Why Being Clever Isnt Everything

Being clever isn’t everything
Making the business case for emotional and social intelligence

The rules for work are
changing. We’re being
judged by a new yardstick:
not just by how smart we
are, but by how we handle
ourselves and each other.
Daniel Goleman
Working with Emotional Intelligence, 1998

Table of contents

01 Why EI?
02 What is EI?
03 Why measure EI?
04 Why do organizations use EI?

© 2008 Hay Group. All Rights Reserved 3

We find that most of the
characteristics that
differentiate the
outstanding performers
are these things that we
call social and emotional
competencies
Richard Boyatzis, 2008

It’s tough these days…

We’re all trying to deliver the impossible:

 Change initiatives “Raise acceptance and do it quicker”
 Recruitment “Get it right first time and increase retention”
 Development “Embed behavior change and raise ROI”
 Innovation “More of it and faster!”
 Strategy “Good decisions, quicker, with more impact”
 Operations “Do more, with less, more flexibly”
 Sales & marketing “Better returns and a higher market share”
 Mergers & Acquisitions “Faster, problem-free integration”

…does being clever help?

Of course it does.
In professional and technical fields people are typically in the top 20% of intelligence.
That’s the threshold.

But it’s not enough – is it!
So what differentiates the very best – leaders and professionals – within the top 20%?

Employers consistently list:
 Communication being able to listen, converse and present
 Adaptability creative responses to setbacks and obstacles
 Personal management motivation to work, pride, a desire to develop
 Interpersonal effectiveness teamwork, co-operation, the skills to negotiate
 Organizational effectiveness leadership potential, the desire to make a contribution

Daniel Goleman, Working with Emotional Intelligence, 1998


The CEO says, “Okay, prove to me EI works”
What do I do?
I say: “Do you have an employee that you wish you
could clone? Somebody who’s great.”
They usually say yes immediately.
So I ask them: “Tell me about this person. What makes
them different? What kind of impact do they have on
the people around them?”
Their description proves the case.
I never have to justify emotional or social intelligence
competencies. All I have to do is label them.
Richard Boyatzis, 2008

The capacity for recognizing
our own feelings
and those of others,
for motivating ourselves,
for managing emotions well in
ourselves and in our relationships
Daniel Goleman

A simple model that captures it all…

SELF OTHERS …the characteristics that help us deliver
– individually and through others –
Self Social
AWARENESS

awareness awareness
 working co-operatively
 addressing and resolving conflict
 influencing individuals and groups
 motivating a colleague
ACTIONS

 inspiring a team
Self Relationship  developing or mentoring others
management management

performance


The heart of EI

SELF OTHERS

 Awareness of your emotions Self Social

AWARENESS
awareness awareness
 Insight into their impact on
your performance

 Honesty in your positive and
negative biases

ACTIONS
Self Relationship


The fire and the brakes

SELF OTHERS

 Self-control – especially Self Social

AWARENESS
under pressure awareness awareness

 The energy to do your best

 Openness to change and
new ideas

ACTIONS
 Persistence – despite Self Relationship
obstacles and setbacks management management


Tuning in

SELF OTHERS

Self Social  Sensing others’ feelings and
AWARENESS

awareness awareness perspectives

 Reading the organization –
the influencers, the networks
and the dynamics
ACTIONS

Self Relationship


Making a difference

SELF OTHERS

Self Social  Turning conflict into agreement
AWARENESS

awareness awareness
 Collaborating with others

 Having a positive impact

 Bringing out the best in others
ACTIONS

Self Relationship  Bringing people together to get
management management the job done


It’s not a fad, it’s not a trend.

EI is the result of a long history
of analyzing social intelligence
(otherwise known as
‘what makes people tick’).

The latest in a long line of great thinking

Amygdala
THE ‘EMOTIONAL’ BRAIN
Responds quickly based on:
 what motivates us ACTUAL
 what we care about
BEHAVIOR

Prefrontal lobes
THE ‘THINKING’ BRAIN
Analyzes slowly for meaning:
 acts as a brake
 is a check on motivational impulses


The EI link to business results

Business
Results
Discretionary
Effort

Emotional
Organizational
Intelligence
Climate

What you
do

What you
bring


The road to hell is paved with good intentions…

No one sets out to be an ineffective leader. No one tries to be bad at their job.

It’s more subtle than that:
 we get to thinking we’re a bit better (or worse!) than we really are…
 we hold on to our beliefs and assumptions, despite the evidence before us…
 we listen to what we want, or expect, to hear…

It’s a slippery slope, isn’t it?

It’s the difference between intention and impact.

