EQ in Action

It is important to understand the connection between the various working with people dimensions and how they can potentially derail a business. To help you to make this connection we will be looking at real life examples of how EQ plays itself out in the workplace with respect to working with people. Try as far as possible to answer the questions under each dimension.

Please work through the following examples of how EQ plays itself out in the workplace. Try to answer the questions posed in this section. Remember to check the "I am not a Robot Box"before submitting.

Graham has just been hired as an industrial engineer. He reports to Alecia the lead engineer. Her profile shows her to be highly aloof. As a result she projects a cold, unapproachable image. She makes little effort to establish rapport with others or to engage with them. She is short with people and her stand - offish body language makes people feel that she is upset with them, and so they tend to avoid her.

Graham finds his first few weeks on the job tough going. Alecia has made no effort to make him feel welcomed or part of the team. She comes across as being unapproachable and unsympathetic. Graham confides in his wife and says that Alecia scares him. He doesn't know where he stands with her, and only communicates with her when he absolutely has to.

Graham has been tasked with commissioning new machines on the production line. He picks up something on the machines that potentially seems to be a small design fault. He is not sure though, and is also not sure what effect it will have on production. Part of him tells him to discuss it with Alecia. Another part of him discounts this, saying that she doesn't have time for him and that it is really difficult to communicate with her. He is not sure of his facts anyway, so best just to keep quiet.

Graham settles on the latter option. Everything seems to work well with the new machines initially. Six months later however there is a bearing failure, resulting in downtime of a week on all the new machines. An investigation shows that this is due to the design fault that Graham identified when commissioning the machines.

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Stan's profile shows that he has a very high score on the warm dimension. His empathy for people is so highly developed that he borders on being over - sympathetic. Paul is one of his subordinates and has not been meeting his sales targets for the last few months. Whenever Stan speaks to Paul about this, Paul cites personal problems. His mother is ill and his wife lost her job. Stan feels Paul's pain. He wonders what it must be like to be in Paul's shoes and feels extremely sorry for him. Paul's behavior at work gets progressively worse. He pitches up late for meetings. He reneges on commitments made to customers. Some days he just stays away from work without any explanation.

Stan is troubled by Paul's behavior and wants to confront him on it. Part of him reasons that something should be done about it. Then his inner voice reminds him how tough things are for Paul and he berates himself for caring so little about him. "How would you feel if you were Paul", he asks himself. As a result, Stan cannot bring himself to sitting down with Paul to confront him about his behavior and engage in problem solving mode to find constructive ways of resolving his personal issues. Stan keeps feeling that he will come over as a hard heart-ed manager.

In the meantime, Paul's performance keeps declining and customers are unhappy, Stan is feeling the pressure of Paul's poor performance, and Stan's other subordinates are starting to get annoyed by the fact that Paul's non - performance is tolerated, while they are still expected to deliver on sales targets.

Jackie is a chartered accountant who has recently been appointed into the position of Financial Manager. The plant he works at is expanding which means that there are numerous new capital expenditures that he needs to scrutinize. Part of his brief is to ensure that project teams do not undertake unnecessary expenditures and that capital budgets are not over run. Jackie reports to Gwede, the group financial manager.

Jackie's profile shows that he is accommodating and unassertive. This is quickly picked up by the project teams and they begin exerting pressure on him to pursue their own agendas with respect to the projects they are developing. Struggling to assert himself, Jackie is persuaded to approve several unnecessary expenditures. He is also in the habit of falling back on Gwede when he is uncertain about taking decisions. This means that a lot of Gwede's time is taken up reviewing the financial information sent to him by Jackie and intervening in situations where Jackie is unable to assert himself and be decisive.

The net effect of this is unnecessary capital expenditures and a drag on Gwede's productivity.

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Barry is the senior HR Manager at General Electronics. He is part of the senior executive team and has four direct reports. Despite having good intentions, Barry is convinced that he is always right. He has strong views on many topics. Even when he is not the subject matter expert on an issue, Barry is certain that he knows best. Barry is well known for imposing his views on others and for being a poor listener.

The manufacturing manager brings a serious labour/industrial relations matter involving a senior shop steward to the attention of Clare, the Industrial Relations manager who reports to Barry. Given the seriousness of the issue, she realizes that she needs to discuss it with Barry. Concerned with the potential consequences if this matter is not correctly dealt with, as well as the legal intricacies involved, Clare also feels strongly that a labour lawyer should be consulted.

She sets up a meeting with Barry to brief him on the issue and recommends involving a legal expert. Barry however, dominates the discussion and does not take in all the facts that Clare is trying to convey. Despite repeated attempts to bring to Barry's attention the seriousness of the issue at hand and need for expert legal advice, Barry talks over her and confidently explains to Clare how he wants her to handle the matter.

