EQ

Research

© 2010 Insite Strategist  LLC

Why your business needs a check up from the neck up

Emotional intelligence, according to Time magazine, "may be the best predictor of success in life." According to the book, Primal Leadership,  evidence on emotional intelligence suggests that it is "as powerful, and at times more powerful, than IQ  and provides an advantage in any domain of life."

Like mental intelligence (IQ), emotional intelligence (EQ) is a function of the brain.  IQ is made up of abilities such as mathematical calculation, memory, vocabulary, word use, etc.  It involves primarily the neo-cortex or top portion of the brain.  EQ is made up of emotional drives, and behavioral tendencies that are motivated by feelings.  It involves the lower and central emotional section of the brain - called the limbic system.  The good news is that you can boost your EQ given the right training and techniques. 

Don’t get left behind, learn how EQ training helped other companies...

~Experienced partners in a multinational consulting firm were assessed on the EQ competencies. The partners who had boosted their EQ delivered $1.2 million more profit from their accounts than did other partners – a 139 percent incremental gain (Boyatzis, 1999)

~The Air Force saved $3 million annually by using emotional intelligence screens to select recruiters and increased their ability to predict successful recruiters by nearly three-fold lowering costs of turnover.  These gains resulted in the Government Accounting Office submitting a report to Congress, which led to a request that the Secretary of Defense order all branches of the armed forces to adopt this procedure in recruitment and selection. (The GAO report is titled, "Military Recruiting: The Department of Defense Could Improve Its Recruiter Selection and Incentive Systems," and it was submitted to Congress January 30, 1998. Richard Handley and Reuven Bar-On provided this information.)

At L’Oreal, sales agents trained in emotional intelligence significantly outsold salespeople without training. On an annual basis, salespeople selected on the basis of emotional competence sold $91,370 more than other salespeople did for a net revenue increase of $2,558,360. Salespeople trained in emotional intelligence also had 63% less turnover (Spencer & Spencer, 1993; Spencer, McClelland, & Kelner, 1997).

In a national insurance company, insurance sales agents who were weak in emotional competencies such as self-confidence, initiative, and empathy sold policies with an average premium of $54,000. Those who were very strong in at least 5 of 8 key emotional competencies sold policies worth $114,000 (Hay/McBer Research and Innovation Group, 1997).

For 515 senior executives analyzed by the search firm Egon Zehnder International, those who were primarily strong in emotional intelligence were more likely to succeed than those who were strongest in either relevant previous experience or IQ. In other words, emotional intelligence was a better predictor of success than either relevant previous experience or high IQ. More specifically, the executive was high in emotional intelligence in 74 percent of the successes and only in 24 percent of the failures. The study included executives in Latin America, Germany, and Japan, and the results were almost identical in all three cultures.

Research by the Center for Creative Leadership has found that the primary causes of derailment in executives involve deficits in emotional competence. The three primary ones are difficulty in handling change, not being able to work well in a team, and poor interpersonal relations.

An analysis of more than 300 top-level executives from fifteen global companies showed that six emotional intelligence competencies distinguished stars from the average: Influence, Team Leadership, Organizational Awareness, self-confidence, Achievement Drive, and Leadership (Spencer, L. M., Jr., 1997).

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, lost-time accidents were reduced by 50 percent, formal grievances were reduced from an average of 15 per year to 3 per year, and the plant exceeded productivity goals by $250,000 (Pesuric & Byham, 1996). In another manufacturing plant where supervisors received similar training, production increased 17 percent. There was no such increase in production for a group of matched supervisors who were not trained (Porras & Anderson, 1981).

One of the foundations of emotional competence -- accurate self-assessment -- was associated with superior performance among several hundred managers from 12 different organizations (Boyatzis, 1982).

Another emotional competence, the ability to handle stress, was linked to success as a store manager in a retail chain. The most successful store managers were those best able to handle stress. Success was based on net profits, sales per square foot, sales per employee, and per dollar inventory investment (Lusch & Serpkeuci, 1990).

Optimism is another emotional competence that leads to increased productivity. New salesmen at Met Life who scored high on a test of "learned optimism" sold 37 percent more life insurance in their first two years than pessimists (Seligman, 1990).

A study of 130 executives found that how well people handled their own emotions determined how much people around them preferred to deal with them (Walter V. Clarke Associates, 1997).

For sales reps at a computer company, those hired based on their emotional competence were 90% more likely to finish their training than those hired on other criteria (Hay/McBer Research and Innovation Group, 1997).

At a national furniture retailer, sales people hired based on emotional competence had half the dropout rate during their first year (Hay/McBer Research and Innovation Group, 1997).

The following description of a "star" performer reveals how several emotional competencies (noted in italics) were critical in his success: Michael Iem worked at Tandem Computers. Shortly after joining the company as a junior staff analyst, he became aware of the market trend away from mainframe computers to networks that linked workstations and personal computers (Service Orientation). Iem realized that unless Tandem responded to the trend, its products would become obsolete (Initiative and Innovation). He had to convince Tandem’s managers that their old emphasis on mainframes was no longer appropriate (Influence) and then develop a system using new technology (Leadership, Change Catalyst). He spent four years showing off his new system to customers and company sales personnel before the new network applications were fully accepted (Self-confidence, Self-Control, Achievement Drive) (from Richman, L. S., "How to get ahead in America," Fortune, May 16, 1994, pp. 46-54).

