Creating an emotionally intelligent organisation

Transcription

1 Creating an emotionally intelligent organisation Paper presented at the 1st European Coaching Psychology Conference, December Emotional intelligence (EI) is now well established as a model and process for coaching individuals and to a lesser extent teams. However, there is far less research and practice on creating emotional intelligence within the organisation. For example; what defines an EI organisation? How may this be measured? Do EI individuals necessarily produce EI teams and organisations? How can coaching enable EI at the organisational level? These and other related questions will be explored through this paper. Keywords: emotional, intelligence, organisation, assessment, development. What defines an emotionally intelligent organisation? ABRIEF DEFINITION of Emotional culture (Figure 1, Schutz, 1994). For Intelligence (EI) is using thinking example, by creating a participative environment (organisational), relationships are about feeling (or feeling about thinking) to guide behaviour. In practice more energetic (teams) and individuals feel this involves managing our behaviour to be more alive (Parkyns & Walden, 2004). personally and interpersonally effective. Equally, coaching individuals to feel more Emotional intelligence is now well established as a critical element to individual and relationships (Foo, 2004) which in turn will engaged in their work, will ripple into their team effectiveness in organisations. Whatever activities it is engaged in, an organisa- 1988; George, 1990). Interventions can work cascade across the organisation (Bachman, tion will be more effective at what it does at any of these three levels through the individual, in teams or across the organisation (more output for less input) if they harness the full potential of all their employees. (William, 1994). We would recommend Creating an environment and managing applying all three levels of intervention to employees in a manner which fosters the have the greatest and most sustainable development and application of their impact. Emotional intelligence promotes their effectiveness at self management and relationship in all three areas is that having one does not An interesting finding from assessing EI management. It has been estimated that automatically mean the other will co-exist. approximately 80 per cent of activities in an For example, it is possible to have a group of organisation involve some collaboration emotionally intelligent individuals who do (Landy, 1983). The impact of improved not form an emotionally intelligent team engagement can be seen at an organisational level in terms of customer loyalty, parts), e.g. if individuals values and inten- (the whole is different from the sum of its productivity, profitability, reduced turnover tions differ. Also, establishing EI within and well being (Buckingham 2003). teams will not necessarily produce an EI JCA see the emotionally intelligent environment and organisation as an integrated tive rather than collaborative. The team and organisation, e.g. if the teams are competi- and interdependent whole between individuals, relationships and the organisational emotional intelligence of the various organisation is more than a composite of the individ- The Coaching Psychologist, Vol. 5, No. 1, June The British Psychological Society ISSN:

2 Figure 1: The emotionally intelligent environment. Individual s feel: Relationships are: Organisation s atmosphere is: Alive Energetic Participative Self-determined Adult Responsible Self-aware Honest Open Significant Acknowledged Recognition Competent Co-operative Empowering Likeable Friendly Human uals, as we all tend to behave differently in different contexts. Different cultures are created within different teams and organisations, which will tend to encourage or discourage members to behave in emotionally intelligent ways. It is the organisational culture or ethos that we are assessing here. How may this be measured? The Organisational Effectiveness (OE) questionnaire is a measure developed by JCA Ltd (2008). It reflects the organisational atmosphere, i.e. what it feels like to be part of the organisation. This differs from culture questionnaires which tend to measure the way we do things around here. The questionnaire diagnoses the outcomes of low EI within the organisation, e.g. being aware of others, being aligned to the organisational values, taking responsibility, and working collaboratively. The OE was designed to map onto the JCA EI framework and an existing set of 16 EI constructs (JCA, 2008). Mean internal scale consistency alpha r=0.98. Technical details may be found in the product manual (JCA, 2008). The OE comprises 137 items distributed across 16 sub-scales. The items are scored on a five-point Likert scale where 1=strongly disagree (low EI) and 5=strongly agree (High EI). The study EI is not just one thing, it is multifaceted. To make the correct intervention within an organisation it is first necessary to identify what specific aspects of EI may require development. Based on our study of 302 employees across 19 private and public organisations we extracted four scales from the OE which were consistently rated as more problematic. Results The following four scales were identified based on two criteria. The mean scale raw score being above 3.5, and the occurrence of one or more mean raw score items of 4.0 or above. 1. Balanced outlook: The degree to which people within this organisation effectively balance positive outlook with practical realism (mean 3.94). Example item: People see problems not opportunities (mean 4.15). 2. Self-awareness: The degree to which people in this organisation are in touch with their body, feelings and intuition (mean 3.67). Example item: People are not very open about what they feel and what they want (mean 4.19). 3. Flexibility: The degree to which people feel free to adapt their thinking and behaviour to match the changing situations in organisational life (mean 3.99). Example item:we are a bit stuck in our ways (mean 4.09). 4. Conflict handling: The degree to which people within this organisation act with assertiveness and handle conflict well (mean 3.54). Example item: People avoid confrontation (mean 4.03). 28 The Coaching Psychologist, Vol. 5, No. 1, June 2009

