November’s Quick Poll

 

Understanding the Stages of Change

 

An Article by David Cory, MA

Most people don’t take the EQ-i or other assessments expecting to change their lives. As training, coaching, and employee development professionals, the role of facilitating change is exactly our goal. We don’t want people to come and experience our development initiatives and then carry on doing what they’ve been doing. We want them to change, but we often don’t think carefully enough about what individuals must go through to make positive changes in their lives. This is where “The Stages of Change Model” (Prochaska, Norcross, DiClemente, 1994) can be a very useful tool to remind us to diagnose where a client is in the change process so we can provide the right kind of support at the right time.

The Stages of Change

1. Pre-contemplation – The person hasn’t thought about making a change yet
2. Contemplation – The person is thinking about it, but unsure how to proceed
3. Preparation – The person is choosing between alternative courses of action to formulate a plan
4. Action – The person is implementing of the plan to change
5. Maintenance – The person is working to maintain new behaviors
6. Termination – The person is no longer necessary to work at maintaining new behaviors 

EQ Coaching using the Stages of Change

Once you’ve determined a client is in the Pre-contemplation stage about improving their EQ, your job as a coach is to create the awareness of the need for change. EQ-i scores can assist with this task. A manager might be making their numbers, but increasingly alienating direct reports and not making the connection between their behaviors can damage relationships. The coach will link the negative issues that the client is experiencing with the emotional intelligence skill deficits to raise awareness of the need for change.

A client in the stage of Contemplation needs to make a commitment to making a change before they can proceed to the next stage. The EQ-i reports detail and support their manager’s observations of the connection between their behavior and the damaged relationships. This can conclude in thoughts about making a change, but it is uncertain if they can change or even if they want to make the effort. The coaching professional will focus on how the benefits would outweigh the costs to the client by increasing their EQ.

In the Preparation stage, a client along with the coach will need to consider all the possible ways of making the required changes and reducing these to achievable steps toward developmental goals. These steps and goals become the ‘action plan’ for EQ development, and they should include reviewing the interactions between the EQ-i scales and subscales.

In the Action stage, the coach supports the client in making behavioral changes in reference to his or her EQ-i. Starting with small, safe, and supported changes and moving to larger, ‘bigger risk’ changes. The ‘baby steps’ will draw the client closer towards the developmental goals outlined in the action plan and EQ-i report.

The stage of Maintenance helps to remind the client that they will ‘cycle back’ or relapse into old behaviors, and that this is an acceptable and even necessary part of the change process. It offers the coach and client opportunities for learning more about triggers for old behaviors. Also, it gives an even greater awareness of how and why the client drifts back into old behaviors to reduce the likelihood in future. To further evaluate the changes or “non changes” in behavior, the client is advised to repeat the EQ-i assessment. Since emotional intelligence is a dynamic, the latter assessment results can be compared to the first one to understand the client’s progress.

The stage of Termination suggests that there will be a time in the change process when the client need not work at ‘maintaining’ the change as the client will eventually become ‘unconsciously competent’ as regards the new desired behaviors.

Putting it into Practice

An example of how the ‘Stages of Change Model’ has helped me in my own coaching work is a time when I was speaking with a manager about improving his relationships with his direct reports. After sharing more of his thoughts and emotions, I was puzzled that he could not relate to a conversation about an action plan to address this situation. Then, I realized that he was still in contemplation about the change itself, and he had not yet made a commitment to making the change. Hence, I had to go back to the previous stage and focus on the benefits to him personally and to the organization until he was ready to make a commitment before moving on to a discussion of the action plan for change. 

The benefits to using the ‘Stages of Change Model’ in your client work help you to:

• Remind yourself as a coach to be patient with your client
• Understand that the changes are ‘client dependent’
• Facilitate understanding and acceptance
• Reduce the likelihood of you getting ahead of your client
• Allow you to offer coaching that matches the client’s readiness for change

For more information on the Stages of Change Model, see the book Changing for Good by Prochaska, Norcross, and DiClemente, 1994.

About David Cory

David Cory is the President and founder of The Emotional Intelligence Training Company Inc. (EITC). David is a leadership performance consultant specializing in individual and organizational performance improvement. In addition to a Master of Arts Degree in Adult Education, David is certified as a trainer/facilitator with several leading corporate training companies such as Achieve Global and Development Dimensions International. He is a Certified Trainer in the area of Emotional Intelligence with MHS Inc. and is considered to be an international expert on the integration of emotional intelligence and leadership development.

David’s expertise includes:

• assessment of learning needs;
• design and delivery of customized performance improvement interventions including the development of personal and interpersonal effectiveness skills, leadership skills, presentation skills, and team effectiveness skills;
• psychometric assessment for recruiting, screening and employee development;
• facilitating team building and strategic planning sessions;
• conference and meeting key note presentations, and;
• executive coaching (one-to-one and group/team).

