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Emotionally Competent Work Teams

Are you worried that your team is losing it’s edge? Do your team members:

• Disagree on key decisions?
• Give lip service to agreements, and then quietly sabotage the decisions?
• Fall more and more behind in the implementation of critical strategies?
• Ignore critical feedback from other groups?

Then learning to manage emotions may be an important key to the success of your team.
 

Why Group Emotional Intelligence is Important?

Research has shown that teams who are better able to manage their emotions, who deal well with task and interpersonal conflicts, who consider diverse points of view, and who openly accept feedback from others with whom they interact, are much more effective at achieving results that can be sustained over time.

A group’s emotional intelligence relies on the use of the same capabilities used by an emotionally intelligent individual: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and the ability to manage relationships well. However, an emotionally intelligent group has to deal with additional complexity. It must become aware of and successfully manage both the emotions of its members and the emotional “undercurrents” of the group, as well as the emotions and reactions of key groups outside its boundaries.

When groups use good emotional intelligence, they are able to deliberately bring emotions to the surface and understand how they affect the team’s work. They also behave in ways that build relationships both inside and outside the team, and that strengthen the team’s ability to face challenges.

How Can Group Emotional Intelligence be Measured?

The Emotional Competency Inventory (ECI) is used as a composite to diagnose a team, or an entire work unit, profiling its overall strengths and development opportunities. Individual assessments of an entire work unit are pooled to provide a comprehensive profile of the group’s emotional intelligence. This profile points to the underlying group norms and habits that drive behavior, and impact the performance effectiveness of the work group or larger organizational units.

How We Use the Composite ECI for Client Results

From data obtained in the composite ECI, or team “audit,” we develop a summary interpretation, and then facilitate a Team Alignment Meeting in which group members come together for an honest conversation about what is working, and what is not. Through this acknowledgement of the team’s “reality,” more effective decisions are made to improve the team’s emotional competencies and performance effectiveness.

If you would like to explore how an emotional competency approach might address your team needs, please contact us for a complimentary consultation.