Abstract:

The United Arab Emirates is emerging as the business capital of the Middle East. In this complex, demanding environment, to what extent do the “soft skills” of emotional intelligence matter? In a study of 418 leaders living in the region, there is a very strong relationship between emotional intelligence skills and performance outcomes. Scores on the SEI (Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Assessment) predict over 58% of the variation in critical professional and personal success factors (such as effectiveness, influence, relationships, and career status). This means that if you want to get ahead in the Middle East, emotional intelligence is one of the most important capacities to develop.

A pdf version of the report and summary slides are available for download

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We’ve all worked for or with those leaders whose first priority seems to be garnering credit and praise — so what is it that lets a rare few truly galvanize others around the mission? While the archetypal CEO is brash, even arrogant, and struggling to appear powerful, the real stars have an ancient and invaluable gift: Humility. EQ leadership consultant Bruna Martinuzzi - author of The Leader as a Mensch – offers a practical guide to this essential attribute of Level 5 Leaders.

Many years ago, one of my university professors mentioned that “windowsill” was voted the most beautiful word in the English language. Being an armchair linguist, this factoid naturally stayed with me. Words have enormous power. They can make us erupt into laughter or bring tears to our eyes. They can influence, inspire, manipulate and shock. They can build and destroy. Some words have different effects on different people. One such word is humility. It is one of those words that are seldom in neutral gear. Some, like me, love the word and all it stands for. Some almost fear it and interpret it synonymously with lack of self-confidence or timidity.

The dictionary defines humility as someone who is modest, who lacks pretense, someone who does not believe that he or she is superior to others. An ancillary definition includes: “Having a lowly opinion of oneself, meekness.” The word humility first struck me in the context of leadership when Jim Collins mentioned it in his seminal work Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t.[1] In this book, Collins examined companies that went from good to great by sustaining 15-year cumulative stock returns at or below the general stock market, and after a transition point, cumulative returns at least three times the market over the next 15 years. Among the many characteristics that distinguished these companies from others is that they all had a Level 5 leader. Level 5 leaders direct their ego away from themselves to the larger goal of leading their company to greatness. These leaders are a complex, paradoxical mix of intense professional will and extreme personal humility. They will create superb results but shun public adulation, and are never boastful. They are described as modest. An example of such a leader who epitomized humility is David Packard, the co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, who, in Jim Collins’ words, defined himself as a HP man first and a CEO second. He was a man of the people, practicing management by walking around. Shunning all manner of publicity, Packard is quoted as saying: “You shouldn’t gloat about anything you’ve done; you ought to keep going and find something better to do.”

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Gambro Dasco is a planning and production firm specializing in medical dialysis devices.  To create the right conditions for continued growth, the company implemented a program to strengthen team leaders’ Emotional Intelligence.

To initiate the project, Gambro Dasco’s Human Resources Manager, Sara Boldrini needed to secure funding for the effort, so the HR department became the nucleus to internally direct and promote the project. With their depth of understanding of the project’s financial and development needs, the Adecco Management School became a partner. Finally Six Seconds, the premier Emotional Intelligence network and training source, was asked to participate in all phases of the project.

PLANNING

The project’s planning and design resulted from the synergistic expertise of these three organizations.  Two parallel tracks emerged from a needs analysis; first was the necessity to work with individual managers to increase management skills and second was to create a team within the manager’s section.

A six-month development plan was designed to achieve these two goals, including:

1. four days of weekly class work;
2. three individual meetings specifically geared towards coaching and EQ skills assessment;
3. one outdoor training day; and
4. one day for follow up.

Classroom content was geared towards leadership, people skills and change adaptation.

Coaching focused on individual development. To address individual development, coaches and trainees (team leaders) designed a plan to address the trainee’s skills and vulnerabilities. In order to gain some measurement of progress these coaching sessions were developed as a complement to the classroom content.

The objective for the outdoor training was to create a team from a heterogeneous work force – and while not everyone knew one-another, a key goal was the acknowledgment of some long rooted company culture, e.g. how the firm’s top leaders impacted staff dynamics. Participants were divided into three subgroups for the outdoor training.  Each participant was also assigned an individual coach to increase the effectiveness of the trainees’ EQ skills.

