Conversational Intelligence

You just can’t put a three way prong plug directly into a two way outlet.  You can, however, if you add an adapter that modifies the socket to accept the plug. That is an import lesson that can be applied to conversation.

Last week our Tuesday Tip focused on the importance of EQ (Emotional Intelligence). Today we will explore the power of conversation and conversational intelligence.

Conversations are an essential interaction in business. Often, conversations occur daily with the same people and, if you’ve mastered that relationship, you ‘plug in’ to each other easily.  There are times though that conversations involve someone we don’t talk with often but with whom the communication is no less important – how well are you two really plugged in?

Conversation happens in real time and offers instant feedback to both parties. That feedback can serve as your guide to understanding if the conversation is going well or not. Conversational intelligence is the ability to recognize and effectively respond in real time to the person you are engaged with.

To promote conversational intelligence we need to learn how to frame the communication in ways that the receivers will be open to hearing our message. This is especially important when the conversation has the potential to be a difficult one.  It is vital for you to get those critical spoken messages right in order to avoid mis-communication and its consequences.  If I somehow force my three prong into that socket I risk overloading it and invite something negative to happen which, at its worst, could be a complete system failure.

You (and your counterpart in the conversation) are more vulnerable to reacting poorly when the conversation triggers your stress behavior and causes you to make ‘mistakes’ (Overload. Failure.) This could actually push you further away from what you really want – a solution to the issue that you are both satisfied with.

One of the most frequently run reports in imapMyTeam® is the How to Talk report. With good reason!

The How To Talk report is the adapter that allows my 3 plug cord to adapt to your 2 hole socket and properly connect us to power up for results.

That report is foundational to relationships and when its guidelines are followed sets you on the accurate path to have successful conversations of all types with others on your team and beyond. 

Emotional Intelligence as a Career Strategy

“I didn’t realize that, Oh my, I can fix that!”

I have heard that more than once over the years when I point out how someone’s behavior creates an unintentional clash with someone else’s motivational need.

Your ability and willingness to manage yourself, and successfully manage others, has been consistently shown by research to have a positive impact on meeting organizational goals and objectives. This ability is called ‘EQ’, or emotional intelligence.

It is said that more than 85% of people who are failing in their role are doing so because of a lack of ‘EQ’ not technical or hard skills.

Lack of EQ shows up many ways. Failure to communicate, poor collaboration, inability to get along with teammates, unwillingness to resolve disagreements, isolation of critical business partners, creating a climate of conflict – I’m sure you could name more. A deficiency of EQ has an impact on others that is nonproductive and creates barriers to individual and team success.

EQ issues don’t always lead to termination, but it can be argued they often lead to career stagnation. It is extremely difficult to advance your career if you cannot effectively manage yourself and your relationships.

Decades of research point to emotional intelligence as the critical factor that sets star performers apart from the rest of the pack. In a recent study, a well-known firm tested emotional intelligence alongside 33 other important workplace skills, and found that emotional intelligence is the strongest predictor of performance, explaining a full 58% of success in all types of jobs. Additionally a resounding 90% of top performers scored high in EQ and on average those individuals earned $29,000 more than their lower EQ peers. WOW!

imapMyTeam®, while not EQ training, does give you an EQ edge.

It helps you understand what others expect from you in various situations and often imapMyTeam prescribes what you need to do for or with others. Awareness improves - EQ skyrockets. So will your career.

Contents Under Pressure

I was cleaning out my garage; making room to store summer things and purging items that have been stockpiled too long.

I came across a few old, forgotten aerosol cans that read ‘contents under pressure’ - while I deliberated what I needed to do to safely dispose those cans, I  thought about how much pressure people feel these days.

I wondered – if people had a warning label about their reaction to pressure what would it say? “Danger- explodes under pressure!” or maybe “Caution – deflates when pressured.”

Those warning labels, if they existed, might say a lot of different things since the causes of pressure, and our reaction to it are so very different. What is universal is that the pressure we feel is very real to us.

Pressure causes a disturbance in our human performance system.

Inability to handle pressure can be perceived to be a weakness, but being under pressure is common. Sometimes it is even encouraged.  Some leaders believe that using pressure to push employees to rise to the occasion is a sound practice. Without debating if it is or not, the more important question is - can you manage yourself out of the counterproductive behavior that comes from the pressure? Can you ‘reset’ your performance system?

With imapMyTeam® you can.  We designed a specific report to increase people’s awareness of pressure. It begins by describing how the pressure is affecting you, but perhaps most importantly- prescribes how you can take steps to counter that disturbance and succeed.

The report is called ‘Succeed Under Pressure.’ If it has been a while since you reviewed it, you should revisit it. Feeling pressure? By all means, login and get your report now.

Can I Have More Than 8 seconds, Please

Another week; another startling study.

This is not a trick question -Who possesses greater focus, you or a goldfish?

A recent study calculates that the average human will likely ‘swim’ away from this Tuesday Tip in 8 seconds – and of course if you do, you miss the most important part of the story.

Yes, we now register an attention span of 8 seconds, down from approximately 12 seconds in 2000. Microsoft says that is a product of the digital age and a byproduct of the mobile internet.  A goldfish by the way, clocks in at 9 seconds.

How does imapMyTeam® figure into this?

Your time is precious. You want information and answers fast. imapMyTeam delivers fast. You will likely be able to login, find the report you need and quickly read a descriptive or prescriptive phrase in about 60 -90 seconds, 120 seconds tops. Ok, maybe as long as 180 seconds.

That is fast, but not 8 seconds fast!

We need you to lend us (You will need to invest) a little more than 8 seconds of your time, and we will provide a healthy return on your investment. As in less time wasted on conflict, miscommunication, misunderstandings, and other things that bog down the progress you need to make. More time to do the important things that contribute to your success. Even if you choose to do those things 8 seconds at a time, give imapMyTeam® more than 8 seconds of your attention and we will deliver results.