5 Emotionally Intelligent Ways to Build a High-Performing Team

Hey everyone- thank you for your support this launch week! The Champion Leader is now on sale! It would mean so much to me if you picked up a copy: https://www.amazon.com/Champion-Leader-Harnessing-Intelligence-High-Performing/dp/1394211333 (here is the Amazon link to order)

Now, let's jump in to 5 emotionally intelligent ways to build a high-performing team.

1. Personalize the connection

Champion leaders use mnemonics to remember details about someone; they make mental notes about someone’s name, their contributions, a shared story, or maybe an association with another experience in their life. This gets harder when you’re leading a larger organization or department, but the principles remain the same.

You may not get to know each person on an intimate level, but you can reach more people through medium-to-large gatherings such as town halls. You can offer recognition for team efforts to projects and have lunches in a cafeteria setting and invite employees to join you. This gives you the opportunity to ask colleagues what they want. The more feedback that you get, the more you’ll be able to personalize your approach in return.

2. Make Your Passion Their Passion (and Make Their Passion Yours):

This can be professional or personal, and sometimes the passion can be the ultimate goal of where someone wants to go. A CEO that I’ve worked with in athletics administration has regular chats throughout the academic year with his executive staff to understand and support their professional ambitions.

Working with thousands of organizations over the years, I can tell you it’s always best to have this relationship candor and let your desires be known when you have a leader who genuinely cares.

3. The Human Element

Subject and functional matter expertise matter a lot. We see it with a strategic and tactical encyclopedia of American football knowledge such as Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid. He knows the game as well as any coach in history. He’s forever changed the way offensive football is played.

But it’s the human element of connection that he’s created that makes players want to play for him. The powerful relationship that he’s built with three-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes is palpable. Both men are talented and gifted as coach and athlete. But it’s been Reid’s ability to connect with Mahomes and let him be, well, himself.

Mahomes said, “He’s meant the world to me. He’s . . . one of the best coaches of all time, but he’s just one of the best people of all time. He’s learned how to get the most out of me every day. He doesn’t let me be satisfied with where I’m at. He teaches me a ton. Not only the quarterback position, but how to be a leader and how to be a great dad and how to be a great husband.

He lets me be who I am every single day. Mahomes’ words are a powerful testament to how you can teach and coach someone, while still allowing them to be uniquely themselves. If you genuinely want to help someone, lead with honesty, energy, and authenticity.

4. Bring energy and enthusiasm

If you tell someone the truth but do it without any real care that lets the person know you’re trying to help them, then your message will fall flat. They might hear your words, but they’re not really listening to what you say. Speak the truth, and always be accountable to your word. Lead with positive energy that brightens someone’s mood and elevates them to want to do great work.

Charge your battery each day! Don’t give people the final 15% juice of your smartphone battery. Replenish yourself, and give them 100% of yourself. Your passion and understanding for how to influence every new client, customer, and stakeholder will help you build a dynamic and emotionally intelligent culture in your organization. It begins with you and how you motivate and inspire yourself each day.

This drive feels empowering and reinvigorating. This helps you create as much impact as possible. The best leaders obsess over the small details and “little things” because they know those things are exactly what leads to big results for customers and employees alike.

5. Be proactive, not reactive

Don’t just let things happen. Make them happen. Having a proactive mindset means that you:

● Initiate contact first; seek to establish relationships. Proactively follow up and maintain each relationship you have;

● Stay aware of threats and disruptions to your business by managing risks;

● Dedicate resources to training and development for your teams; and

● Encourage everyone in your organization to speak up, share ideas, and take actions.

When you affirm, validate, and provide constructive feedback to your employees, you will nurture their growth and self-awareness. Self-confidence is achieved through preparation, hard work, achievement, reminding yourself of your accomplishments, and by cultivating a growth mindset.

The latter two areas are where you can significantly improve someone else’s confidence, empowering and encouraging their mental and emotional well-being. Champion leaders know that helping their employees to cultivate a growth mindset is the key to enduring success. This desire to embrace challenges and the ability to execute powers the most successful organizations.

There you have it!

Please, check out The Champion Leader (https://www.amazon.com/Champion-Leader-Harnessing-Intelligence-High-Performing/dp/1394211333 ) today. For only $19, I truly believe it will be the best investment in your leadership education and personal development that you will make.

Sending my very best for success and happiness from the South Carolina Coast.

Yours truly,

Christopher

Christopher D. Connors is the author of The Champion Leader. He's a keynote speaker, executive coach, and globally recognized expert on emotional intelligence. Christopher consults with executives and leaders at Fortune 1000 companies and with organizations spanning many industries.

He is the #1 best-selling author of Emotional Intelligence for the Modern Leader, one of the top selling emotional intelligence books in the world. He is also the creator of top LinkedIn Learning course, Leading with Emotional Intelligence .

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