Taming Big Projects with Today’s Technology

Article by Dana Ackley

Dana Ackley’s work with Covenant Healthcare uncovers his streamlined and efficient tools involving the EQ-i and technology to engage with his client with powerful, results-driven processes and insights. We hope to build your expertise in EI through this insightful analysis.

EQ Leader, Inc., headquartered in Virginia, is currently working with Covenant HealthCare, a major healthcare system in Michigan. Of approximately 4,000 employees, 230 of them are classified as leaders. The project goal was to help design and implement a program that would address the development needs of all leaders in the organization, from front line supervisors to CEO.

History

Al VanArsdal, Covenant’s Director of HR/OD, wanted a program that allowed each leader to custom design a development process that met that leader’s individual needs. In preparation, VanArsdal’s department asked every Covenant leader, “what skills do you need to be a successful leader at Covenant?”

Hundreds of responses were gathered and sorted into categories. Analysis revealed two major “buckets.” One bucket was labeled Technical-Cognitive, or Tech-Cog. It contained skills such as scheduling, budgeting, and time management. The second bucket, labeled EQ, contained skills which could be meaningfully linked to one or more of the fifteen skills measured by the EQ-i.

Assessment

Each of the 230 leaders was given two assessment tools to help them identify those skills that would be most useful for them to develop.

The first tool measured tech-cog skills. Based on this assessment, leaders could prioritize their own learning agendas, selecting the tech-cog skills they wanted to improve.

The second tool was an EQ assessment. Twenty senior executives completed a pre-assessment interview and an EQ 360. The data was then compiled into an individualized feedback report that summarized the results and offered suggestions for development consistent with each of the executive’s goals. Executives met with their interviewer post-assessment to review the report.

The remaining 210 leaders completed the EQ-i. Each leader received a computerized report from MHS and a private debrief session. To make the debrief session more effective, leaders who completed the EQ-i also completed a ten item “written interview,” to provide context for the professional who met with them to discuss their results.

The EQ assessment and debrief helped leaders determine which EQ skills should be targeted for optimal performance in their leadership role.

Planning

All 230 leaders participated in two day-long workshops (several sessions of each workshop were held to keep groups small). The Day One workshop was a keynote seminar orienting participants to EQ, EQ-based leadership tools, and tech-cog tools. Day Two was a developmental planning process that took its design from the EQ Leader Program (Ackley, 2006).

Execution

As an aid to tech-cog skill development, Covenant purchased a broad e-learning tool with over 6000 courses for leaders to choose from. The vendor is BizLibrary.

For EQ skill development, the twenty senior executives were offered EQ coaching. Of these twenty, fourteen are currently engaged in twice monthly coaching to support their EQ development process. To support ongoing development of technical and EQ skills, each leader, from the CEO on down, joined a learning team of eight to ten members. Each team is a mix of leadership levels, with no member of a team in any other member’s direct chain of command (with the obvious exception of the CEO). These teams meet monthly to provide encouragement, support, problem solving, and accountability to each other.

Role of Technology

Technology allowed this huge, complex project that required the collaboration of parties in Virginia, Maryland, and Michigan to be managed and carried out smoothly.

•  Participants took the EQ-i online through EQ Leader’s MHS scoring organizer. Not only did this allow us to track completed the assessment or not, we could download the reports and send them to the professional doing the leaders debrief.

•  EQ 360 ratings were also completed online through EQ Leader’s MHS scoring organizer. To manage the massive logistics of twenty EQ 360s, the scoring organizer was essential to track the approximately 350 ratings as they came in.

•  Email was used by senior executives to send in their 360 rater lists; next-tier leaders to send in their responses to the “written interview,”;and, the EQ Leader to send reminders to slow responders. Excel spreadsheets allowed us to track who had and who had not responded.

•  Email was used to deliver the EQ-i and EQ 360 reports to leaders 24 to 48 hours prior to their debrief.

•  Much tech-cog training is being done through e-learning. For the most part, participants are quite positive about the quality of the material. Some courses include video vignettes so leaders can see what is done and even test themselves against the vignettes. The challenge as with any sophisticated e-learning process is getting 230 people with varied degrees of computer savvy to be able to use the program efficiently. This makes IT backup expertise essential.

