How certain styles get Trumped in the workplace

I suspect many of you watched with interest recently as Donald Trump  mulled over his interest in the Republican nomination for president.  No doubt that Mr. Trump is a business legend; the facts are evident.  I wonder if his skills and methods there would have transferred well to the public sector and also considered how certain styles mesh well, or not so well, with situations and circumstances that many firms go through.  Emotional Intelligence is one measure of how leaders fit in particular roles.  Let me share some more about that.

Emotional Intelligence, also known as EI and/or EQ, is a measure of how someone can know and manage their own actions as well as their interchange with others.  EI is shown to be of much greater value in organizational success than the “traditional” measures of intelligence such as IQ.  The key question one may ask is why.

For certain predictable situations where one needs computational knowledge or higher level thinking the presence of higher IQ can be of great value.    It is not a mistake that people with higher IQ’s are very much in demand when there are needs for deep thinking or abstract thinking.

EQ is different.  A high IQ person could be the greatest mind in the room, but there is not always a link between high IQ and high EQ.  EQ can also be developed in a number of ways and there are limitations with respect to how much IQ can be increased.

Consider this; you work with an individual who has a tendency to get upset when things do not go as planned.   Change is a constant part of life and dealing with the emotional impact of change is important in the workplace.  Leaders who cannot manager their own emotions or their interchange with others are doomed to failure or just plain challenged when it comes to overcoming this emotional outburst, also known as an Amygdala Hijack.  This “hijack” causes the brain to react or act in a manner that is different than the norm as the Amygdala takes over control from other parts of the brain.  You may not know much about brain chemistry or physiology, but you know it when you see it.  People lose their cool, they make others uncomfortable and they derail the good work that may be taking place.

Back to Mr. Trump; his mode of operation seems to have always been a command and control method and that is fine in some circumstances.  Governmental work is like making sausage-the results may be edible or usable, but you also may not want to know just what went into the process.  Effective leaders know when to drive, when to coach and when to delegate.  I’ll talk more about this situational leadership in a future post, but that will come next week.

My advice for today is this-be on the lookout when you see a “highjack” in the workplace.  You never know when someone’s Amygdala may take control and when this occurs, look out.  Your skills as a leader and as a friend will be tested as they may never have been before.