Financial advisors at American Express whose managers completed the Emotional Competence training program were compared to an equal number whose managers had not. During the year following training, the advisors of trained managers grew their businesses by 18.1% compared to 16.2% for those whose managers were untrained.

In jobs of medium complexity (sales clerks, mechanics), a top performer is 12 times more productive than those at the bottom and 85 percent more productive than an average performer. In the most complex jobs (insurance salespeople, account managers), a top performer is 127 percent more productive than an average performer (Hunter, Schmidt, & Judiesch, 1990). Competency research in over 200 companies and organizations worldwide suggests that about one-third of this difference is due to technical skill and cognitive ability while two-thirds is due to emotional competence (Goleman, 1998). (In top leadership positions, over four-fifths of the difference is due to emotional competence.)

The most successful debt collectors in a large collection agency had an average goal attainment of 163 percent over a three-month period. They were compared with a group of collectors who achieved an average of only 80 percent over the same time period. The most successful collectors scored significantly higher in the emotional intelligence competencies of self-actualization, independence, and optimism. (Self-actualization refers to a well-developed, inner knowledge of one's own goals and a sense of pride in one's work.) (Bachman et al., 2000).

In a large beverage firm, using standard methods to hire division presidents, 50% left within two years, mostly because of poor performance. When they started selecting based on emotional competencies such as initiative, self-confidence, and leadership, only 6% left in two years. Furthermore, the executives selected based on emotional competence were far more likely to perform in the top third based on salary bonuses for performance of the divisions they led: 87% were in the top third. In addition, division leaders with these competencies outperformed their targets by 15 to 20 percent. Those who lacked them under-performed by almost 20% (McClelland, 1999).

Now that you know better, you can do better.  Call to schedule a EQ training for your staff today at 239-216-0431.

References

Bachman, J., Stein, S., Campbell, K., & Sitarenios, G. (2000). Emotional intelligence in the collection of debt. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 8(3), 176-182.

Boyatzis, R. E. (1999). From a presentation to the Linkage Conference on Emotional Intelligence, Chicago, IL, September 27, 1999.

Boyatzis, R. (1982). The competent manager: A model for effective performance. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam.

Hay/McBer Research and Innovation Group (1997). This research was provided to Daniel Goleman and is reported in his book (Goleman, 1998).

Hunter, J. E., Schmidt, F. L., & Judiesch, M. K. (1990). Individual Differences in Output Variability as a Function of Job Complexity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, 28-42.

Lusch, R. F., & Serpkeuci, R. (1990). Personal differences, job tension, job outcomes, and store performance: A study of retail managers. Journal of Marketing.

McClelland, D. C. (1999). Identifying competencies with behavioral-event interviews. Psychological Science, 9(5), 331-339.

Pesuric, A., & Byham, W. (1996, July). The new look in behavior modeling. Training and Development, 25-33.

Porras, J. I., & Anderson, B. (1981). Improving managerial effectiveness through modeling-based training. Organizational Dynamics, 9, 60-77.

Richman, L. S. (1994, May 16). How to get ahead in America. Fortune, 46-54.

Seligman, M. E. P. (1990). Learned optimism. New York: Knopf.

Spencer, L. M., Jr. , & Spencer, S. (1993). Competence at work: Models for superior performance. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Spencer, L. M. J., McClelland, D. C., & Kelner, S. (1997). Competency assessment methods: History and state of the art. Boston: Hay/McBer.

Walter V. Clarke Associates. (1996). Activity vector analysis: Some applications to the concept of emotional intelligence. Pittsburgh, PA: Walter V. Clarke Associates.

Harvard Business’s Strong Leaders MUST have good EQ

Amazing Statistics of the Importance of EQ

Other Emotional Intelligence Research:

1.  Self discipline:  It has been found that olympic athletes, world class musicians, & chess grand masters all have one specific attribute in common.  All three groups participate in consistent and repetitive training routines much more so than the general population.  In other words, they have an emotional strength in the area of self discipline.   ["Motivation and Elite Performance" Anders Ericsson, American Psychologist (Aug. 1994)]

2.  Delay of gratification: Studies have shown that a child's ability to delay gratification (to wait to get what they want) at a young age is correlated with higher academic performance and higher SAT scores later in life.   [SAT scores of impulsive and self-controlled children, Phil Peake]

3.  Optimism (i.e. a positive attitude) in freshman college students was found to be a better predictor of good grades than was their SAT scores.  [Martin Seligman, The New York Times, Feb 3, 1987]

4.  Empathy (concern for and awareness of others feelings) has been found to be associated with children being popular at school, being emotionally stable, and scoring better in school. [Stephen Norwicki and Marshall Duke, American Psychological Society Meeting, (1989)]