WorkingInSync Blog

Where can your business find the competitive advantage? With a mobile workforce, globalization, and on-demand information, products and property are just not enough. Emerging organizations are investing in their relationships with customers, employees, and leaders – and over the next decades the people side will increasingly become the only meaningful competitive advantage, and this is where Emotional Intelligence or Emotional Quotient (EQ) and competencies come in.

Emotional Quotient is the ability to sense, understand and effectively apply the power and acumen of emotions.

Our level of EQ is important because our emotions motivate us to pursue our unique potential.  If you think about it – when you feel good – you have enough drive to make the most of your life. But when you feel low it’s hard to achieve anything.

In the business environment, EQ is important because it help you leverage your awareness of emotions for workplace effectiveness.

In a paper prepared by the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations, research conducted in successful organizations showed common traits among its people that led to significant improvements in their bottom lines.

Sales and EQ at Work At L’Oreal, employees selected on the basis of certain emotional competencies sold $91,370 more than salespeople selected with the company’s old selection procedure did, for a net revenue increase of $2,558,360. Employees selected on the basis of emotional competence also had 63% less turnover during the first year than those selected in the typical way.

After supervisors in a manufacturing plant received training in emotional competencies such as how to listen better and help employees resolve problems on their own. After training:

• lost-time accidents were reduced by 50 percent
• formal grievances were reduced from an average of 15 per year to 3 per year
• the plant exceeded productivity goals by $250,000 (Pesuric & Byham, 1996).

Martin Seligman, Learned Optimism Experienced partners in a multinational consulting firm were assessed on the EQ competencies plus three others. Partners who scored above the median on 9 or more of the 20 competencies delivered $1.2 million more profit from their accounts than did other partners – a 139% incremental gain.

The good news is that EQ can be learned. Let us tell you how.

• Communication: What is really holding us back?
• Leadership: Developing clarity, defining roles leading to a 20% improvement rate.
• Transforming Cultures: Helping Organizations to think Differently, in other words “Changing the Mindset”

We provided a number of client case studies of how we helped leaders increase their internal flexibility by addressing the emotional barriers inhibiting their ability to change. Executives who attended the conference realized when a company dedicates the necessary resources to learning about the various work styles of its employees, productivity increases.

Missed our Executive Brief?  Email us at: whit.mitchell@valley.net

The Challenging Side of Growth Can growth have a dark side? For
many businesses, rapid growth has actually swamped their ship. This
was not the case with Latva Machine Inc. (Latva), but Latva president,

Mitch Latva, observed a few critical issues developing. As a smaller company, it had been easy to know what was happening on the floor at any given time. The increasing
volume of work created a breakdown in communication. It was no longer possible to pick up a clipboard and see the progress of a project.

Collaboration Begins Latva turned to well-known executive coach and business consultant, Whit Mitchell (Working InSync International). His initial analysis revealed a need for far-reaching change, and Ron Price
(Price Associates), considered a change agent, was engaged to help
leadership take a look at the entire business operation. Mitchell and Price recommended implementing a total quality management (TQM) process, including:

• Four days of training
• 12 months follow-up
• Executive coaching for five senior managers.

1. Improve the purchase order routing system.
2. Implement training for all employees to improve efficiencies,decrease scrap and rework, and increase quality.
3. Create a checklist for the set-up process – to insure accuracy.

Recently, I was coaching a business owner who was aware he was not communicating effectively with his employees.  It was affecting the environment, as people were not talking with each other, creating stress and low morale.  Conflicts between individuals were ending up in his office instead of being handled person to person. He discovered he needed to get people more involved in the business, more passionate about their work and less involved in daily conflicts.

In the weekly session provided by WIS, one of the action steps he agreed to take was to stop by each person’s desk daily for a one-minute chat; it didn’t have to be businesses related.  Before he knew it people were coming in his door, which they had never done before, asking for his ideas and input, asking to take on more responsibility and authority and spending less time creating conflicts with each other.

The leader had opened the door for communication by spending a small amount of time daily taking an interest in his employees.  His daily checking led his employees to trust him more.  This change led to a more open and honest office environment.  People for the first time felt as though they could approach the boss and ask for help and assistance.  People started taking on more responsibility and authority which led to the boss giving up more control to the employees, which led to people being more passionate about their work.  Within the next month there was a 36 percent increase in productivity without any increase in expenses.

Learn more about team work and executive development at:  http://workinginsync.com/

Let the Job Talk
Businesses everywhere are seeking better ways to secure the talent necessary for success. But what talent does a job require for superior performance? Only the JOB has the answer, so let the job talk and listen carefully. TTI’s patented job benchmarking process enables businesses to assess the job and talent to find the best job fit.
Depending on the benchmarking tool used, you can quickly determine the behaviors, values, personal skills and task preferences required for superior performance. TTI’s job benchmarking process makes it easy to remove common biases often associated with the hiring process. Instead, factual data based on job requirements provide a solid foundation for coaching and hiring success!
The Job Benchmarking Process
TTI’s patented job benchmarking process is a unique and effective solution because it benchmarks a specific job, not the people in the job. To do this, we let the job talk through an interactive process and job assessment. With the expertise of a TTI Value Added Associate, the job benchmarking process will help you make your next
great hire.

• Identify the Job to be Benchmarked It is important to understand why the job exists, how success in the job is measured, the history of the position and how it fits the company’s strategy.
• Identify Subject Matter Experts Subject Matter Experts are people within the organization that have a direct connection to the job and use their expertise to create the job benchmark. Subject Matter Experts let the job talk and define the position’s key accountabilities, or critical goals and key business successes the job is accountable for.

• Prioritize and Weigh Key Accountability. The Subject Matter Experts rank the key accountability by importance and time requirements.
• Respond to the Job Assessment Individually Based on the key accountabilities, each Subject Matter Expert responds to the job assessment, providing their input on performance requirements of the job.
• Review the Multiple Respondent Report Based on a unique analysis, the Multiple Respondent Report combines the input of all Subject Matter Experts to create a benchmark for the job that lists the job requirements in each category measured.

• Compare Talent to the Job Benchmark A talent assessment on the same scale as the job will identify the characteristics an individual will bring to the job, allowing you to easily determine the best job
  fit and identify coaching opportunities.
• Discuss the Results & Implementation Strategy Within the framework of a company’s overall selection
  process, effective hiring decisions can be made and productivity can begin immediately.

Begin today with a review of how Working InSync’s  TTI’s Job Benchmarking Process can contribute to your talent management—and lay the foundation for success!