•  One of two EQ coaching sessions per month is done through an interactive two-way audio/video conference using the VeaMea video conferencing platform (see video below) called HitCast which supports multiple useful collaboration tools. VeaMea powered by HitCast incorporates a high level of privacy and flexibility not available through such programs as Windows Live Messenger and Skype. For security reasons, many organizations do not allow video conferencing sessions using these readily available options to pass through their firewalls. The extra security layers built into HitCast address this issue. Covenant uses this same system to provide medical consultations – known as telemedicine – to outlying smaller hospitals in their regions, so privacy and security are key issues.

VIDEO: Capers Harper from Covenant Healthcare overviews their use of technology with VeaMea.

The coach and client are able to see and hear each other almost as well as if they were in the same room. Considerable savings are realized in travel costs. Scheduling is more flexible for video sessions than it is when the coach travels to the organization.

Problems?

The VeaMea platform powered by HitCast offers easy installation, yet its enterprise class framework offers so many features and security. Also, it is a little more expensive and complicated to set up. However, Covenant hosts, supports, and pays for the service. As with BizLibrary, good IT support is essential.

Bandwidth (rate of data transfer) is also an issue. If you don’t have enough, the picture can get fuzzy. VeaMea will be offer a new bandwidth management tool this upcoming year ideal for the home teleworker.  

From a human point of view, it takes a little while for both coach and client to get used to the new format. Thus far, it hasn’t had the same sense of “connectedness” as actually being in the room with the person, but with experience, that seems to be growing. And it does provide a greater sense of connectedness than coaching provided only by telephone. Perhaps, it is a little reassuring that human contact still matters in the days of high tech.

About Dana Ackley

Dana C. Ackley, Ph.D. is the CEO of EQ Leader, Inc., a consulting and executive coaching organization. EQ Leader, Inc. works with the Fortune 500, large healthcare organizations, and agencies of the US Federal Government, among others. Dr. Ackley is the author of the EQ Leader Program, published by MHS. He can be reached at dana.ackley@eqleader.net.

Conquering EQ-i coaching roadblocks

 

Encountering roadblocks in implementing the EQ-i in your organization? EQ expert Dr. Dana Ackley shows you how to get buy-in, deliver smart workshops, and coach like a pro.

When we asked professionals recently certified in the EQ-i what their biggest challenge is in getting an emotional intelligence initiative off the ground, the top response was “gaining buy-in from my organization.” Even organizations that recognize the connection between EI and performance are looking for more than a great concept. They want a solid program with a clear return on investment when launching training initiatives.

If you’re a dedicated people-person, it’s likely that researching case studies, writing proposals, and designing development activities don’t rank in the top-ten favorite aspects of your job. “Many coaches and HR professionals tell me that their success depends more on people savvy than on business savvy,” says Dr. Ackley, a psychologist and 16-year veteran executive coach.

Ackley is no stranger to the challenge of developing marketable services. Since earning his doctorate in clinical psychology in 1973, he spent over twenty years in private practice, writing a book along the way to help colleagues access their market potential and develop business plans to achieve both economic and professional objectives. Now, as founder of EQ Leader, Inc., Ackley has turned his business acumen to the realm of emotional intelligence coaching.

“There are so many studies linking emotional intelligence with desirable performance factors such as profitability, retention, production, sales, and the prevention of executive career derailment,” says Ackley, whose website, www.eqleader.net, offers a collection of free business cases and articles that you can use to demonstrate ROI using emotional intelligence-based inventories and coaching principles. His message is clear: “The bottom line is that scientific studies show that EQ coaching can deliver results, especially when properly positioned.”

Over the past decade, Ackley has developed and published a toolkit of resource materials, the EQ Leader Program, aimed at demonstrating the value of EI initiatives, and has gone on to make these materials customizable by professionals like you. One resource included in this toolkit is a complete introductory seminar with accompanying PowerPoint slides, designed to allow executives to gauge the value of emotional intelligence before committing to a development program. Other resources include everything needed to take clients through a ten-step developmental program, and a CD of customizable exercises and activities to improve each of the 15 factors measured by the EQ-i.

All of this is great news for those having trouble putting down on paper exactly what an EQ-i development program might look like. “Some organizations love the idea of emotional intelligence,” Ackley notes, “but need to know how assessment and coaching will take form. With the EQ Leader Program, it’s all right there.”