RESULTS

The results of the project were surprisingly positive; in a little over four months, many of the initial objectives were reached.  Improvements included:

1. Assisting staff growth from executive professionals to more intentional leaders (sequential thought improved more than 19%).
2. Increasing participants’ awareness of their skills and vulnerabilities (self awareness has increased over 6%, with 10% increase on one of Six Seconds’ eight competencies: “Enhance Emotional Literacy”).
3. Enhancing communication and relationship skills so that new team members are enveloped with trust (the competency of “Increase Empathy” from the Six Seconds Model improved 5%).

As the Gambro Dasco Human Resources Manager, Sara Boldrini knows the difficulties encountered during the project as well as future expectations.  Ms. Boldrini states, “We are living in a phase of evolution and major change in which the proper use of emotions, the appropriate channeling of creativity and the ability to go beyond the set norm by  fusing approaches are key elements for today’s managers and for those who are first time team leaders.”

The project taught participants the very real possibility of integrating skills which offered intentional connection with people in every area of their lives.  Ms. Boldrini continues, “The enthusiasm and satisfaction that new leaders have for the skills they have learned must be nourished and cultivated; this is a challenge to all of us – ours as well as theirs to keep learning, to remain flexible and to continue to change.”

CONCLUSION

The positive experience of the Gambro Dasco staff demonstrates that an intergrated development program creates value in terms of people management.  Blending vital tools, coaching, and hands on learning fosters effective leadership.

In particular, the project succeeded by initiating a noticeable impact on the participants’ effectiveness in relationships, critical thinking management, and team motivation. Team responsiveness was increased and the internal climate is promoting an ongoing exchange of knowledge among the participants.

One of the major issues that surfaced in the 2010 Workplace Issues Report (and the 2007 report for that matter) is being proactive.

You know – that state when you put out the fire before it’s a raging inferno?

Or maybe even take the matches and paper away from your colleague before he starts the blaze?

Seriously though — we all are faced with piles of work, but some of us (not usually me) manage to look ahead, see emerging issues and handle them gracefully.  Others of us wait ’till the challenges are in our faces.  On the survey, there were a lot of comments about leaders missing simple opportunities to address people-challenges — like giving feedback, expressing dissatisfaction with underperformance, calling someone on it when they don’t follow through… It’s pretty self-evident that work and life would be easier if we took care of these people issues when they’re small… so why is that so difficult?

I suspect it’s because our emotional brains like to focus on threats & challenges — the more immediate and urgent the more attractive.  When a problem is not pressing it floats out there in the abstract “maybe important” land.

I also find that as I think through my priorities, I cast a haze of yucky-ness on certain items.  I tell myself this will be unpleasant, unproductive, boring, annoying… and somehow that item keeps slipping to the bottom of the pile.

The obvious downside of this inactivity in proactivity is that problems escalate and require more time and attention later.  Pay now or pay more later.  The less obvious downside is about reactivity.  As issues mount, pressure builds.  The natural emotional response is to push back.  So we miss a few chances to be proactive, and now we’ve got fires burning.  Everywhere!  Instead of stepping back and carefully managing the process, we come in blasting the fire hose.  Instead of a response, we have a reaction — and inevitably our reactivity provokes reactivity from others.  Ouch.

So what keeps you from proactively dealing with people challenges?  Then what happens?

Organizations Change Starting with People.

People Change Starting with Emotions.

This book shows you why… and how.

“INSIDE CHANGE provides a powerful and whole-minded approach to organizational transformation. Blending cutting-edge neuroscience with rock-solid business logic, this book will change the way you lead.”

Daniel H. Pink, author of A Whole New Mind and DRIVE

“INSIDE CHANGE is a solid, powerful book for every leader. The typical business approach to change just doesn’t work – this book will show you a better way.”
Alan Deutschman, author of Change or Die and Walk the Walk.

Drawing on a decade of experience applying emotional intelligence to leading change, Joshua Freedman (COO, Six Seconds global) and Massimiliano Ghini (Regional Director, Six Seconds Europe) provide a practical roadmap for making change work.  Whatever your approach to change, whether you’re driving LEAN or following the Kotter steps or supporting people in the Prochaska stages, you’ve seen that the human side – the emotional dimension – will make or break the process.  After all, less than 30% of change efforts succeed… and over 70% of the failures are due to people challenges.  How do you make sure you’re in the 30%?

For information and ordering options, see www.insidechange.net

Or order at a discount from Six Seconds (the publisher) (link: http://tinyurl.com/icorder )

I’m distressed about purposelessness.

