Thank you for listening to The Champion Forum Podcast with Jeff Hancher. What do you do when you feel stuck in your career? Sometimes the answer isn’t to develop your technical skills or apply to a new job. Sometimes, you need to develop your emotional intelligence to move forward and increase your team’s productivity and creativity. In this episode, I interview Karissa Harrison about the practical ways you can use the Enneagram to increase your EQ, improve your leadership, and grow your team.
What is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to understand, use, and manage your emotions so that you can effectively communicate, empathize with others, and resolve conflict. People with high emotional intelligence have self-awareness, the ability to regulate their emotions, internal motivation, empathy, and social skills.
Q: What do you think when you think about emotional intelligence? How much did you know about it before this episode? Why do you think it is a trait many employers value even more than technical skills? Have you ever worked with someone who had especially high or low EQ? Describe that experience. How did it affect your work?
Why is Emotional Intelligence important?
Employees with high EQ are more likely to respond well to pressure and resolve conflicts within the workplace. Culture beats strategy. You can have the clearest vision and the best strategy, but if your employees have personal or interpersonal issues, it will cause tension and limit your creativity and productivity.
How can EQ help you in your career?
Usually, when you have the skills to be successful but you are not being promoted, it is because your relationships with your peers and teammates are not what they should be. To solve that problem, you have to become increasingly self-aware. Your thoughts will create your feelings, and your feelings will create actions. When you learn how to understand your motivations, you can stop operating on autopilot and move into a mode where you can grow and self-manage your emotions. Then, you will be able to pause and respond instead of just react.
Q: How has your emotional intelligence helped your career? Describe a time when you had to use your emotional intelligence at work. Do you think EQ or IQ is more important? Why? If you were going to hire someone, which would you value most?
Where do leaders go wrong?
You have to realize that not everyone sees the world the way that you do. Your goal should be to adjust your style and our approach and the way we lead and interact. Building emotional intelligence as a leader starts with an awareness of what’s happening internally inside of you and an ability to notice what’s happening in people around you and then respond accordingly. Don’t take things at face value. Don’t act on autopilot. Take a moment to be present, mindful, and proactive.
What tools can help you improve your EQ?
One of the best tools for developing your EQ is the Enneagram. Lots of personality tests describe personality traits, but the Enneagram helps us understand why we think, feel, and behave the way that we do. You can treat the symptoms of personality, but the Enneagram gets the root cause of the problem. It describes the core fear and core desire that drives your thoughts, feelings, and behavior so that you can change them. Then we can begin to realize that other people don’t see life the same way that you do, and when you understand their internal motivation, you can adjust the way you lead. Ultimately, this will build trust and synergy on your team.
Q: Have you ever heard about the Enneagram before? What do you know about it? Based on this episode, how do you think it could help you grow personally? How could it help your team grow?
Why use the Enneagram?
The Enneagram helps you understand the box you’ve been living in. It gives you a framework for how to become your best self. The Enneagram will show you what makes people tick and help you create compassion and understanding within your team
What are some tangible steps to increase EQ?
Reflect. You have to take the time to reflect and think about what you were feeling and what the other person was feeling. If you’re not reflecting, you’re not growing.
Use great resources. Do a deep dive into who you are and the way you are wired.
Respond. Sometimes we are taking in so much information that we’re not responding to what we are learning and putting it into action. Choose to respond!
Resources:
Application Activities
Read about the different types of the Enneagram online, including their core fears and desires. Which type resonates with you the most? If you want to take a deeper dive, check out The Road Back to You or visit karissaharrison.com to
Talk to a trusted mentor or friend about your EQ. Ask them how you come off during difficult conversations. Stay open to feedback and ask probing questions. Your goal should be to understand how other people perceive you so that you can make adjustments to your behavior that will help you communicate better and achieve the results you are looking for.
If you have a role in hiring your team, look at the questions on your hiring interview or questionnaire. How many questions do you have related to skill? How many questions are related to EQ? Come up with some questions or situations that you can use to evaluate each applicant’s EQ during the interview process.
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