RocheMartin Blog

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE...It's not what you know, but what you do that counts.

People are attracted to psychology because they want to understand more about how people – including themselves - tick. But knowing and doing aren’t the same thing. Bringing emotional intelligence to the challenges of the workplace is not simply about understanding the world of work but knowing how to change it. And changing the world of work means having the right tools to do the job.

Tools such as the Emotional Capital Report (ECR) gives you the power to build a high performance culture.

Become the authority on Emotional Intelligence in your workplace. Get certified in the international benchmark on emotional intelligence and leadership – the ECR.

United Kingdom
London: 15 - 17 September 2011 -  Available
London: 23 - 25 November 2011 -  Available
London 25 - 27 January 2012 -  Available
Find out more...

Australia
Melbourne: 24 - 26 October 2011 -  Available
Sydney: 7 - 9 November 2011 -  Available
Brisbane: 21 - 23 November 2011 -  Available
Find out more...

Ireland
Dublin 5 - 7 December 2011 -  Available
Find out more...

Sweden
Stockholm 29 - 30 September 2011 -  Available
Find out more...

Autobiography in 5 short chapters, by Portia Nelson:

1.) I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk

I fall in.

I am lost… I am hopeless

It isn’t my fault.

It takes forever to find a way out.

2.) I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend I don’t see it.

I fall in again.

I can’t believe I’m in the same place.

But it isn’t my fault.

It still takes a long time to get out.

3.) I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk

I see it is there.

I still fall in… it’s a habit

My eyes are open

I know where I am 

It is my fault.

I get out immediately.

4.) I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk

I walk around it.

5.) I walk down another street.

Just like a physical observable habit, emotional reactions and responses are learnt and programmed over time, like walking down the same path day after day. Eventually the path becomes worn and familiar; before you know it you are often at the end before you even realize what has happened. This is exactly what happens in our brain; emotional habits and reactions form strong neural pathways, which in turn reinforces particular behaviors.

 In terms of emotional or day-to-day interactions, have you ever found yourself in a similar scenario or conflict? Feeling powerless, and or faultless ~ poetically speaking standing at the bottom of a hole wondering why this keeps happening?

Unlike physical habits, often our emotional habits are less obvious and even seemingly erratic; so how can we ever really be in control of a situation, move forward and excel in business and leadership if we are unaware of what part emotions play in our interactions and behaviors?

Emotions shape our behavior, relationships and decisions; and more importantly determine whether or not people will work well for you, buy from you, employ you and enter into business with you. As Jack Welch puts it ‘A leader’s intelligence has to have a strong emotional component.’

Research informs us that to change a behavior is more effective when both the emotional brain & rational brain are engaged, as decisions are made on emotions and justified by logic. People with strong EQ have a good dialogue happening between their emotional and rational brain.

The good news is it’s not too late! You are not destined to keep ‘walking down the same street and ending up in the same hole’ or predicament. By acknowledging the role that emotions play in our experiences, we can begin to observe patterns and move towards creating new pathways to change our behavior.

This is where the ECR and SmartCoach come in.  The ECR produces a clear succinct report, which highlights our strengths and areas for improvement based around 10 core competencies for emotional intelligence in leadership. By focusing on these specific competencies it gives us a platform to review and acknowledge our current EQ. This platform coupled with SmartCoach is the most effective way to really move towards changing our behavior, as SmartCoach offers accessible personal coaching insights and strategies to help form these new lasting pathways through practice and repetition.

So make a decision today to stop falling down that hole, and let us help you find another street to walk down!

Most of us agree that great leaders are those that inspire us to act and give us a sense of purpose that has little to do with any external incentive or reward. They have a remarkable ability to tap into the very personal, intrinsic motivations that drive each of us and help us reach for something better in ourselves. And we know that people who love going to work, are more creative and more productive, and they treat their colleagues, clients and customers better.

Imagine if more people inside the organization could learn to think, act and communicate like those who inspire us?  Leadership abilities, such as those described by emotional intelligence (EQ), explain what leaders do, but not why they perform. Furthermore, knowing what to do is all very well, but the big question is how to do it. 

According to more than 20 years of research in psychology, there are at least seven common factors that contribute to creating positive behavior change.

1. Engagement 
Being clear about your aspirations and dreams, and being able to articulate the values that shape your beliefs, goes to the very heart of great leadership. Your job as a leader is to tell and re-tell the story of why you do what you do, and what your business is capable of achieving. Most importantly, it is about enabling people to understand the value of their contribution to the story.

2. Benchmarking: Self-Discovery & Self-Directed Change
Even when people are motivated to develop their EQ and leadership skills, they can often remain unclear about how to do so – until they become aware of how they measure up. There are many ways of gaining feedback on performance, but by far the most credible and compelling way is to benchmark emotional and social competencies and provide feedback using high-quality psychometric assessment tools. 

3. Create Manageable, Measurable Goals & Share Them 
Performance in training programs improves dramatically when participants set explicit goals for change. In fact, the motivating power of such goals is greatly enhanced when they are declared publicly and put in writing.  Even Benjamin Franklin insisted that setting daily and weekly goals was indispensable to becoming a virtuous person! 

4. Model The Skills
Provide people with opportunities to observe the skills they want to acquire. Modeling is a more effective learning method than simply being told about the skills because it requires greater attention and accelerates learning. 

5. Practice New Skills & Provide Feedback 
A common mistake in EQ training is to assume that leaders can acquire these behaviors quickly by attending motivational seminars. Although these activities can certainly inspire the desire to change, real behavioral change requires practice and repetition over an extended period. 
Organizational psychologists have long known that consistent constructive feedback is the most effective way to motivate people and provide direction. 

6. Provide Follow-Up Support  
Research has shown that the value of learning is maintained, if not greatly enhanced, when people receive targeted coaching support from a reinforcing reference group or an individual. In other words, providing coaching and mentoring to people on the job contributes greatly to positive change.

7. Evaluate Change 
Documenting individual progress by evaluating changes in both understanding and behavior reinforces learning, charts the way forward and demonstrates return on investment. Nothing succeeds like success.

The seven elements described here represent the why of building sustainable leadership skills and are the core features of the revolutionary online leadership development tool - SmartCoach™. 
Find out how SmartCoach can help you build an inspiring leadership culture today.