The climate or culture in the workplace is integral to an organisation’s performance…
By Stephen Hanman, Collaborative Companion
I completed my Hay Group Emotional and Social Competency Inventory [ESCI] accreditation in 2012. Hay research indicates that the link between ESCI and organisational performance is that emotional competency enables flexibility in leadership style, and that this is a 70 percent determinant of organisational climate/culture. The climate is responsible for 30 percent of organisational performance.
Since this accreditation I have conducted about 40 ESCI interventions. As part of these interventions I also completed an Advanced Diploma of Management [ADM]– Emotional Intelligence [EQ]. This ADM is work based, development driven and major project focused. It is a learning by doing methodology. As part of the major project I focused on the development of EQ with a client over a twelve month period. The client’s level of EQ increased significantly over the allotted time! There was clear development in the understanding of personal and professional boundaries and they were much more equipped to manage their stress. As a result, the client observed that he became less angry on a weekly basis, and that his personal relationships were even starting to benefit from this improved state of EQ.
The use of this EQ tool has also enabled the development of a number of high performance teams. In one example the improvement of EQ has enhanced the emotional self awareness of a group of 20 participants by conducting a range of activities focused on knowing oneself, knowing the other and building connected relationships that deliver better outcomes. This enables everyone to feel motivated and engaged.
Hay Group research found a strong correlation between Emotional Self Awareness [ESA] and the other 11 competencies including the Self Management competencies of; Achievement orientation, Emotional self control and Positive Outlook, the Social Awareness competencies of; Empathy and Organisational awareness and finally the Relationship Management competencies of Conflict Management, Coach and Mentor, Influence, Inspirational leadership and Teamwork. This means that if we can improve our EQ then we can expect to see an improvement in all the other areas as well.
The ESCI process also enables the quantification of a team’s development via the production of a Group ESCI report. This group report has facilitated team activities that have delivered improvement in the areas of ESA, empathy and influence competencies.
Roche Martin research found a 30% increase in productivity with emotional intelligence training, and everyone benefits form better productivity – especially when it’s due to a better emotional mindset!