Those who use Ackley’s EQ Leader Program are able to implement EQ-i initiatives without spending hundreds of hours on program design or thousands of dollars on development. “The comprehensive nature of the toolkit is very helpful for putting together presentations and handout packets with less effort on my part to create from scratch,” reports business consultant Joanne Schultz. “Rather, I can focus on customization for clients.”  For example, if Schultz wants to help develop a client’s Impulse Control, she opens a Word file called “Building Impulse Control” from the CD, adds her company logo, deletes any exercises not relevant to her client, and prints off the handout for her next coaching appointment.

“Put your EQ-i training to use!” Ackley says, “Whether you are an internal trainer looking for a way to increase your value to your company, or an external coach looking for a solid program that you can bring to client companies, this is an effective, saleable program for facilitating EQ-i-based coaching.”

And it works. Marc Frankel, Ph.D reports, “The combination of the EQ-i instrument and the EQ Leader Program is by far the best set of tools for the consultant/trainer to use in helping coach others to develop their EQ.  The combination of robust psychometrics and thoughtful consultation is simply without peer.”  

Contact Dana Ackley if you’d like to discuss how his program could help solve your particular buy-in problem. If you are interested in purchasing the program, Dana can pass on his author’s discount to you if you order the program in conjunction with his new Train-the Trainer DVD.

Announcing the New EQ Leader Training DVD

Training for the EQ Leader Program is now available on DVD, so you can learn when you want, where you want without traveling, and at a great price!

The EQ Leader Program is a turnkey EI training program for building leaders’ EQ skills. Dr. Ackley is a psychologist with three decades of experience coaching leaders. When creating the EQ Leader Program, Dr. Ackley incorporated all 22 best practices identified as essential for building emotional skills by EI experts Cary Cherniss, Ph.D., and Daniel Goleman, Ph.D.. This approach maximizes the potential for your clients to achieve sustained behavior change. Users report that the EQ Leader Program builds lasting value for clients and repeat business for trainers, consultants and coaches.

EQ practitioners asked for training to master this comprehensive and innovative approach to building client EQ skills. In response, author Dr. Dana Ackley presented a training webinar in 2008, attended by EQ-i® users in six countries. The content of this program has now been edited to remove extraneous material and recorded to DVD to grant even more individuals access to the training.
 
This new format allows you to watch at your own pace and on your own schedule. For the cost of one or two of your consulting hours, you will save many more in learning how to take this effective program to your clients. All of this with no travel costs or loss of billing time.

Background on EQ Leader Program
The 336 page EQ Leader Program Manual, published by MHS (2006), is used by consultants and coaches around the world. The manual contains:

• A fifty-eight page Keynote outline plus PowerPoint, handouts, and references
• An advanced EQ assessment process, including interview protocols to identify motivational factors for leaders
• How-to guides for writing personalized reports that stimulate clients to action
• A developmental planning seminar outline, complete with PowerPoint and handouts
• Menus of exercises for each of the fifteen skills measured by the EQ-i®
• Coaching processes
• Suggestions for marketing EQ development services to clients

The EQ Leader Program Manual comes with a CD that contains all forms, outlines, PowerPoints, handouts, etc., in a format that can be edited to fit your style and approach.

Earn 6 CE’s: Complete the DVD, which runs about six hours. Then request and pass an exam from Dr. Ackley. Training is co-sponsored by MHS, an approved provider of continuing education by the American Psychological Association.

Endorsements
Coaches and Trainers:

“The EQ Leader package is the best value-adding component you can add to your consulting and training repertoire.  Emotional intelligence is one of the single biggest contributors to leadership success (or the lack thereof), and the combination of the EQi instrument and the EQ Leader Program is by far the best set of tools for the consultant/trainer to use helping coach others to develop their EQ.  The combination of robust psychometrics and thoughtful consultation is simply without peer.” 
Marc T. Frankel, Ph.D.
Triangle Associates
 
“I read Dana Ackley’s The EQ Leader Program cover to cover and have found it a rich resource of extremely practical material on emotional intelligence development for coaching, training, and consulting. One of the most helpful resources included in the manual are the Strategies for Building EQ exercise handouts. My executive coaching clients love the brief explanation of the EQ competency that they have chosen to develop, and the clearly explained exercises that they can easily incorporate into an action plan. 

