Emotional Intelligence and Negotiation

  Win Win Solution Negotiation Image

Talented leaders recognize that skillful negotiation not only brings the best outcome, but also helps build lasting relationships in the organization.

Collaborative negotiation can be powerful in driving fresh approaches, moving through change in positive ways and finding creative solutions.

Using your emotional intelligence is an important factor in exercising a collaborative negotiation style. Every stage of the negotiation process requires the artistry of effectively demonstrating strength in emotional intelligence.

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Coaching with a ConnectionCoaching Image

Coaching is a critical aspect of every leader’s job.

Meeting with team members provides you with an opportunity to remove obstacles to success, brainstorm strategies for improvement, identify and develop strengths, assess career direction and gage job satisfaction.

Guiding individuals to be their best involves connecting in a meaningful, supportive way.

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Building Trust into your Leadership

  Building Trust Image

Remember the first time you rode a bike without training wheels?

There was a critical moment where you decided to try it even though you were afraid. Most likely, there was someone nearby coaching you and letting you know you were ready.

It’s much the same with building trust into your leadership. People who trust their leader will follow him/her even when the outcome may be scary or the change difficult to accept.

Trustworthiness is developed by a number of actions that you consistently take. They need to be demonstrated sincerely and equally with team members.

William Bridges outlines specific ways to build trust in his book, Managing Transitions – Making the Most of Change.

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Survive and Thrive with EQ Flexibility

  Survive and Thrive with EQ Flexibility Image

A few years ago on vacation in Mexico, my husband and I visited a water park. There we experienced a float bridge of sorts.

While crossing the water, the bridge ebbed and flowed with our every movement. The more resistance that we showed the more the bridge seemed to want to dump us into the water.

It was clear, we learned with experience, that we needed to “go with the flow” in order to safely get across. Be flexible and we would make it.

Flexibility, as defined by Reuven Bar-On, author of the EQ-instrument, is the “ability to adjust one’s feelings, thoughts and behavior to changing situations and conditions.”

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Stress, Workplace Success and Emotional Intelligence

  Workplace Stress Image

Leaders who demonstrate strong emotional intelligence are able to better build relationships, drive teams to improve performance, adapt to change and deal with difficult job demands.

In a national study of over 1000 working Americans aged 18 and over done by Legar Marketing and Multi-Health Systems, stress was found to have a detrimental effect on emotional intelligence.

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It’s All About Me

  It’s All About Me - Ego Image

Leaders walk a fine line of humility. We have all known a leader who was self-centered, arrogant, egotistical or the like.

This excessive confidence can manifest itself in mistakes, solo decision-making, failure to see consequences, dysfunctional teams, and superficial relationships.

Leaders constantly must balance the confidence they need to succeed with the danger of an overbearing ego.

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Type and Conflict

  Type and Conflict Image

Conflict describes many different types of interactions. These challenges occur every day in our personal and professional lives. Since you can’t escape them, learning how to handle conflict is critical.

Recent research by Damian Killen and Danica Murphy have revealed that the last two preferences (Thinking or Feeling; Judging or Perceiving) of the Myers-Briggs Psychological Type Theory have significant bearing on people’s focus and response to conflict.

Reality Testing – Developing Your Mental Picture

  Reality Check Image

The first time you put in those new prescription contact lenses or donned glasses, the world was a much clearer, brighter place. The truth is that we get used to seeing things in a certain way and perhaps don’t notice that things could be seen in a better perspective.

Reality Testing, one of the fifteen competencies on the EQ-I (Emotional Quotient Instrument), defines our ability to accurately size up situations. It is the capability to see things objectively—the way they are, rather than the way we wish or fear them to be. The emphasis is on pragmatism, objectivity, being well grounded and realistic.

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Be a Networking Pro

  Be a Networking Pro Image

Spring and summer bring a tidal wave of opportunities for conferences, workshops and meetings.

Networking isn’t just showing up and handing out your business cards. Effective networkers know that being good at this skill is an art.

With all of the demands on our professional and personal lives, it is easy to assign a lower priority to networking. When in fact, networking is essential for development, advancement and personal fulfillment.

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Conflict and Type

  Conflict and Type Image

When conflicts become reoccurring or frequent, type is a useful tool for building a clearer communication picture.

Not surprising when people are in conflict they most naturally fall back on their strongest preferences.

The table below provides information on how you may self-reflect on your responses to conflict or to identify the preferences of others are using in a conflict.

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