Also, music has always been a big part of David’s life. Ever since he started singing, he’s been using his musical talent to touch people’s lives. He’s recorded an award-nominated album of original music and has incorporated music into corporate training and speaking to rave reviews.

Help… My Client is Brilliant! Coaching People with High IQs

 

Written by Wendy Gordon
Based on an interview with Researcher & OD Consultant Katie Ziemer, MOrgPsych
Contributing Editor: Diana Durek, M.S. Senior Advisor 

It’s happened to nearly every coach: the moment when, just after meeting a new client, you realize this person has an incredible brain. Vocabulary, experience, expertise—perhaps even arrogance —it’s all there. And then comes the sinking feeling that you’re not sure how to work with this person.

It’s not that he’s far too successful or perfect (on the contrary, he may already be setting off your interpersonal alarm bells); it’s the gut feeling you have that you are about to put a concerted effort into this relationship, and he will stonewall every effort you make. So why the emotional wall? And more importantly, what can you do to engage this person in an effective relationship?

[Read the full article...]

September’s Quick Poll Results

 

From “Performance Problem” to VP: How EI Coaching Saved a Career

 

As part of our Partnership Program, we asked expert coaches about their experiences in applying the EQ-i in their coaching practices. This featured article showcases the expertise of MHS partner, Kelley Marko.

An Article by Kelley Marko, MBA, MA

A Vice President of a service organization approached me several years ago about one of his senior managers I’ll call Jim (his real name has been protected).  In my initial conversation with the VP, I was advised that Jim already had “one foot out the door.” If his behavior did not soon change, there would be no other option but to let him go.  Further discussion revealed that Jim was incredibly smart; he was a brilliant strategic thinker and often had the right intention. However, he was prone to put people off with his abrasive nature and he frequently created a high-stress work environment for others.  Despite these challenges the VP was not yet willing to give up on Jim. Instead, the VP was intrigued by the opportunity of supporting Jim in developing his EI through executive coaching as a way to deal with this challenging problem.  Jim and I met, and we began a coaching relationship after several frank discussions.  Two years later, Jim has not only kept his job, but was subsequently promoted to a Vice President position based on the significant turnaround in his leadership behavior that he credits in large part to the focused development of his EI. 

The following phases of development  were developed from my education and trial-and-error experiences as a professional executive coach that helped support Jim along his journey, and they may help others who are faced with a similar challenge.

Phase 1: Ensuring Suitability, Willingness and Proper Motivation for Coaching
The first step with Jim was to ensure that he actually wanted to be coached and was not doing this simply just to please his boss or as a quick fix to save his job.  Experience has taught me that if the coachee is not fully committed to the hard work, a natural part of personal development, then coaching will not be successful.  Also, focusing on the future and how things would be better for Jim and others  was more helpful than focusing strictlyon what he was doing wrong today.  Educating Jim about what coaching is and is not and what he could realistically expect to experience through a personal development process supported Jim in making his own decision on whether to proceed.  Establishing an environment of strict privacy and confidentiality between the two of us also allowed Jim to be vulnerable, more open and honest about balancing his wants and needs with those of the business through our upfront discussions and our ongoing coaching relationship. 

Phase 2:  Up Front Orientation, Assessment and Specific Goal Setting
Before we could begin our official coaching sessions we needed to establish where Jim was at day zero.  To find out, Jim spent the first month doing activities that included EQ-i and 360 assessments, a personality type assessment, and reflective questionnaires.  As we debriefed these assessments and questionnaires, Jim benefited from starting to see common data points from many different sources that he translated into common themes of both strength and development.  We acknowledged that it would be impossible for Jim to address all identified themes, so we then worked through a process to help him choose the three most meaningful and important objectives that he wanted for himself through coaching.   This approach ensured several things:

• Jim was driving the process
• It was in his own language
• It was aligned with his motivations while still meeting organizational needs
• We could continue to measure progress over time.   

Phase 3: Ongoing Coaching Plus Measurement Against Progress Over Time
Ongoing coaching with Jim consisted of no less than two sessions per month. Several things helped Jim be successful through the process of coaching and the hard work of personal development:

• Committing to full engagement in the process by authentically wanting to be coached to develop his EI
• Focusing on the future and how things would be better for him and others helped anchor his willingness to proceed
• Being realistic about the time required to achieve noticeable behavior change
• Acknowledging that he was not engaging in easy work and giving himself permission to struggle as part of his development 
• Balancing transparency with confidentiality by allowing Jim to determine what specific details he wanted to share about our sessions with others including his boss
• Sharing his coaching objectives with his boss and other key identified stakeholders in his development so that they had a sense of what he was working on such that they were less likely to misinterpret his behavior as he tried new things
• Teaching others in the workplace about some of the tools, techniques and frameworks that he was learning about through coaching
• Asking “what worked well?” and “what would you do differently next time?” to reinforce his learning and development
• Checking in on progress against his three specific goals and objectives on a regular basis and changing or augmenting these objectives when needed
• Celebrating his successes and not letting him off the hook with his accountabilities and commitments in mind during coaching

Today, Jim is a successful executive who truly appreciates the value of emotional intelligence in his workplace.

