Can you improve your EQ?

Is it possible or is it that we’re just born with a quantum that never changes? Does it matter? If you’re a business leader or any kind of leader, the answer is yes. As you progress in your chosen field, what counts to start off with is your technical competence, but once you start managing people, emotional intelligence starts to make a difference, and once you’re in a leadership position, it's crucial.

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I’m indebted to some research quoted by Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, an international authority in personality profiling and psychometric testing, and Professor of Business Psychology at University College London (UCL). (In quoting research, I’m not trying to be academic, just rigorous. I think there are far too many untested ideas and theories floating around in management circles.)

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The good news is that you can improve emotional intelligence and at one level, all you have to do is get older – it improves with age, perhaps one of the few things that do! People do tend to mature as they get older. The bad news is that people must want to improve their emotional intelligence and if they’re not naturally blessed with a great deal, they have to work harder.

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Better news for me is that good coaching programmes do work, up to 50% improvement in interpersonal skills in the short-term and 25% overall. For stress management programmes, the improvement is 35%. The other bonus is that coaching can produce higher levels of happiness, mental and physical health, improved social and family relationships, and decrease levels of cortisol (the stress hormone).?Definitely worth the investment.

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One of the things that’s needed is good feedback. We’re not very good at seeing ourselves as others see us, but if we don’t, how do we know what needs to be changed? This is where 360-degree feedback exercises can be really valuable. They were all the rage a few years ago and if they have fallen out of fashion, perhaps they need resurrecting.

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Some people are more coachable than others. I often meet people who (in my humble opinion!) are crying out for coaching but for one reason or another are resistant to it. Yes, it’s an investment, but with the right coach, an investment, not a cost.

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People are often very happy to close their eyes to all kinds of problems going on around them: chronic ‘personality’ issues in the business, conflict, chronic stress, or a general feeling of malaise, and the hope is that if they are ignored, they will go away. Sadly, they usually don’t. Often things get worse. Also sadly, those with that attitude will probably have more work to do to improve their emotional intelligence.

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I’d go so far as to say that having emotional intelligence is a non-negotiable for anyone who aspires to lead their company well. On a scale of 1 – 10 (10 being good), where would you put yourself?

I'm very happy to chat to you about this or you could get tickets for the Retrain Exhibition at the Excel Centre on 22nd and 23rd November where there will be a number of exhibitors with tools and techniques that could help you. For free tickets ? REGISTER HERE?

#emotionalintelligence #performance #success #wellbeing #coaching