Clare sets up a meeting with the manufacturing manager and shop steward and executes Barry's instructions. The shop steward is outraged at the handling of the matter and after following due process, a strike is called which takes weeks to resolve. Needless to say, Clare feels demoralized and defeated by Barry's behavior and the outcome thereof.

Devon graduated first in his class in Mechatronic Engineering. He is shy and introverted, but highly intelligent and a deep thinker. Over the last three years he has been extremely successful in resolving design problems related to embedded micro - controller systems. This has not gone unnoticed and his manager has recently appointed him as Project Leader for a team of engineers designing, developing and testing new circuit boards and components. Devon has a problem however. He freezes when he is put in the spotlight and has to speak up in a group and lead team discussions. As a result he avoids group interaction as far as possible. He restricts his interactions with project team members to one - to - one discussions and as far as possible only communicates with them by e - mail. The result is that the team's ability to function as an integrated unit is hampered. Project members end up working in silos. Difficulty is experienced in pulling together the inputs and work of the various engineers into an integrated solution. Issues and problems have to be revisited and re - worked because of a lack of communication and co - ordination between the team members. Problems cannot be thrashed out. Frustrations and tensions build up as the team comes under pressure for missing deadlines.

Ann is a member of a senior project team. The team is made up of people from various disciplines and specialized fields and is working on a project that will ensure that the carbon footprint of their factory is significantly reduced. Ann has a very high score on the bold scale. She loves to talk. A lot. All the time in fact. She believes that she knows a lot and as a result is also constantly giving out information and advice. In project meetings, when a topic comes up for discussion, you can count on the fact that Ann will have a lot to say about it. Putting herself at the centre of attention, Ann is under the impression that her inputs are favourably received by others. She is overly aware of herself and what she wants to say, but unaware of how she is impacting on others or the real feelings of her colleagues. They know they have to pretend to listen, but inside they have switched off. Some are also irritated because Ann talks over them and does not give them a chance to properly explain their ideas. Others are put off by her tendency to hijack and take over from their contributions to the discussion. Valuable inputs fall by the wayside as a result. Publicly the team endorse Ann's inputs, but privately they action what they really believe. Smaller informal meetings are held between team members to discuss issues that should have been thrashed out in the formal project meetings. As a result the teams' efforts are uncoordinated and ineffective. The factory is slow to reduce carbon emissions and is penalized by having to pay high carbon emissions taxes.

Vijay is the MD of a company that manufactures batteries. He meets Verity at a Trade Expo. She is in sales in a related industry. They start chatting and Vijay is highly impressed with her. She is engaging, confident and persuasive. Vijay is even more impressed with her accounts of her sales exploits. Based on what she has shared she seems to have a very impressive sales track record. In fact he is so impressed that he decides to hire her on the spot. He brushes aside his HR Manager's concerns that due recruitment and selection processes have not been followed, saying: "Chuck I can assure you Verity is a sure winner and will be a great asset to our organisation. Please do the necessary to get her started as soon as possible. We can do the usual assessments after she has started working and link it into her development plan." Not long after her appointment the wheels come off. Verity uses her charm and persuasiveness to convince manufacturing to produce 50 000 batteries for a client who she guarantees will place an order. The order never materializes and the warehouse sits with a huge amount of stock that it can't move. Chuck institutes the normal due diligence that should have been done prior to appointing Verity - an assessment and reference checks. The references checks show that Verity exaggerated her sales accomplishments, while her assessment shows that she is highly persuasive, but over - optimistic, unrealistic and unable to plan carefully.

Caleb has a degree in mechanical engineering. He has 6 years experience with a special interest in robotics. This is a scarce skill and cannot easily be replaced. Caleb's performance reviews have been great and he is well respected by his peers. His manager for the last 6 months is Daniel. Daniel finds it very difficult to trust people and can be hypercritical. Caleb is currently working on a project looking into the automation of several plant processes with the aid of robotics. Despite Caleb's credentials, Daniel insists on managing Caleb closely. He expects Caleb to check in with him daily on his progress. He nit -picks Caleb's work and micro-edits it even though Caleb has been at pains to point out that everything is in draft stage. In a nutshell, he is hyper-vigilant about the details of Caleb's work. Despite several chats with Daniel, he persists with managing Caleb in this way. A few months later, Caleb jumps at the chance to work for a competitor. The automation project grinds to halt until a suitable replacement can be found.

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Sam is the country sales and marketing lead for a multi - national company. He is part of the senior executive team and reports directly to the CEO, Jane. Sam's profile shows that he is interpersonally unaware and as a result is oblivious of how he comes over and lacks insight into what he says and the fact that how he says it impacts on the rest of the executive team. In a nutshell, he lacks a filter when interacting with them.

