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Leading with Emotional Intelligence E-Zine - Issue No. 1/ January 2007
Dear Reader,
When I read Sebastien's article for this month' Leading with EQ E-Zine (scroll down to read), I had an interesting thought: Could it be that we subconsciously drift into negative emotions (such as anger, sadness, frustration, etc.) in order to regain energy?
Please read Sebastien's article first and then come back to this question? I would be curious to hear your opinion.
Let's keep progressing! Charlie Lang
Executive Coach and Founder of Progress-U Ltd.
Author of The Groupness Factor
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Want less "Low-EQ Days"? Look at what's Behind
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by Sebastien Henry
 There is one very interesting difference between IQ and EQ: our EQ can be developed more easily than our IQ, but we can also “lose it” more easily.
This means that our EQ can be high one day, and pretty low the following day. Even if we pay a lot of attention to developing our EQ at work, there are still some days when we “lose it”, which means we exhibit at least one of the following:
- Poor self-management - We display lots of poorly managed emotions.
- Low “social awareness” - We do not really care about how people around us feel.
- Low “relationship management” - We do not exert effort to build or maintain trusting relationships around us.
On our “low-EQ” days, people who do not know us well enough can mistake us for low EQ people. And because the only dimension of EQ that is preserved on these days is self-awareness, even we ourselves will agree that we are indeed exhibiting “low-EQ”, but we can’t keep ourselves from doing so. It’s such a bad day not only for us, but also for those who work with us or for us.
The snag here is that even just a few of those days can wreak havoc in our work environment. People tend to remember our “low-EQ days” more than our “EQ peak days”. Even just one “low-EQ day” can be enough to alienate some of our people. People who work with us on a daily basis may know us well enough to know that it’s just a bad day and can be more forgiving. But imagine that you travel a lot all around Asia, and that you have some direct reports or peers that you see only once a month, or less. Too bad if they happen to have you on a “low-EQ day”.
Now, it’s interesting to know that these “low-EQ days” don’t usually come out of the blue. There are conditions that create favorable ground for them. I have frequently observed that our energy level can be a crucial factor. When we are in a low energy phase, our EQ is also very likely to decrease dramatically.
If so, the key question becomes: how can we prevent such drops in our energy level?
Very often, our energy level does not drop all of a sudden, but slowly over several days. We do not notice this decrease until our energy level is low enough, and then we start noticing it.
To have a clear idea of what happens, it is useful to monitor our energy level several times a day. On a scale of 0 to 10, rate your energy level early morning when you get up? Just after lunch? Early evening? Checking three times a day should be enough to help you discover the variations or patterns in your energy level.
We may realize that we have low energy (and low EQ!) when we hit a 2 or 3, but this is very likely to come after several days of slow decrease from 7-8 , then 5-6, then 2-3.
By monitoring our energy level, we have more chances to take corrective actions to prevent it from getting too low, and to prevent our EQ from falling. We all have our own way to regain energy, e.g., by getting a relaxing massage, or by meditating or simply by having a good conversation with an energizing friend. Monitoring our energy level is the key!
As a conclusion, an effective but relatively unknown way to develop our EQ is to pay close attention to our energy level. This is the key to having less “low-EQ days”.
Feel free to contact me if you wish to discuss the content of this article. I am passionate about this issue and always enjoy sharing views and ideas.
For more information related to Progress-U Leadership Training and Coaching, please click here.
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 Sebastien Henry is Progress-U's expert for Emotional Intelligence. Developing his Emotional Intelligence in his previous corporate career was a real priority (regional position in Asia at a multinational company). Now he focuses on helping business leaders to become more inspiring leaders, motivate their people and retain the best by developing their EQ. Sebastien firmly believes in action, and the tools he is using and sharing are derived from 4 areas of his life:
- His business experience as a corporate executive
- Intensive mountaineering and rock climbing (7a onsight and more than 50 alpine routes)
- Teaching and coaching prisoners
- Daily meditations for more than 5 years
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Copyright 2006 by Progress-U Limited
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You may copy any of the articles written by Sebastien Henry to your web site, or distribute them in your e-zine or magazine, provided that you include the following attribution (including a link to http://www.progressu.com.hk):
With permission of Sebastien Henry, Executive Coach & Trainer of Progress-U Ltd |
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