The serious companies with whom we consult worldwide have all spent time, and usually a lot of money, crafting a “vision-mission-values” statement. There seems to be some confusion about why. Sometimes, it seems, they’ve made one because that’s what everyone else does.  Something’s just not “clicking” – or maybe I’m just on another planet with this issue?

Clearly it’s difficult for a large organization to stay focused when people don’t have a shared picture of where they’re going.  What are we in business to accomplish?  To avoid confusion, let’s call this the “What.” Most mission statements I’ve seen have some clarity around the What:  To be the best bank in someplace.  To deliver world-class hospitality.  To deliver technology solutions supporting key government programs.

Then it seems valuable to at least have an idea of strategy – how we’re going to do that (but in my experience good strategy changes rapidly with changing circumstance).  This is the “How.” How sounds like: By maximizing lending through blah blah.  By touching the heart.  By integrating robust services for rapid deployment.  These are interesting, sometimes important, but rarely powerful.

The tragically missing ingredient is the WHY.

I am most often invited to do leadership programs for senior executives or for high potentials (upper level but usually younger managers being groomed for senior leadership positions).  Occasionally I get to work with both groups in the same organization, and it’s fascinating to see how these groups each relate to the mission-vision-values statement.  Often the senior leaders are excited, they’ve been involved in the creation and it has meaning, significance, to them (though sometimes it’s “just something HR did”).  I’ve never seen a group of high potentials likewise touched by these documents.

Some executives, particularly finance types, seem very excited about phrases like “being the best in,” and perhaps that is a big enough WHY for them.  Perhaps encoded in that phrase is something deeper than financial gain?  But it doesn’t seem to translate to a compelling purpose for middle managers, and it certainly leaves me flat.

One of most powerful human drives is to belong to something worthwhile; so perhaps leadership is about enrolling people in a truly significant purpose.  To tap this power, we need two ingredients:  significance and belonging.

What constitutes significance?  A start is “value above and beyond utility.”  Something can have non-utilitarian value because it’s beautiful or impressive or makes us laugh.  A great statue, an impressive building, a winning team or a compelling story all have value above and utility. That’s part of the human experience from time immemorial and not a bad touchstone for motivation. Maybe “being the best,” if it really happened, would have significance.   I suspect that companies that change their domains, like Apple has done with mobile computing, carry significance because of that groundbreaking experience.  But there’s still something deeper: meaning.

If significance is about value, then meaning is about purpose. “Purpose above and beyond utility.”  In other words, a real answer to WHY.

I suspect that I’m a bit of an extremist in this regard.  For me, “to make money” doesn’t qualify because that’s not above and beyond utility.  “To be the best” doesn’t qualify because that’s not a purpose (it’s a recognition of something).  “Giving 1% of profits to charity” doesn’t work for me because that’s a byproduct of the organization’s success, not the focus in and of itself.  When I seek meaning, I am looking for a profound commitment where the work of the organization is threaded in the very fabric of life.

In itself, this kind of purpose, a “real WHY,” is tough to find.  But even more difficult is keeping it real in a growing, dynamic organization.  I’ve heard there are some that have done this, but in the hundreds of companies where I’ve worked, and in the many thousands my colleagues and I have touched, I’m hard pressed to think of more than two – and both of those are nonprofits where the WHY is clear, but their HOW isn’t!

How depressing.

Or maybe – what a great opportunity for us?

Deborah Williams Havert, one of Six Seconds team members, presented at at the Columbus State University’s Women’s Leadership Development Conference last month.  Deborah’s session on “Leading With Relational Power” explored the power of the Six Seconds’ EQ Model in leadership — connecting participants with tools to move themselves and others to put purpose in action.

On March 2 & 3 the Cunningham Center for Leadership Development hosted the Fifth Annual Women’s Leadership Conference in Columbus, Georgia. Its Leadership Institute has as its purpose: “to develop and empower generations of leaders with the integrity and skills to respond effectively to the evolving challenges they will face.” This year the theme for the 2010 Women’s Leadership Conference was Learn. Connect. Achieve. Some of the presenters at the conference were Claire Shipman, Senior National Correspondent, ABC News, who spoke about her new book, Womenomics, Virginia Ann Holman, Group Executive, Global Corporate Marketing and Communications, TSYS, who spoke on “The Art of Communication and Unintended Consequences”, Felicia L. Hamilton, Success Strategist, Coach, and Trainer who spoke on her book, Real Women Wear Stilettos.