ABOUT Kelley Marko MBA, MA, Consultant, EQ Coach and Learning Facilitator

Kelley is President of Marko Consulting Services Inc., a leading Canadian firm working with organizations worldwide in developing high-performance leaders and enabling sustainable and meaningful change. Kelley’s ultimate focus is to move his clients to strategic and informed action that impacts the bottom line.

Kelley draws on his prior experience as a professional management consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers and partnership with McKinsey in the area of organization and change strategy.

Kelley is also a Professional Executive Coach and a Master Trainer and Coach of Emotional Intelligence (EQ). He has had the pleasure of working with organizations in North America, Central America and Europe and has worked with hundreds of leaders across diverse industries to improve their skills and competencies and improve the success of change initiatives within their organizations.

Top 10 Coaching Tips

 

An Article by Jan Hovrud

Coaching isn’t easy. Here is a list of Top Ten Coaching Tips from one of our esteemed partners from the MHS Partnership Program, Jan Hovrud.

1. Know the organization through the coachee’s eyes
Have the coachee map out the organization and his/her position.  This is an easy exercise that gets the coachee talking about something that s/he is very familiar with. It is critical for the coach to understand the dynamics of the relationships in the organization.

 2. Use a triad of instruments
Build perspective and self-understanding by integrating three instruments.  My favorites are  the EQ-i, MBTI Step II and an internal 360 degree instrument.

 3. Use a continuum approach
Once you have identified the critical behaviors necessary for the coachee’s success and intended career path, have him/her visually mark where they are on a continuum of those behaviors.

 4. Step Away—guide, don’t direct
Sometimes this is the hardest thing to do.  Discovery is the key to helping the coachee make necessary changes.

 5. Build on strengths
This is nothing new, but I find coachees tend to magnify their weaknesses.

 6. Notice behaviors in the moment and link them to improving performance
Say, for example, “While we have been talking, I’ve noticed that you ___.  How does this affect you at work?”

 7. Explore good and bad examples
Ask about what the coachee has learned from previous best and worst leaders.

 8.  Think of jazzy ways for the coachee to remember the points of the session
i.e. ‘Bullets for Bob’, ‘Notes for Nancy’, or ‘Memo’s for Mike’.

 9. Create a learning association with an item on the coachee’s desk
This works great for visual coachees.  For example, a family photo may be used to remind him/her of the need for work/home balance.

 10. Encourage the coachee to find a trusted ‘insider’
This gives them another opportunity to receive feedback on specific growth areas.

About Jan Hovrud

Jan Hovrud, President of Training Werks, Inc.,  is a client-oriented professional with over 18 years of experience in course development, interactive workshop facilitation, coaching, leading and managing.  Her expertise in business best practices and psychological instruments bring tangible business results for her clients.  Her focus is on fostering teamwork, setting high standards for performance and building contributions of individual team members. 

Jan’s work has centered on shifting paradigms, self-reflection and leadership processes.  She is certified in many psychological instruments that enable leaders to see themselves and understand how to achieve higher levels of performance.  Her certifications include the following instruments and concepts:  EQ-i, EQ-i 360, MBTI Step II—Master Practitioner, TKI (Thomas Kilmann Conflict Instrument), FIRO-B, CDP (Conflict Dynamics Profile) and the William Bridges Change Transitions Model.  Jan has extensive knowledge of the EQ-i having coached and facilitated training for over 3,000 government and private sector leaders in this instrument.

Jan travels coast to coast on a weekly basis for clients.  She and her husband have dual residences in Park City, UT and Seattle, WA where they enjoy everything from the Watsch Mountains to Pike’s Market.

Why Smart Leaders Make Dumb Decisions

 

New Book Links Emotional Intelligence to Stress and Decision Making

The Stress Effect: Why Smart Leaders Make Dumb Decisions—And What to Do About It (Jossey-Bass, May 2010) integrates the most powerful concepts that are shaping the future of leadership and business, such as stress, decision making, emotional intelligence, cognitive ability, and brain science. This book is endorsed by MHS president, Dr. Steven Stein and other well-respected EI practitioners, including Reuven Bar-On, Richard Boyatzis, David Caruso and Marcia Hughes. This latest addition to the EI literature is a must-read for all leaders.

