I met with an executive coaching client who is the President/CEO of a High Tech San Francisco Bay Area company yesterday. He is considering hiring a vice president of technology in order to help execute the new company strategy.
I have also been providing executive coaching for two other members of the executive team. The COO who had some difficulties in the area of emotional intelligence was partially responsible for some problems in the retention of key employees. He has gotten much better in developing his interpersonal skills and working with his team.
The President/CEO and I discussed my conducting a structured behavioral interview with the Vice President of Technology final candidates. The process would include using validated psychometric surveys to assess each candidates personality, ability and personal-interpersonal and technical competencies based on a competency model for the position. The President/CEO wants to assess which of the final candidates will not only have the technical capability, but the emotional intelligence to become a productive team member and company leader who is a great fit with the company culture. He had wisely learned from the initial difficulties with the COO the importance of selecting top talent who are both technically competent and emotionally intelligent.
The following examples of research offer a bottom-line rationale for emotional competency training in hiring, selecting, and retaining personnel, developing performance measurements, and in managing customer relationships.
After supervisors in a manufacturing plant received training in emotional competencies such as how to listen better and help employees resolve problems on their own, lost-time accidents were reduced by 50 percent, formal grievances were reduced from an average of 15 per year to 3 per year, and the plant exceeded productivity goals by $250,000 (Pesuric & Byham, 1996).
In another manufacturing plant where supervisors received similar training, production increased 17 percent. There was no such increase in production for a group of matched supervisors who were not trained (Porras & Anderson, 1981).
The US Air Force used the EQ-I (Emotional Quotient Inventory, Multi-Health Systems, Toronto) to select recruiters and found that the most successful recruiters scored significantly higher in the emotional competencies of assertiveness, empathy, happiness and emotional self-awareness. They found that by using EI to select recruiters, they increased their ability to predict successful recruiters by nearly three-fold. The immediate gain was a saving of $3 million annually.
An analysis of more than 300 top level executives from fifteen global companies showed that six emotional competencies distinguished star performers from average: influence, team leadership, organizational awareness, self-confidence, achievement drive, and leadership (Spencer, 1997).
Financial advisors at American Express whose managers completed the Emotional Competence training program were compared to managers who had not. During the year following training, the trained managers grew their businesses by 18.1% compared to 16.2% of those whose managers were untrained.
In a large beverage firm, using standard methods to hire division presidents, 50% left within two years, mostly because of poor performance. When they started selecting based on emotional competencies such as initiative, self-confidence, and leadership, only 6% left in two years. The executives selected based on EI were far more likely to perform in the top third: 87% were in the top third. Division leaders with these competencies outperformed their targets by 15 to 20 percent. Those who lacked emotional competencies under-performed those that did by almost 20% (McClelland, 1999).
What are your thoughts or experiences regarding the importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace?
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