“OMG, Here she goes again with the EQ stuff!  I’m focused on the bottom line and don’t have time do deal with all this ’soft stuff’…”

I know, but here’s the deal. It’s all soft stuff.  Yes, that’s what I said.  It’s all soft stuff.  Just imagine, you show up at your office, and find out all your employees are gone.  As if the rapture happened and you got left behind.  Ooh, shivers.  (I hear one of you saying, I’d be better off doing it myself and it would be better if everyone was gone).  I understand.  But you wouldn’t feel that way for long.  Your business doesn’t just have people working in it, your business is people.

Valuable relationships will always trump money, features and benefits, resources, even skills.

I say valuable relationships, because there are way too many fake relationships in the workforce, and they are easily identified when not really from the heart. Remember this commercial?  If a picture is worth a thousand words, an example is worth a thousand pictures: http://tinyurl.com/y95yucf

Almost all people will pay more (or take less, depending on which side of the equation you sit)when there is an emotional connection.  We all have the human need to be understood.  We all want to be heard, to be valued, and to contribute and be counted.

I’m all about the metrics, the strategic plan and the ROI, but none of that matters if you don’t have people fully engaged and empassioned to carry out the plan.

That’s where your leadership comes in.  The best leaders have high EQ (or EI, as some experts call it).  Emotional intelligence.  Where the rubber meets the road, all employees need to be touched (figuratively) at all levels, across departments, and across management levels.  If you take the time to build relationship with those who will manage and carry out the work, and communicate clearly the 3-5 big picture key results you see over the next 1-3-5 years, and they connect with you and your vision emotionally, ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

Every manager and leader within your organization needs to have their EQ measured, and have an action plan for raising it.  Unlike IQ, which cannot be changed, EQ can.  Take an assessment today and see where you can really gain the edge in leadership.  Your actions speak much more loudly than your words.  It’s inexpensive, and absolutely priceless. 

For more information on the best validated EQ Assessments and 360 surveys, contact me at Julia@mentaliron.com or call me directly at 503-750-3950

Tags: Add new tag, assessments, EI, Emotional Intelligence, Employee Disengagement, Employee Engagement, EQ, Executive Coach, human resources

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 10:27 am and is filed under Business Coach, Business success, Coach, Coaching, Disengagement, EQ, Emotional Intelligence, Engagement, Executive Coach, Executive Performance Coach, Executive pERFORMANCE cOACHING, Leadership, Leadership Development, Leadership Skills, Management, Management Consulting, Productivity, Profit, executive coaching, pumping mental iron. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.