This week in the every Tuesday Club Aleen Bayard discusses Emotional Intelligence. 

Emotional Intelligence typically has five components:

1.     Self Awareness;

2.     Self regulation or control;

3.     Motivation;

4.     Empathy; and

5.     Social skills.

Why are these important to those of you in leadership?  Because there has been a direct correlation between those leaders who show great emotional intelligence and the impact on the culture or climate of an organisation.  In a positive climate, employees are more engaged, do a better job and that leads to better customer service.  Better customer service equates to stronger profits.

So how can you become more emotionally intelligent?  Probably by getting a handle on what we call ‘self regulation’.

Think of a situation, either a person or a condition at the office, where you tend to lose your cool.  Next time bite your tongue.  Take a deep breath.  Think about your behaviour in public and choose another time or place to vent your anger.  That will immediately score you higher on the Emotional Intelligence Quotient. 

This is an important subject for all leaders to understand and demonstrate in the workplace.

Practice ‘self regulation’ this week and see what a difference it can make.

If you haven’t taken the opportunity to sign up to the Every Tuesday Club with MBE (Management & Business Education), then do so today by going to www.buseducation.com.

This week in the every Tuesday Club Aleen Bayard discusses how self awareness is one of the most important attributes of any good manager.

She refers to Marshall Goldsmith’s book ‘What got your here, won’t get you there’, which talks about self awareness.  He calls the things that we do that get in the way, as Behavioural Tics.

See if you can identify any of the following attributes in yourself:

·           Making destructive comments

·           Speaking when you are angry

·           Taking credit that you don’t deserve

·           Making excuses

·           Playing favourites with your staff

·           Failing to express gratitude

·           An excessive need to be me.

Aleen suggests that you identify one or more of these Tics and determine how you can get better at behaving differently.  You could ask people that you trust around the office, “Have you ever seen me behaving this way?  I’d like to improve.”  And give them permission to give you honest feedback.

Remember one of the most important attributes of leaders worldwide is to be able to give and receive feedback.

Let me know if you have identified a Tic and what changes you have made to your behaviour.

This week in the every Tuesday Club I talk about how we still need to recognise and reward good performance, even though we might not have as much cash in the bank. 

We also need to think about how we can make sure we retain our talented staff throughout the recession.

How can we do that?  We need to think more creatively.

We also need to also understand that our employees are looking for more than just dollars.

This is where we can look to research to see what else employees are interested in besides money to keep them happy.  Consider the following as alternatives to money as recognition.

·           Time – Time is very important to employees and something that is under recognised by managers.

·           Discounts – Look at what your business already buys in bulk and receives a discount for. Is it something you can offer to staff?

·           IT needs – Is there anything your organisation can do to help staff with their IT needs at home?

·           Financial advice – Can you arrange services for your employees?  This can help with stress and provide staff with a reward.

What are you doing to reward your staff?  I look forward to hearing more of your ideas and thoughts.

If you haven’t taken the opportunity to sign up to the Every Tuesday Club with MBE (Management & Business Education), then do so today by going to www.buseducation.com.

This week in the every Tuesday Club Steven Nayda talks about how as a leader or manager at work, you need to think about what perception you create within the team and in the workplace.

Leaders and managers are feeling the pinch the same as a lot of other employees at the moment.  But we need to be aware that our behaviour and what we do and say as a leader has an impact on the performance of our team and the organisation.

So make sure you are aware of what you’re doing and what you’re saying.

Leadership Tips

1.     STOP, take a breath, check your behaviour and think about what you’re doing.

2.     At the moment teams and employees are looking to their leaders and managers to see where there is some stability.  Times are changing; things are moving under their feet, there is some discomfort.  One of your rules as a leader is to make sure that you bring back some of the stability and make sure that they are confident about their future.  So you don’t want to be overly optimistic, you need to be realistic, but make sure that you are aware of keeping a positive spin on what you say and how you do things. 

3.     Try to keep your stress to yourself.  It doesn’t sound like its fair but as a leader you need to try and keep that in check and not display it to other team members, because it can be contagious, and that will affect productivity.

So over the next week take the time to pause, think about your behaviour when you are feeling a bit stressed and learn from that.  And think about how you can improve the perception of your leadership around your organisation.

The first thing you need to do is decide what sort of leader you want to be.  Write down 3 words you’d like your employees to use to describe your leadership style.

During the week think about the things that contribute to your image as a leader and manager in your workplace and compare them against those words.  Make sure you are delivering a consistent perception.

The things you need to think about are:

1.     How you say things – What language do you use?  How do you speak?  Is it a consistent tone of voice?  Are you loud?  Are you abrupt?  Are you patient? 

2.     How do you behave?  Do you move quickly around the office, looking in a fluster? Or do you walk slowly and calmly?  How do you act at meetings?  How do you talk to your team?  How do you talk and act with clients?

3.     Your work area or office – How does it look?  Is it untidy? Is it organised?  Is it clean?  Is it cluttered?

4.     Are you responsive and accessible to your team?  Or are you difficult to get hold of?

5.     Your personal appearance – How do you dress? How tidy are you?  Your cleanliness? Are you casual? Are you formal? 

These are all things that say something about you as a leader and a manager.

So during the week think about those 3 words, review the list and see if you can project a more consistent image as a leader.

Let me know what behaviour or appearances you have noticed about yourself and what you will look at changing.

If you haven’t taken the opportunity to sign up to the Every Tuesday Club with MBE (Management & Business Education), then do so today by going to www.buseducation.com.