“I teach for the College of Executive Coaching and am a member of numerous professional associations. If I were asked by my colleagues for one EQ resource, Dr. Ackley’s EQ Leader Program would be my highest recommendation.” 
Maynard Brusman, Ph.D.
Consulting Psychologist and Executive Coach
Founder, Working Resources

“The comprehensive nature of the CD and toolkit is very helpful for putting together presentations and handout packets with less effort on my part to create from scratch. Rather, I can focus on customization for clients.”
Joanne Schultz, MS, CCC-SLP, CCM
Principal, Joanne M. Schultz Consulting, Training & Coaching Services
Client Organization

“EQ Leader’s approach to developing the emotional intelligence of our key leaders has provided Bronson Healthcare Group with an opportunity to secure our continued success for the future and cultivate our internal high performers.”
Frank Sardone, President and CEO
Bronson Healthcare Group
(Bronson Healthcare is a major healthcare system and winner of the prestigious Baldrige Award.)

Webinar Attendee:

“The online training completed by Dana was extremely informative, well organised and the content excellent. Dana has succeeded in producing a course that is both fantastic value for the money and a comprehensive resource for any business, without the hassle of travel. The “lecture room” can come straight to you!”
Tracy O’Conner
Dynamic Coaching, Dublin, Ireland

To review contents of the Training DVD and for ordering information, visit Dr. Ackley’s site.

Release Date: May 1, 2009. Pre-orders accepted.

Still Time to Participate in EQ Leader Program Online Trainings

EQ Leader Program author Dana Ackley’s webinar training series, which we announced last month in the Insider, has proven quite popular with our subscribers. If you are interested in learning more about this Executive EI coaching tool, but have not yet had a chance to sign up for Dr. Ackley’s webinar series, there are still spaces available and still time to sign up for them.

If you have any questions about the webinar sessions, please contact Peg Ackley at peg.ackley@eqleader.net.

Train Online to Use the EQ Leader Program

The EQ Leader Program is an off-the-shelf Emotional Intelligence coaching program from MHS. This tool combines the assessment power of the EQ-i^® with a detailed, customizable executive coaching program developed by professional coach and EI practitioner Dana Ackley, Ph.D.. The program’s straightforward instructional format has made it very popular with EI practitioners who are entering the field of executive coaching for the first time, as well as with existing executive coaches looking to add an Emotional Intelligence component to their programs.

Those interested in learning more about this unique program can now do so without having to leave their office. Program author Dana Ackley will be hosting a series of live online training sessions, delivering all of the information of a multi-day offsite training in only four, two-hour sessions. If you are interested in registering for this training series, please follow the instructions in this document. If you have any questions about the training series, contact peg.ackley@eqleader.net or visit the EQ Leader Inc website.

If you would like more information on the EQ Leader Program or are interested in purchasing a copy, please contact customerservice@mhs.com.

Upcoming EQ Leader Program training

The EQ Leader Program is an executive leadership coaching tool, published by MHS. It utilizes the Emotional Intelligence framework based on the EQ-i model. The program manual includes an introductory seminar, an executive assessment process, detailed developmental planning process, exercises for each of the fifteen skills measured by the EQ-i, and supplementary materials for the coaching program, including a section on how to market the program to prospective clients. In response to requests for hands-on training, the Program’s author, Dana C. Ackley, Ph.D., will host an intensive, experiential training event this October in Chicago. The five-day certification program will be an in-depth workshop, providing attendees with extensive hands-on practice and feedback in using the tool. Certification in the program, as well as 35 CEs, are available for those who complete the workshop. For more information on the session or to register, please visit the link below or feel free to contact Dr. Ackley at dana.ackley@eqleader.net or +1-540-774-1927.

http://www.eqleader.net/Training/FiveDay/October.htm

Upcoming EQ Leader Program training

In the next few months there will be several opportunities for those of you interested in learning more about the EQ Leader coaching program to attend training sessions.

May 2007 – Roanoke, Virginia
One Day Training Program, Friday, May 18
Five Day Certification Training Program, Monday-Friday, May 21-25

June 2007 – London, England
The EQ Leader Program will be introduced Monday afternoon, June the 11th, as part of the International Conference on Emotional Intelligence 2007, which will be held in London on June 11th and 12th at the Hotel Russell. Following the Conference, a complete one-day training event for the EQ Leader Program will be held on Wednesday, June 13.

EQ Leader One Day Training Program, Wednesday, June the 13th (click to learn more about and register for the One Day Training Program)

There is a possibility that there will be both a one-day and a five-day training in Calgary, Alberta this October. Dates would likely be October 12th for the One Day Training, and October 15-19 for the Five Day Certification Program.

