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