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An Emotionally Intelligent Workplace Culture: Is It For You?

By: Susan Dunn

Susan Dunn, The EQ Coach, coaches individuals and executives in emotional intelligence, and offers workshops, presentations, trainings, Internet courses and ebooks. She is a regular presenter for the Royal Caribbean and Costa cruiselines. Visit her on the web at www.susandunn.cc and mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for FREE ezine.

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“As much as 80% of adult ‘success’ comes from EQ,” said Daniel Goleman, author of “Emotional Intelligence,” and he asserts the difference between a “good” leader and an “excellent” leader is 85-95% attributable to emotional intelligence.

The Center for Creative Leadership has stated that 75% of careers are derailed for reasons related to emotional competencies, including “inability to handle interpersonal problems; unsatisfactory team leadership during times of difficulty or conflict; or inability to adapt to change or elicit trust.”

If emotional intelligence is this important to the functioning of an individual, what would happen if you established a workplace culture of emotional intelligence?

A Business Culture … a Soul

What is the culture of an organization?

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In “The Soul of an Organization: Understanding the Values that Drive Sucessful Corporate Cultures,” Richard S. Gallagher states that a business culture is … “your values and beliefs … generally unspoken … your style … the types of people you hire … what behaviors you reward.”

And what is it not? “Your products and services … promoted externally … your policies and procedures … your recruiting process … what behaviors you want.”

You’ll see within these definitions, intentionality - a high-level emotional intelligence competency.

It means saying what you mean and meaning what you say, staying focused until a goal is achieved, and being accountable to yourself for your motives.

Daily I talk with clients who’ve left a company because of its culture. Here are some examples:

It says in the P&P manual “no nepotism,” and then he hired his wife. It was the principal of the thing.
I couldn’t figure out why he turned against me like that. I doubled the annual fund drive. The comptroller said it was because I was too good. I became a threat. So if I’d done my job poorly I’d’ve gotten a raise?
All the woman next to me did was complain and gossip, and she got the promotion. Don’t they know what’s going on?
One person violated Internet usage so the whole department got punished. Why didn’t they just fire her?
Paul was a hard-worker. He kept his nose to the grindstone and he was well liked. Allen whined that he was overworked. By the end everything went to Paul but Allen got the raise.
They say they want X, Y and Z, but they reward something totally different.
# They started hiring the kind of people I don’t want to be associated with. I I began to wonder what I was doing there.

These individuals were all high-functioning, but eventually they couldn't stand the discord of working in a corporate culture than went against their own values, or against its own stated values.

Retention of good employees is a major concern of any organization. “[Businesses] worry about their production schedules, their deadlines, their competition, and their financing,” says Gallagher, "but they rarely look inward at themselves." That's why most people, when asked, can't define their workplace culture. But this intangible, once thought of as ^soft^, "may be perhaps the most important factor in the growth and survival of any business," according to Gallagher. "Understand this fact, and you can reach levels of success that are unimaginable for most people."

How do You Instill a Culture

As children, we learn our culture from our parents and elders. We learn what we observe more than what we’re told. If your mother tells you to clean your teeth every day, but you don’t see her doing it, you learn to do it only as long as you’re being watched. If your father tells you not to lie, and then you hear him talking about cheating on his income tax, you learn that it’s circumstantial, or that adults can lie, but children can’t, or you learn that your father‘s a hypocrite, and you lose respect for him and quit listening.

Then when we go to school, we learn that culture. I moved every couple of years growing up. I transferred in the middle of 6^th grade. In the new school, as soon as the teacher left the room, everyone cheated. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I transferred again for 9^th grade. In the new high school, there was “the honor code,“ and I watched to see what happened. No one cheated! Not on tests, not on homework. The difference? Social pressure, expectations, ingrained habit … whatever it is, it works. In situation A, everyone cheated. In situation B, no one did.

An EQ Culture

How would you instill a culture of emotional intelligence? A culture where creativity, flexibility, intentionality, interpersonal skills, empathy, intuition and respect are valued as well as cognitive intelligence, expertise, and special skills?

It starts with information and education. Courses such as The EQ Foundation Course©, available on the Internet, offer every employee a background in emotional intelligence and a common working vocabulary. Assessments, such as the EQ-Map™ can assess the competencies of individuals, and individual coaching can address deficits. A weekly ezine, such as “EQ in the Workplace©” can reinforce learning and immersion. Modeling by key leaders is vital. EQ for Professionals©, on the Internet, helps managers, coaches, trainers and other supervising personnel understand concepts and how to foster them in others.

In addition, individuals learning new EQ skills need a chance to practice these competencies in real-life situations. The EQ Foundation Course© is interactive and is well combined with personal coaching which allows ongoing supportive feedback. Weekly teleconferences or meetings can also allow process learning.

Intentionality

Intentionality takes maturity and effort. Changing a culture isn’t easy. It takes dedication, information, practice, and consistency. Actions speak louder and last longer than words. As someone said, re: managers, “you’re being watched.” The company culture is reflected in:

Who’s hired, retained and promoted,
What behaviors are rewarded and condoned,
How meetings are conducted,
Whether one standard of behavior applies to management and another to support staff,
Whether the CEO manages himself well, with emotional intelligence, or rules by arbitrary executive fiat,
If ’best practices’ articles are highlighted and circulated but never practiced,
Whether people are shown to be as valued as production schedules, deadlines, competition and financing

And all of these things must be shown to be consistent over time.

Take an inward look at your organization. What values and beliefs are reflected? What’s your style? What types of people work there? What kinds of behavior are rewarded?

If you like what you see, great. If not, there’s a way to change it, and changing it can definitely affect your bottom line. If you look at what companies succeed and what don’t, you might agree with Gallagher that the company culture is “the most important factor in the growth and survival of any business.”

Recommended reading: "The Soul of an Organization: Understanding the Values that Drive Sucessful Corporate Cultures," by Richard S. Gallagher.

Other Articles by Susan Dunn

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