaves the way he does or what the motivations are or where it stems from. She could not even tell you that a quarter of people on the planet belong to that specific personality type. She could not explain that the different combinations of the personality types will either strengthen or temper the Formidable Commander type. These things are basic!

I was laughing so loud I almost fell off my couch! Do you see my point?

So here are the 6 top reasons why some self-help guides, motivational speakers and life coaching DOES NOT WORK

• Anybody can be a ‘coach’ these days.
• They might be legit, but offer you no emotional base to work from, the way that Emotional Intelligence does. This is vital for learning interpersonal skills.
• You have signed up for Tom and his two friend’s advice and you are wondering why it’s not working. They carry now weight or substance and will feed you ‘fluff’ by the ton’s! Candy floss is nice, but by the ton is not healthy.
• Some are unethical sales people, often referred to as ‘Tin Men’. They will push you into saying yes. (I have a sales and marketing background as well. There are Sales People, and then there are ‘sales people’)
• These people have figured out a way to join ‘The Cash Cow Dash’. This is highly unethical, because you are working with people’s lives! Your motivation should be helping people, not money.
• They think they can hide behind, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. If they don’t actually sit in front of you but you have already bough one of their products online, it’s more likely that they will not be accountable. A good service provider will at least be willing to set up a Skype call with you to have a face to face discussion.

In Robert Kyiosaki’s words, “Bad advice, is expensive advice.” Below is my strategy on picking a good advisor. Because lets face it, we would all love to sit and have a chat to Daniel Goleman about our Emotional Intelligence, but I don’t think he is affordable to all of us. There are good advisors out there. Even if they don’t have and official qualification to stick on their walls. I have found some Brilliant advisors without a formal qualification, but that have done their due diligence and have become authorities in their fields. There are good people out there. Here is how you find them.

Find out who the main authority is in the specific field you want guidance on.

Look at their website, blogs, forums and their books.

Then see if you can find any of their understudies and see if they follow a similar pattern to their mentor.

Then find their understudies. Look at the pattern and quality of advice and teaching each of these offer and you will be able to find someone who is affordable and will be able to do the job just as well as the authority in that field.

It sounds like a lot, but rumor has it that Google is rather quick at finding answers… 😉

Unfortunately it is a sifting process, similar to looking for gold. But once you have found what you are looking for it is worth it’s weight in gold and then some.

Good growing to you!

Suzy Wilson