The CEO calls an important executive meeting. She announces a plan to restructure certain elements of the business. She did not consult with anyone in devising her plan and as a result has missed some important issues that will have a direct bearing on Sam's department.

After Jane has presented her plan for restructuring, Sam stands up and says. "Jane, I don't know what you were thinking. This has got to be one of the most ridiculous ideas I've heard. Really, I expected better from you. And where do you get off dreaming this pathetic scheme up without consulting with any of us." Sam begins to brutally point out all of the flaws in Jane's plans without sparing her feelings.

Jane has been humiliated by Sam in front of the executive team and has suffered a major dent to her credibility. She is deeply angry with Sam and from here on the relationship degenerates into a power struggle with him. Disagreements are dealt with in a destructive manner, Jane resolves to work Sam out of his job. This drags other team members into the fray and has an overall demoralizing effect on everyone. As a result the executive team struggles to function as a team.

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Carlo is the Regional Sales Manager for a large beverage company. He leads a team of 6 direct and 30 indirect reports. Carlo's score on the Interpersonally Aware dimension is extreme. He believes he should keep his cards close to his chest at all times. He is a master at identifying who are potentially useful allies and who are potential threats that should be sidelined, not only in his immediate team, but also more widely within the company. He is just as clever at figuring out who can easily be controlled to carry out his hidden agendas. He has a gift for playing people against each other. Because he has a such a command of power politics, no - one has the courage to confront him out of fear of reprisal.

The position for his second in command position has become vacant. Four people apply for the position. Zeb is by far the strongest candidate with the best performance record. He is experienced and has a strong personality. He has on occasion stood up to Carlo. Carlo has decided in advance that he wants Alan in the role and that Zeb should be sidelined. Although experienced, Alan has a weak personality and is easily controlled by Carlo.

The candidates undergo a panel interview to determine who should get the position. Before the interviews begin, Carlo reminds Sarah and Pholisa (two of the panel members), that they are up for performance reviews with him which will significantly impact on their year end bonuses. Sarah and Pholisa support Carlo's view that Alan is the best candidate and he is appointed into the position.

With Alan as his "yes - man", Carlo entrenches his power. The team is kept off - balance by Carlo's tendency to operate with hidden agendas and manipulation. On the surface it is performing well, but the emotional cost is high. Key members, such as Zeb, resign and staff turnover is high.

The ANB Banking Group's Board of Directors is a tightly knit, cohesive group. An assessment shows that all 8 members achieved high scores on the group dependent scale. As could be expected from a group like this they displayed many of the characteristics of group think such as the illusion of invulnerability, rationalization, stereotyped views, pressure on dissent, self censorship, the illusion of unanimity and mindguarding/information filtering. The CEO came up with the idea to introduce new banking products into the market that bordered on the exploitation of customers.

Even though some board members had some misgivings about the unethical nature of these products, they remained silent. It was an unspoken rule not to the rock the boat, and no - one wanted to risk becoming alienated from the group. Reluctant to upset the group's cohesion, directors rationalized that this would be good for banking and customers, and that even though the CEO's proposal was risky, it would all work out.

ANB went ahead with it's products but after a few years the banking ombudsman launched an investigation into ANB after many customer complaints. The ombudsman ruled that some of ANB's practices were unethical and that clients who had been unfairly treated be reimbursed. The ombudsman also imposed a fine of several million dollars on ANB as a punitive measure to discourage like practices in the banking industry.

Jaybury has had major problems with its logistics department for several years. There are system and structural problems, and there has been a high turnover of managers heading up this department. A decision is taken to employ Gary, a logistics consultant, on a contract basis for a year, so as to use his expertise to make radical changes to turn around the logistics department, before employing someone permanently into the logistics head position.

Gary's profile shows that he is highly self - sufficient and that he likes to fly solo. This is one of the reasons he chose a career in consulting over corporate. However, his consultancy has fallen on hard times and he accepts the offer from Jaybury, where he will also be expected to be an integral part of the management team. Gary is however dismissive of the team's inputs. When they suggest or require things he does not agree with, he simply follows his own head anyway. He regularly fails to attend critical management meetings and makes very little effort to communicate vital information with senior roleplayers. After only a few months, it is clear that Gary is completely misaligned with the management team. Besides this being a source of major irritation for team members, logistics is regressing even further. After 6 months Gary's contract is terminated. Jaybury has been put back by at least a year by Gary's appointment, and will continue to experience raw material stock outs, stock losses and production halts for the foreseeable future.

My EQ

Journeys in Emotional Intelligence and Personal Mastery