Other speakers included:

Debbie Frame, The Leadership Essentials Group on her topic of, “5 Things You Must Master to be a Great Leader”
Jenny Lynn Buntin, Former Aide to First Lady Laura Bush on her topic of “Connecting By Displaying Honor in Corporate Culture”

The conference is an annual event for female leaders–from entry level to the most career experiences and accomplished. The conference explores specific steps organizations can take to cultivate the leadership potential of women, affording participants an opportunity to interact and share experiences with other successful women executives.

The 2010 Workplace Issues Report captures input from 279 leaders and employees from a variety of sectors around the globe.  They said…

65% of the pressing issues are on the people side, 35% on the financial/technical side (but in 2007 it was 76/24). Even in the current economy, the people issues were seen as 30% more significant than the technical/financial issues.
The most pressing challenge today is maintaining a healthy culture under intense economic pressure. Respondents identify several aspects of leadership as the key to this, especially vision, feedback, and communication.
Getting and keeping good people – especially “people people” – will make the difference.	(graphic made with Wordle.net)
89% of respondents said feelings are highly important or essential in solving the problems they face.
Only 8% of respondents report that they’re fully trained to deal with the issues they’re seeing.
92% see the value of EQ — but only 33% say their organizations do likewise. Those that do see EQ as critical for their culture. Hospitality, T&D, Education, and Finance lead the way — Medical and Technology trail the pack.

Agree?  Disagree?  Take the survey yourself and ask 5 colleagues to do likewise.

To receive the complete report for free, just fill in this form.

You’ll receive the PDF via email within moments. The email comes from “staff@6seconds.org” so please watch for that!

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♦

A few years ago we enjoyed a business climate where companies flourished with little effort; stocks soared, cash was everywhere, and growth seemed automatic. Now we’re in a dramatically different realm.

What does it take to lead today? Not just to “muddle along,” but to truly lead? To take people and organizations to heights they would not otherwise reach, to be someone worth following?

While I am extremely concerned about our present and short-term future, I also see some tremendous benefits in the current economic crisis. One is the opportunity for true leaders to emerge.

What does it take? In keynotes and consulting projects, I frequently ask groups to tell me. I ask them to think of a leader who inspired them to go above and beyond — a leader who helped them be and do more than they thought possible.

In the last few weeks I’ve asked this of three widely eclectic groups: from leaders at Lockheed Martin, and the World Bank Group, to preschool teachers at the Stephen Wise Temple. Perhaps it won’t be a surprise that their answers were quite similar?

Before I share their answers, please take a moment to consider the question for yourself:

1. Think of a leader who helped bring out your very best. Someone you consider “a leader worth following.”

2. What did/do you feel with this person?

3. What did/does s/he do to inspire this?

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Congratulations to Bruna Martinuzzi – one of our network members and authors – mentioned in Tom Peters’ roundup of best links this week, and recently in Guy Kawasaki’s blog too!  Great recognition for this important work.  Here’s the nugget from Peters’ post (Facebook | Tom Peters: Link Roundup #11):

“Out of possibly zillions, here’s a selection of lists and suggestions for how to survive and thrive in 2010:
• Twelve Resolutions on How to be a Mensch, by Bruna Martinuzzi…”

Just listened to a fab radio show from The Really Big Questions about emotion. talks about some of the science and implications for us individually and collectively. The just forgot to say, “and if you want to learn how to effectively use these incredible resources, contact Six Seconds”

Definitely listen to this one and let me know what you think – and feel about it!!!

http://trbq.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=16&Itemid=43

Recently…

• I told Emma (8-year-old daughter) she needed to get dressed to go. Instant protest, heel-dragging, power struggle. Yet we were going to do something she wanted!

• I observed a new cross-functional team starting up. The person assigned to schedule the first meeting asserted, "Since no one else wants to, I will chair the team." People rolled eyes and crossed arms (mostly hidden!). Yet she was right — no one else wanted to chair.

• I was presenting at company and I told participants to discuss their ideas from a worksheet with the person sitting next to them. A few evaluation forms were quite negative, some said that I was "making them share to much." Yet they all said they wanted to get closer as a team.

What’s the common thread?