3 Creating an emotionally intelligent organisation How do we create an EI environment? One reason EI is so valuable for people development is that it is developable. EI is a verb, it is something we do in the present, rather than a noun or label about our personality and is, therefore, something we can all apply at any moment in time regardless of our past experiences, personality or IQ. A helpful definition for EI is how we manage our personality and cognition to be both personally and interpersonally effective. Based on our research JCA have focussed on four key principles that we apply on our EI programme which enable organisations to create a conducive environment for change and for individuals to become more emotionally intelligent. These include: EI development EI development need principle 1. Balanced outlook Holding positive intentions 2. Self-awareness Going beyond blame 3. Flexibility Taking responsibility 4. Conflict handling Valuing and appreciating others 1. Holding positive intentions At the heart of EI is holding positive intentions towards yourself and other people. Our intentions manifest in our behaviour, for example, if I care about someone then this will be apparent in my voice and actions, regardless of whether I have developed skills in influencing and persuasion. Equally, if I do not respect a person then this will leak out in my behaviour, however much I may try to disguise these feelings. SURVIVE Protect Defend Defeat Win Be right THRIVE Grow Learn Connect Mutual gain Understanding An organisation can foster positive intentions by stating its values and living by them, e.g. treating others with respect, seeking to help and support others and treating people fairly. During these days of economic downturn our natural human response is to move into survival mode, which stems from an attitude of conserve, protect, fight and defend (rigidity). A more helpful conscious strategy would be for organisations to adopt a thrive attitude of collaboration, openness and opportunity (flexibility). Attitudes tend to be self-fulfilling, so an organisation that holds positive intentions internally with staff and externally with customers is likely to create the same. Positive intentions are also crucial for coaching. They help motivate people, instil a constructive attitude, minimise defensive behaviour and enable people to grow and develop. 2. Going beyond blame Consider what would happen if you were always open with people and with yourself? A concern people often have to this suggestion is that they may upset people if they said what they really thought. We encourage people to go to a deeper level of openness and truthfulness with themselves which goes beyond blame. See the example below. Levels of openness Example 1 Unaware We don t need to talk 0 Withholding I don t want to tell you 1 Blame You are an idiot! 2 Explanation Because you ignore me 3 My feeling You don t like me 4 My story I think you feel I am unlikable 5 My fear I fear I am not likeable The Coaching Psychologist, Vol. 5, No. 1, June

