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Emotional Intelligence - What it is and what it isn't

Copyright October 2002 by Arupa L. Tesolin

A rose is a rose is a rose...except when it comes to emotional intelligence.  E.I. means different things to different people. To industrial psychologists, always keen to expand their corporate offerings, it means competencies like stress management, adaptability, and interpersonal communications. 

To human resources professionals and consultants it means the opportunity to lead another assessment tool to attempt to "measure" emotional intelligence, again another marketable product competing for those corporate dollars. In fact measuring emotional intelligence has been the primary activity for those Canadian companies interested in this topic. The next step would be to find ways to actually educate people in this. Here it becomes tricky because traits and personal habits are so highly individual.

To many others E.I. is just another word for the old "people skills". 

For Dan Goleman, the author of "Emotional Intelligence" and the originnator of the phrase it means much more than that.  Goleman goes deep, maybe deeper than the corporate crowd is comfortable with. His previous book was "The Meditative Mind". For him it is a case of engaging the emotions and the heart more, not being hostage to one's own emotional conditioning, to have empathy and be able to perceive the world's of others. All are traits coincidentally that develop with the self-awareness that accompanies meditative practice. Though he doesn't quite say so directly, these infer a more conscious use of intuitive capabilities and posits them as something worthy of developing.

But the corporate world still has many dysfunctional habits with respect to expressing emotion, let alone pushing the envelope further to embrace intuition. The endemic problem E.I. and its sister topic intuitive intelligence have is that corporations and their ilk tend mostly not to be honest places. Politics aside, a person would speaks from profound intelligence may not be welcome among their kindred. Most people are one kind of person at work, another kind at home. So in the wake of continuing corporate revelations, some evolution needs to take place. Otherwise the best bet is to lead it only in organizations who have mastered the kind of openness and cultural terrain that is required. 

Let's face it, our love affair with corporate honesty has the makings of a good Hollywood movie. But all is not lost....integrity, where present, resides at an individual level in corporations and it is from the personal level where any change, evolution, or masterful applied intelligence takes place, the greatest promises kept and the greatest achievement comes. Though we try and treat them as such, corporations are not beings. They are the composite result of the aggregate individual energy resources of the people who lead and work in them. So all emotional intelligence training and intuitive intelligence training is best directed at individuals.

How to Train Groups in E.I. - Assuming this is a training issue where the whole group needs developement, like any training program first determine the specific goals for the training. Identify what is desirable for the group to accomplish in terms of results, behavior, problems, performance, and the desired vision. Then design the training with a focus on the soft issues of emotions. What is happening? How do people feel about it? Have a good facilitator and plenty of open/safe discussion. After determining what's getting in the way...then move on to help the group finding new ways to approach things, using a better emotion dynamic. Discuss how the old approach hinders individuals, the group, clients etc, and develop new strategies that work. If done well, the group can come out with an improved relationship.

How to Train Individuals in E.I. - Probably the best way to develop EI skills is to have access to a good coach or mentor, chosen with the coachee and the coach in mind. They should like and feel comfortable with each other and have a high degree of trust and confidentiallity with their process.

Intuitive Intelligence, An Important Subset of Emotional Intelligence - As the founder of Intuita, intuitive intelligence is a topic that is especially dear to me. Intuita Training consists of unique meditative techniques to mentally and emotionally attune to your super-conscious self and extend your intuitive capabilities. These 10 minute practices help individuals shed layers of uncertainty and gain intuitive clarity in the moment in any area of life or business they choose. These are used so you can become a more powerful decision maker, a more conscious leader and a more capable human being. The Intuita Practices have been used by executives in leading companies both large and small and by individuals in professions as diverse as teaching, law, engineering, and the arts. They provide very direct insight and I continue to be my own customer, often using them when I want to see the real stuff vs. the mind fluff.

8 Ways to Evolve Intuitive Intelligence in Business adapted from my article published by Training Magazine USA this July. "The challenge of highest magnitude is certainly this: How can we create a totally sustainable business ecology? Are we valuing the right things? What we ignore during an ‘up time’ (like real sales and profits) are the things that come back to haunt us during the down. And like gravity, until we learn to defy it, ups will inevitably be followed by downs … We already know that wholesale changes in individual awareness have already happened. Rarely do we dare speak of this in a traditional business environment. But we need a place to start. Here are eight powerful levers for creating intuitive intelligence in business. 

1. Recognize intuitive intelligence as a skill that can be cultivated
2. Shift from validating intuition to developing intuitive capability
3. Build an intuitive language for business
4. Recognize the true costs of business imbalance and the value of engaging emotionally healthier work practices
5. Practice creative surge. Focus more on application with less analytical information and more imagination
6. Recognize the heart as an instrument of superior intelligence, engaged in intuition
7. Get specific with innovation capital. Start with innovators, supported by innovation competencies, curriculum and development plans
8. Shift from an inherited vision of the future to an ascendant view where all is possible out of nothing.

We have but an inkling yet of the magnitude of what is possible through our visions and perceptions. And still less of what it takes to rely on them. We live in a world where we increasingly trust materiality more than we trust ourselves. And even though we can be equipped with a powerful tool to discern personal insight we can still choose not to see or not to use it.

Every moment is a creative moment. Our potential destinies are infinite, laid out in front of us like a draping of stars and galaxies. The rest is up to us.

Being strongly intuitive and an educated professional I will admit to having difficulty with anything I can't intuitively validate or see for myself, given that the field of intuitives-at-large has both good and bad, both egotists and genuine helpers, both wise and stupid people populating it. In fact a driving force for Intuita is to give people tools to reduce reliance on external resources; some of whom make a living fostering such dependencies. 

 

Take the Positive Workplace Challenge

Each one of us is an agent to create a positive workplace. I challenge you to find something unique to contribute this month to your workplace, no matter what your position. It can be as simple as posting a light-hearted quote or bringing a treat to your colleagues. Whatever it is, do something nice and see what happens.

Arupa Tesolin is the founder of Intuita, a strategic learning company and "The Intuita 3-MINUTE SOLUTIONS^TM" for INTUITION, INNOVATION, VISION, & STRESS. The Intuita On-Line Learning Institute offers management & employee training programs thru your desktop. She is the recognized author of numerous international articles on intuition in business, a trainer, speaker and consultant. 905.271.7272, www.intuita.com, or email.