That’s why 3600 feedback is so valuable.
Individuals can see their intention – their own self-view – mirrored back to them.
But they also see their impact – through the eyes of their boss, their peers, their team.

They see the bit that really matters.

Clear the fog

Raising awareness is the first step to raising capability…
You can only change what you already know about yourself.
Know more – you can change more.
Ask for feedback – you know more.
KNOWN BY SELF UNKNOWN BY SELF

KNOWN BY OTHERS
1 2
Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham worked it out in the 1950s.
You may know it as the Johari Window.
open / free blind
area area
Learning reduces your blind area
Sharing what you’ve learned reduces your hidden area

UNKNOWN BY OTHERS
Doing both reduces your unknown area
hidden unknown
area area
EI feedback is the starting point
3 4


Focus on the things you can change

…and, unlike IQ, you can develop EI
When it comes to being clever, we’re pretty much stuck with what we’ve got.
But we also know people can change.
(If we don’t believe that we might as well all pack up and go home now!)

What makes behavior change possible?
 the tension between who we are and who we want to be
 the feeling of reward – and relief – when we can build on our strengths
 the sense of ownership when we can set our own learning agenda
 the challenge and support we get from people we trust

3600 EI feedback provides the focus for behavior change
 data on the behaviors that matter
 applicable to any leadership or professional role


Speak the same language

EI – is it for everyone?
Is there anyone in your organization who you wish were less emotionally intelligent?
Hard to imagine, isn’t it?

It’s obvious that EI makes for better leaders and more effective professionals.
But which of us hasn’t felt better after a chat with the extraordinarily empathic cleaner?
Or learned something important from the organizationally aware secretary.
Or been influenced by the words of a brave and insightful junior colleague.

EI has no limits
It has the flexibility to fit any role, of any size, at any level.
It helps everyone perform better.

If you want to embed one set of behaviors across your organization,
this is the one to go for.


We’ve found that the people who really improve their
EI have some surprising things in common:

 they don’t bite off more than they can chew
 they are really clear about the payoff – for them
and others – if they change
 they focus on their strengths and make the most
of them before looking at their weaknesses
 they are feedback junkies – tenacious about
asking those around them how they’re doing

04
Why do organizations use EI?

Great listener Blank wall
Encourager Doubter
Communicator Secretive
Courageous Intimidating
Sense of humor Bad temper
Shows empathy Self-centered
Decisive Indecisive
Takes responsibility Blames
Humble Arrogant
Shares authority Mistrusts
Who would you work best for?
Taken from Daniel Goleman, Social Intelligence, 2006

EI accounts for leadership excellence…

EI competencies distinguish the stars from the average…
In a study of 300 top-level executives from 15
global companies 85-90% of leadership success
was linked to social and emotional intelligence
Spencer, L.M., Jr,. 1997

…are better predictors of success than previous experience or high IQ…
In a multinational study of 515 senior executives EI scores were
high in 74% of successful hires, but only high in 24% of failed hires.
Egon Zehnder International

…and they allow leaders to create high performance climates
Schools whose head teachers have high EI scores
demonstrate the best national inspection results
Ongoing Hay Group research


…bottom-line performance…

EI competencies help professionals do more work…
In most complex jobs a top performer is 127% more productive
than an average performer Hunter, Schmidt & Judiesch, 1990
Competency research in over 200 organizations worldwide
attributes ⅓ of this difference to technical and cognitive ability,
and ⅔ to emotional competence Goleman, 1998

…make more sales…
At L’Oreal, sales professional with high EI scores
sold $91,370 more than their lower-scoring peers
Spencer & Spencer, 1993

…and deliver more profit
High scoring consulting partners delivered $1.2 million
more profit from their accounts than their peers
Boyatzis, 1999


…and better outcomes across all sectors

Examples from nursing…
Nurses and nurse managers with higher EI scores are
responsible for:
 lower staff turnover
 higher frequency of professional practice behaviors
 higher staff, patient and doctor satisfaction

Studies into the doctor-patient relationship show that
doctors’ demonstration of empathy reduces hospital
litigation issues
Hay Group nursing leadership studies, 2003 & 2006
…and manufacturing
After supervisors in a manufacturing plant received training in emotional competencies
–how to listen better and help employees resolve problems on their own – lost-time
accidents were reduced by 50%, formal grievances were reduced from 15 to 3 per year,
and the plant exceeded productivity goals by $250,000 Pesuric & Byham, 1996


Learn more

For information on products and services to help develop your EI visit
www.haygroup.com/leadershipandtalentondemand or call 1.800.729.8074!


Why Being Clever Isnt Everything

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