I am passionate about changing the nature of conversations in organisations. I want to help leaders to have powerful conversations that lead to sustained changes in their behaviour to create engaged teams while at the same time link this to operational profit.
Leaders are the emotional thermostat of their team and behaviour is contagious! Your mood and temperament influence everyone on your team more than you think. Gallup (2015) has found that managers account for up 70% of the variance in employee engagement surveys.
I trained with Hay McBer in the early nineties (formerly the Hay Group and now Korn Ferry) on the administration and interpretation of Climate and Leadership Style Assessments. These instruments were based on the research of David McClelland, who proved that leadership behaviour contributes up to 60% of “what it feels like to work here”. His work is the basis and development of EI competencies, and now there exists a rich database of those behaviours and skills that are needed to be nurtured to be a top 10% performer.
The economic case for improving organisational climate is indisputable. The Human Capital Institute and Multi-Health Systems Organizations looked at the Return on Investment (ROI) data and surveyed 784 respondents from over 500 organisations worldwide in 2013. They found that organisations that value and widely use emotional intelligence are 3.3 times more effective at leadership development. There is a 31% gap in leadership development between organisations where EI is valued, versus those in which it is not. They found that organisations that measure EI report 16% more positive revenue growth.
Successful organisational transformation depends on the quality of the culture which relies on the quality of the relationship which builds on the quality of the conversations. Yet, 9 out of 10 conversations fail to hit the mark; meaning that people walk away with different views of reality and what was agreed. The research of Dr David Kantor highlights that over time, interpersonal relationships include patterns of “stuck” behaviours that are repeated over and over again. We each have our own tightly rooted repertoire, and these patterns often contribute to a failure in communication.
There is a compelling case to help leaders become more aware of:
- those EI behaviours which correlate with specific styles of leadership (particularly those that contribute to a high performing climate)
- own distinctive patterns of communicative competency (the stances taken in a conversation, the words that are chosen and the implicit rules that are followed when interacting with someone else.
To find out more on how to make every conversations count go to https://www.houstonexchange.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Kantor-Behavioural-Profile-1.pdf
