Emotional Intelligence is necessary

🧐 I talked with a new friend yesterday about his consulting business. He is working with mid size businesses on their succession plans and he has a tool that assesses the engagement of employees. His coaching involves selling a business and how much employee engagement is a factor.

🎳 Well, that conversation was right up my Emotional Intelligence alley! I sold my business to 3 people who worked for me. If there had not been higher emotional intelligence at that table, it would have been a disaster. Not only high EI among the partners but we used an EI assessment for years in the business so I feel confident in saying most of the team had higher emotional intelligence making the transition in ownership a lot easier.

🔈 Many people say Emotional Intelligence is a "soft skill" and overrated in business. BUT, as a leader, Emotional Intelligence is necessary.

💥 I had a client tell me recently that he talked with his team about the KPI's of losing a customer if their product is not good. I asked if they paid attention. Well, no. His lower score on EI was Emotional Expression. I asked him to try to put some emotion into it and tell me the outcome. When I saw him 2 weeks later, he said that he put some emotion into it by saying " I was disappointed in the outcome of the product to the customer. We can not let the customers lose confidence in us." He said the team all shook their heads and understood. He was amazed! As we discussed, the KPI will follow if you get the team to feel a little of your pain. Soft skill? Maybe. Necessary? Definitely.

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