Tony Blair has apparently said that Gordon Brown has zero Emotional Intelligence? Do you and your organisation have the Emotional Intelligence required to lead?

Daniel Goleman’s books show the direct link between Emotional Intelligence and leadership ability.

The good news is that Emotional Intelligence can be improved. We provide a range of workshops to build the key components of Emotional Intelligence.

Food for thought?

Have you considered a Myers Briggs Team Day?

Here is some feedback from a day I did last week:

“  I have spoken to all who attended and they all enjoyed it and found it very useful.

 Some comments that were made were:

 ”a very interesting, thought-provoking (and fun!) morning”

 ”he also did a good job of getting input out of the whole team”

 ”The tasks and visuals were also great fun and the way of introducing ourselves through these broke a lot of barriers for people”

I’m sure we will be able to build on this and will be in touch with you later in the year regarding further team building ideas.”

See our Myers Briggs page for more information.

Think about a Myers Briggs (MBTI) team day if you would like your team to have …

• Greater understanding of their own personal operating style and how that may affect their relationships with others and performance at work.
• Recognition of and appreciation for differences with others, thus reducing conflict and enhancing team interaction.
• Recognition of individual contributions to the team thus enhancing creativity and the problem solving ability of the team.
• Ability to see things from other perspectives, valuing diversity and so, enabling teamwork to flourish.
• A framework for better communication both internally within the team and externally leading to greater productivity.
• A framework of influencing tools to ensure the team’s message is successfully bought in to.
• Engagement.

Self Awareness is the cornerstone of Emotional Intelligence . Dan Siegel in his book Mindsight states “Becoming open to our body’s states – the feelings in our heart, the sensations in our belly, the rhythm of our breatjing – is a powerful source of information. Becoming open to them is a gateway to self awareness”

Brain Rules is a great website outlining the rules you need to keep in mind to engage, influence, communicate with others.

How often do you reflect? Reflecting on what goes well and less well is key to improved performance. Daniel Siegel in his book ‘Mindsight’ says ” the essence of reflection is that we remain open, observant and objective about whats going on both inside us and inside others’ . Food for thought?

Peter Northouse in his book ‘Leadership and Practice’ defines leadership as “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.”

He explains that defining leadership as a process has implications – ” it means that it is not a trait or characteristic that resides in the leader but a transactional event that occurs between the leader and his or her followers”

Food for thought?

Presentation Skills – Feed the positive thoughts

Or: Wolves, plants, water via Peter Thomson

I heard the story it was about the Native American boy asking
his grandfather about life. The wise one had explained that inside
every person there were two wolves. One was brave and one was
cowardly.

The boy asked which one was the stronger. The grandpa replied:
“Whichever one you feed the most!”

I’ve heard the story based on two plants growing and the same
reply would suffice – whichever one you feed.

Here’s a slightly different take:

Let’s say your thoughts are as buckets full of water.

Unfortunately there’s a hole in each and every bucket
so the water slowly runs away.

Imagine for a moment one of your regular thoughts
is about success and achievement – whilst another is
the worry of failure.

Each bucket is full of water – but slowly and surely the
water is dripping away through the holes in the bottom
of these containers.

If…

You keep adding ‘water’ to your success thoughts bucket –
you’ll be able to keep it full and clear and fresh.

If you STOP adding water to your failure thoughts bucket,
sooner rather than later it will empty and rust away to nothing.

Three stories, three ideas, three methods of reminding us both
that success starts with the thoughts we regularly hold in
our minds.

And perhaps…

As importantly – the words we utter based on those words.

I’m going to be more aware of my thoughts and my words
to make certain my right buckets are full, my plants are
healthy and strong and my wolf of success is constantly
ready to spring.
From Peter Thomson www.tgimondays.com

Another favourite tip: Presentation Skills – You cannot not communicate

Good article on the three keys to making behavioural change stick: Behaviour change

Interesting pictures in the press today showing rapport between Cameron and Clegg