In The Stress Effect, emotional intelligence and leadership expert Dr. Henry L. Thompson explores the powerful and undermining effects of stress on good decision making and what leaders can do to improve their decision-making effectiveness—especially when stressed. Dr. Thompson explains that when leaders’ stress levels become sufficiently elevated—whether in the boardroom, the classroom or on the front line of a manufacturing process—their ability to effectively use their emotional intelligence and cognitive ability in tandem to make wise decisions is significantly impaired. Until now, experts have argued that increasing your emotional intelligence will help you cope with and manage stress. The Stress Effect shows that stress actually blocks access to your emotional intelligence as well as your cognitive ability, two critical components in the decision-making process.

The Stress Effect shows leaders how to build resilience to stress and explores a variety of decision-making techniques as well as performance aids to improve decision making under stress. The book includes a free assessment of the seven best practices (ARSENAL) for building Stress Resilience to evaluate your stress hardiness.

Book reviewer Michelle K. Malsbury has this to say about The Stress Effect:

“This was one of the best books on leadership and stress that I have ever had the pleasure to read and review. I would suggest it as a text for all leadership, management, and business courses at the Masters level and above in universities around the world.”

For more information, visit www.thestresseffect.com.

Upcoming Emotional Intelligence Related Conferences

 

International Coaching Federation
Oct. 27-30, 2010
Forth Worth, Texas 

The ICF International Conference is celebrating its 15th anniversary as the world’s leading coaching event.  With over 1200 attendees from the coaching world, MHS will be there, promoting the true ROI benefits of using the EQ-i for personal coaching purposes as well as with large global organizations.  Look out for our booth at this year’s conference. Register now for early bird rates!

Canadian Society for Training and Development (CSTD)
Nov. 17-19, 2010
Toronto, Ontario

With an expected 1400 attendees, CSTD is the largest gathering of training and development professionals in Canada.  MHS will be in attendance as an exhibitor during the 3-day conference. In addition, Dr. Steve Stein, CEO of MHS, will be participating in the Thought Leader Sessions, ‘Improve your Emotional Intelligence, Improve your Business’, as an advocate for discussing Leadership & Change. Find out more.

New EI Book Available: A Coach’s Guide to Emotional Intelligence

 A Coach’s Guide to Emotional Intelligence by James Terrell and Marcia Hughes has just been released by Pfeiffer, a division of Wiley and Sons.  The Guide is a practical resource designed to focus a coach’s or leader’s work with five specific skill areas that are necessary to help your clients or staff develop emotional and social effectiveness. The book outlines strategies for building five key skills areas:

• Valuing Self 
• Valuing Others 
• Responsive Awareness 
• Courage 
• Authentic Success

The strategies in the book relate well to the EQ-i ^® , EQ 360 ^® and the MSCEIT ^™ since a graph is included that correlates the skills identified in the assessments to each of the five emotional and social functioning areas the book addresses.

For more information on A Coach’s Guide to Emotional Intelligence , visit the Collaborative Growth website .

The Impact of EI on Workplace Culture

On 6th May, Jonathan Perks from Penna PLC presented a session entitled “Coaching Leaders to Develop EI” to a complete sell-out crowd at Grosvenor House in London. This interactive presentation was an inspiration with the added bonus of a ‘real life’ example of just how effective the use of the EQ-i® assessment can be when assisting with a developmental coaching process.

Jonathan demonstrated how EQ can improve over time when a coaching process is put into place. He shared with the group the results from a Managing Director of a global bank who had achieved a substantial increase in his EQ over a period of only 6 months. Jonathan went on to show how using the EQ-i to assess EI can be a very powerful coaching tool.

Jonathan stated “EI Works…this Emotional Intelligence measurement [the EQ-i] is powerful, allowing clients to achieve more with less effort. The tool allows not only connection but also affiliation, a real depth between you and your client”. He went on to conclude that “EI is a universal concept whose time has now come.”

Jonathan was assisted throughout his presentation by one of his clients from a global leading law firm. When this client began his coaching sessions with Jonathan and his colleagues at Penna, his direct reports and colleagues stated that they “would rather drink sulphuric acid than work with [the client]”. However, as the result of the changes brought about by a thorough and consistent coaching process adopting an Emotional Intelligence culture, these same individuals, commenting via the client’s EQ-360 feedback, now describe the client as “unrecognisable”.

The client commented that introducing a coaching culture with the help of Jonathan and Penna PLC has caused a complete revelation with a ‘cascading’ effect on the organisation. The client now serves as a coach himself within his organisation, and he finds that employees are volunteering for coaching faster than he can recruit them. Now the organisation is measured by its passion for coaching, and the inspiring experience of the organisation’s metamorphosis has resulted in not only business growth but also greater job satisfaction.