4 An organisation can facilitate an atmosphere of openness by keeping people informed and sharing information, encouraging expression of feelings and finding solutions to problems than seeking who to blame. There are many examples of how a lack of openness and truth has lead to the demise of organisations. The challenger shuttle disaster was initially seen to be the result of technical errors, but following a public enquiry the underlying cause was later identified to be a lack of open communication within the NASA culture. The Enron fraud, the Iraq intelligence dossier, and the current banking collapse, are all examples of how catastrophic failure can be traced back to a lack of openness and truth. Openness is also essential in coaching, as this will allow people to become more selfaware, help people discuss their real needs and avoid wasting energy on distorting, pretending and lying. 3. Taking responsibility Consider the possibility that you have more choice think you do. Is this a useful assumption to make? We tend to find, when people apply this principle of choice they feel more empowered and in control of their lives. Look at the example below, at which level of responsibility do you typically operate? Levels of Example responsibility 1 Unconscious I don t know why I get angry 0 Chance My behaviour is caused by the stars 1 Genetics It s my parents fault I am like this 2 Blame You make me angry 3 I chose my I can remain calm response 4 I create the I can change my situation situation 5 Everything is I determine my life, my choice my thoughts and my feelings Organisations, can do a lot to help people feel more in control and self responsible in their working lives, e.g. by giving people choices, including people in decision making and empowering people to act autonomously. A distinguishing feature of the emotionally intelligent organisation is that everyone feels 100 per cent accountable for success. This means that when things go wrong people do not blame individuals but problem solve to improve things. A useful analogy here is the think of the team or organisation as a human body; for example, it would be pointless to blame our hands for dropping a ball. Coaching can improve individual responsibility by encouraging people to accept they have at least one per cent of influence over situations, to take one action each day towards achieving their goals, and to consider the consequences if they continue doing what they have always done. 4. Valuing and appreciating others Think of one person who has had a positive impact on your life and what it was about them? The answer people often give is that this person believed in me. Showing regard for, belief in and appreciation towards others is one of the easiest and most powerful ways to raise our emotional intelligence. Appreciation is more powerful when it is personalised, unconditional (about their being) and authentic as shown in the example below. The lowest level of appreciation is to ignore people as if they do not exist. Organisations should make sure people feel included, recognise people for their actions, show they value people even when they make mistakes and create a culture of appreciation rather than blame. Many organisations operate at level 1, emphasising feedback over praise. More enlightened companies will provide training courses in how to offer praise (levels 2 to 3), but in our experience there is almost no distinguishing praise from value (levels 4 to 5). Praise is conditional, e.g. you get 30 The Coaching Psychologist, Vol. 5, No. 1, June 2009

5 Creating an emotionally intelligent organisation Levels of Example appreciation 1 Not noticing Do I know you? (Put down) 0 Discounting That s your job (Put down) 1 Acknowledge That s nice but... (Feedback) 2 Generalised That was good (Praise) 3 Personalised I like what you did (Praise) because 4 Unconditional I like you, e.g. a smile (Value) 5 Unconditional In your presence (Value) I feel good rewarded for being productive, which can result in people feeling like commodities (the psychological message being; you are only okay if ). Value is unconditional, e.g. even when you make mistakes we still value you. It is this that motivates individuals, creates loyalty and builds long term trusting relationships. This is becoming more recognised in business, e.g. the Gallup q12 survey found that people with a best friend at work are seven times more likely to enjoy their jobs, have fewer accidents and be more creative. Also, that close friendships at work boost job satisfaction by 50 per cent (Buckingham, 2003). This suggests that organisations that foster a culture of value will have happier and more productive employees. In coaching, having people appreciate themselves and their strengths is the first step to valuing others, and getting into a habit of noticing what people do well will build motivation and help people utilise their strengths. Conclusion Aristotle used the term Physis (the Greek for nature) to explain that all naturally occurring things are predisposed to grow and be healthy given the appropriate environment. For example, a cabbage seed will grow to be a cabbage given the right nurturing. We would suggest that Aristotle s concept may be applied to any organisation which is composed of people. The four principles described above form the foundation for creating the atmosphere and attitudes that allow an organisation to flourish. They are relatively simple to understand but emotional intelligence is not developed through knowledge (in the thinking brain), but through experience (in the emotional brain) (LeDoux, 2003). It is organisations that put these principles into practice that will become emotionally intelligent. Correpondence JCA, 17 Royal Crescent, Cheltenham, GL50 3DA. jo@jca.biz The Coaching Psychologist, Vol. 5, No. 1, June

6 References Backman, W. (1988). Nice guys finish first. New York Pranger. Buckingham, M. (2003). Building the Strength-Based Organisation. The Gallup Organisation [Online]. Available: Foo, M.D., Elfenbein, H., Tan, H. & Aik, V. (2004). Emotional intelligence and negotiation: The tension between creating and claiming value. International Journal of Conflict Management, 15(4), George, J.M. & Bettenhausen, K (1990). Understanding psychosocial behaviour. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, Landy, C. (1983). Understanding organisations. London: Penguin. LeDoux, J. (2003). The Emotional Brain. Phoenix, Arizona. Maddocks. J. (2008). The EI organisational effectiveness questionnaire manual. JCA. Parkyns, R. & Walden, R. (2004). The human element at work. A fieldbook of projects transforming people and organisations around the globe. San Francisco: Bcon wsa. Schutz. W. (1994). The Human Element. Jossey Bass: Wiley & Sons Inc. William D (1994). Leadership for the 21st century. Boston, MA: Hay Group. 32 The Coaching Psychologist, Vol. 5, No. 1, June 2009