If you think you might be interested in attending one of the Calgary training events, or any of the other confirmed training dates, please email Dana Ackley at dana.ackley@eqleader.net. Additional details will be sent out to those who inquire.

Praise for The EQ Leader Program

Contributed by Dr. Maynard Brusman, Consulting Psychologist and Executive Coach

I am a consulting psychologist and executive/leadership coach with a practice in the San Francisco, California Financial District.

I am also the president of Working Resources, a leadership consulting, strategic talent management, and executive coaching firm. We help companies assess, select, coach, and retain emotionally intelligent leaders. We specialize in working with attorneys and law firms.

I read Dana Ackley’s The EQ Leader Program cover to cover and have found it a rich resource of extremely practical material on emotional intelligence development for coaching, training, and consulting. I have begun using it with my executive coaching clients. One of the most helpful resources included in the manual is collection of Strategies for Building EQ exercises. My executive coaching clients love the brief explanation of the EQ competencies that they chose to develop, as well as the clearly explained exercises that clients can easily incorporate into an action plan.

I am currently consulting with a law firm where the partners do not work effectively as a high performing team. There are problems related to avoidance of accountability, full engagement, fear of conflict, absence of trust, and achieving firm goals versus self-interest. There are long-standing core personal/interpersonal issues and group dynamics that are contributing to the dysfunction. The firm has had a number of business presenters at workshops and retreats. However, their core issues have never been addressed since the culture supports an avoidance of conflict.

The partners need to learn how to manage conflict, anger, self-interest and a number of other difficult issues to help the firm move from “mediocre” to great. Openness, trust, and honest communication are some of the firm’s core values. In order for the firm to realize the vision of being one of the most respected law firms in Northern California, the partners are going to need to model the way.

We are going to use MHS’ Benchmark of Organizational Emotional Intelligence (BOEI^™) climate survey and The EQ Leader Program in a series of workshops and, eventually, a retreat to help facilitate the culture change process.

One of my dreams has been to develop a Leadership Spa in Costa Rica. I visited Costa Rica last December and fell in love with the people and the country. I found the culture and values of the country and its people to be incredibly emotionally and socially intelligent. I’d like to bring clients to Costa Rica for Leadership Retreats with an ecological twist, and would certainly incorporate the material from The EQ Leader Program.

I teach for the College of Executive Coaching and am a member of numerous professional associations. There are a plethora of EQ tools and resources in the marketplace that coaches, consultants, and trainers can purchase. If I was asked by my colleagues for one EQ resource, Dr. Ackley’s The EQ Leader Program would be my highest recommendation.

EQ Leader Program a big hit

We continue to get rave reviews for Dana Ackley’s EQ Leader Progam. Dr. Maynard Brusman of San Francisco writes, “I finally finished reading your EQ Leader Program. You have done an incredible job building this program. I can’t imagine the amount of work and thought that must have gone into its development. It is so well researched, professional, and yet so usable. You have created one of the finest educational programs for leaders that I have seen in the marketplace.”

Others have told us that this program helps them differentiate themselves from many of the “no name” or imitation EQ programs in the marketplace. The EQ Leader sets consultants apart, speaking to the quality of the services they offer since they are using the best, most validated, and most widely applied tools available. For more information click What’s New or contact customerservice@mhs.com.

EQ Leader goes to Australia

Dana Ackley, author of The EQ Leader Program, celebrated the manual’s publication with a speaking tour of Australia in July, sponsored by Psychological Assessments Australia (PAA). 

Dr. Ackley first presented at the National Symposium of the Australian Psychological Society’s Interest Group for Coaching Psychology. Many of the 21 presentations in the Symposium focused on positive psychology, a great framework for executive EQ skill development.

While in Sydney, Dr. Ackley spoke to local psychologists on the high value of coach psychologists. To demonstrate this important link between the fields of psychology and coaching, Ackley hosted a number of daylong training workshops for independent consultants as well as local consulting firms. These workshops not only instructed the consultants in how to apply the program but also in how to market and generate interest in the program with perspective clients.

Finally, Dr. Ackley presented the program to leaders, HR professionals and internal OD staff at several leading firms in Australia. The trip was a resounding success with Australian business professionals showing a great deal of interest in the simple application of EI to coaching using Ackley’s program. Dr. Ackley reports, “Australian business leaders are clearly interested in and see the value of building emotional intelligence skills in executives.”

For more information on EQ Leader Program, please visit the MHS website.