This defense response is wired into the very core of the human brain, and when it becomes activated we’re more likely to get dissent — followed by descent into in conflict. The reaction is a "basic rule" of emotional intelligence: When people feel attacked, they defend. Understanding this rule provides invaluable insight into how to work with (rather than against) people in all areas of life. It’s an awareness that becomes even more critical in today’s climate.

Big surprise – people are stressed! Between global climate change, recession, war, and all the "noise" of our daily lives it’s no wonder. But the stress also comes from our success. It’s a terrible paradox: on the one hand we have an abundance of choice and possibility. On the other we’re wallowing in the deluge. While people are seeing myriad options — options of where and how to work, a billion choices for information and entertainment, the liberty to be anywhere in the world — they are also facing a concurrent level of chaos and risk from the unknown.
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In the Six Seconds EQ Model, the “capstone” is a competency we call “Pursue Noble Goals.” Members of the Six Seconds’ team were discussing this last week, and reflecting that especially in “tough times” it’s easy to feel stuck and have a sense that the work you really want to do is occluded by the “stuff you have to do.”When we say “pursue” Noble Goals, that could sound like, “I have to give up the day to day and totally focus on the truly significant.” Nice, but unlikely.

Pursue Noble Goals really means putting purpose into everyday action. If your purpose is supporting equity, how can you build more equity between the people in the elevator today? If your purpose is sustaining a vibrant earth, how can you change what you buy for lunch to be more sustainable? If your purpose is nurturing compassion, how can you think and feel as you wash the dishes so you end that experience more compassionate?

In other words:  Consider the alignment between WHAT you are doing each moment, each day — HOW your are doing that, and WHY?  Is your intention coming through both in the action and in the way that action is undertaken?

In promoting Satyagraha, nonviolent compassionate activism, Gandhi explained that you can not make peace through anger. Anger and violence make more anger and violence. Real peace only can be made through peaceful means. Sometimes we think the “end justifies the means,” but in this vision, the means IS the end and the end is made of the means. So when we talk about Pursuing Noble Goals, that’s the standard: Live it. It’s not something to work toward in the future, it’s a future to bring into the present. Everywhere, all the time.

This simple, clear model shows how different motivators drive different kinds of performance — and helps managers, leaders, parents, educators — anyone concerned with motivating others — consider how to use their emotional intelligence to fuel lasting motivation. This model is presented in the “Motivation from the Inside Out” module in the Developing Human Performance curriculum (a series of 14 programs on leadership available for all development professionals).
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A true story.

Rick and I are selling our home. Several weeks ago, we readied ourselves to interview several realtors. Still, we knew our tendency—to go with the first person we met. That was Bob. Nice guy. After hellos, we sat at our dining table and Bob took us through his glossy brochure. He described his brokerage, his sales strategies, and selling philosophy. Then we paged through the contracts. After an hour, we were ready for a walk-thru. As we pointed out improvements and made excuses for eccentricities, Bob said little. We moved quickly from room to room, shook hands, and Bob left.

“So, he seems ok, right?” Rick knew our busy schedules and how much we both hated this interviewing process.

I wanted to go with Bob so we could be done with interviews, but his silence felt like disinterest, or worse. How could he sell our home if he was apathetic (or appalled)?

I arranged another interview. Denise came over the next evening, while Rick was at a Cubs game.

She shook my hand and launched into the living room. Denise had worked designing new homes. I feared she would detest my unconventional art and my “unusual” design choices. But Denise wasn’t a snob. She immediately began talking about what she saw-the furniture, the colors, the architecture. She “got” my style and offered helpful suggestions to make our home more “mainstream.” We spent two hours, going from room to room.

It was now 9 pm. Denise was in heels, but she impulsively began moving my furniture. I grabbed the other end of a couch so it wouldn’t drag on the oak floors.

“Do you always do this on your first visit?” I teased.

“Only with clients who will let me.”

Denise and I had never sat down. She had never formally pitched herself or her company, but here she was, at the end of a long day, moving furniture throughout my home. Her passion for real estate was palpable.
Rick came home from the game to a newly staged living room.

While Bob seemed competent, ethical and kind, Denise’s incredible zeal closed the deal. From the minute she entered the room, it was clear we would employ her talents and enthusiasm. In all lines of work, there is no substitute for passion.

What are you passionate about? Is there a way to bring your passions to your work?