How to Develop an Emotionally Intelligent Organization

Lotfi Saibi

4D-Leadership House

18/12/2013 IHEC - IACE 1

EIQ @ work

• Emotional Intelligence is the ability to create a balance between knowing what you don’t know and that what you do know can be improved. It also means you have the ability to see the same knowledge and balance in others; teaching them how to be aware and create a good balance for themselves. The ability to learn gives you authority, the ability to teach gives you power.

18/12/2013 IHEC - IACE 2

Knowing What You Don’t Know

• It is impossible to know everything. Everyday is a learning experience. Everyone has something they can teach you from their own experience or perspective. But do you act in a way that allows you to learn new things? Or do you act as though your way is always right? Equally important is to ask: do the people you interact with (your boss, your employees, your co-workers) believe that you are actively learning from them?

18/12/2013 IHEC - IACE 3

Actions You Can Take to Develop This Skill

• Seek knowledge and opinions from others.• Utilize active listening skills by really paying attention

to the words, actions & ideas of others. Your goal is to understand, not just hear and see.

• Make an effort to understand every situation from all angles. Never take anything at face value, instead, take the time to find out what is really going on, including the motives that caused others to say or act on something.

• Support others who are more knowledgeable than you. Create a circle of knowledgeable people and give them credit for their ideas.

18/12/2013 IHEC - IACE 4

Know That What You Do Know Can Be Improved

One very important aspect of your confidence level is knowing that you have the ability to improve, develop and expand on what you know. • Your ability to continuously self-improve keeps

you relevant and builds your confidence level. • When you are confident you can thoughtfully

decipher between ideas that will improve upon your current knowledge vs. those that are not relevant…most importantly, the process you use to decipher this allows you to explain why an idea works or doesn’t.

18/12/2013 IHEC - IACE 5

Actions You Can Take to Develop This Skill

• Communicate to be understood, modifying your approach for the benefit of your audience. Their understanding & acting on your words is more important than you speaking your mind.

• Ask for opinions on your work, and answer questions with an awareness that questions may be good indicators of the effectiveness OR ineffectiveness of your message.

• Speak with confidence, authority & passion regarding your subject matter, not yourself: be humble and write down any suggestions your audience makes whether you decide to use their suggestions or not.

• Reflect on your day and your decisions. Give yourself 5 minutes of fame to celebrate your accomplishments and then

18/12/2013 IHEC - IACE 6

Some Final Thoughts:

• As a manager or leader it is important to accept others for who they are, assess what they are good at and help them to develop those strengths into something valuable to the organization. I challenge you to use Emotional Intelligence as a means of developing your staff. Imagine the impact of respectful, knowledgeable employees that focus on humility, active listening, continuous self-improvement & sharing ideas. Is that how you would describe your team today

18/12/2013 IHEC - IACE 7