Intelligence Decides – Emotions Drive

There are volumes of information available on leadership, what it is and what it is not. Who are the best examples of it supported by countless quotes, actions, achievements, references and so on. A great deal of leadership examples are truly inspirational and often come in many forms outside of the leadership norm that we often come to recognise, seek out and gravitate towards.

As we self-reflect and look to ourselves for some intrinsic sign of brilliance and potential to replicate what we admire most in others, I sometimes wonder if any of us really reflect deeply enough on our own journey and how that experience has resulted in who we are today?

Of course, I’m sure we all do at some stage, and from my own experience, that has often been driven by circumstance, be it an achievement, an upset or a moment of pure and quiet enjoyment that makes us profoundly relaxed. It’s often within that moment where we reflect, that we compare ourselves and the journey we’ve made against those reflections.

One of those reflective questions for me has always been whether each of us actually has a destiny?

I believe our own individualism is made up of many factors and yet all of us will at some stage do one thing that is common across the globe, and that is we enter the workforce and experience what at first appears to be the never ending transition of life, our own journey (destination unknown). That is of course, until we begin to contemplate retirement and then the ‘never ending’ bit seems well, not so ‘never ending’ and the inevitable alternative a lot closer than we want it to be! As I’m writing this narrative, I’m realizing that it’s our work experience that goes a long way to defining who we are and therefore what it is we end up doing in life.

For some, the destination is clear from the outset whereas for others, it may be an intrinsic interest or ‘presence’ that unfolds over time, influenced by a variety of ‘ingredients’ that we come to realise as being significant only after they have occurred (this has been my reflective experience). In any case, whatever your recipe of development has been, the workplace experience in my humble opinion, is the starting place and foundation of our journey and dare I say it, where leadership development begins. In fact, I would say unequivocally that the first experience we have when we enter a workplace is ‘culture’! Why culture I hear you say, well I still remember to this day, the first time I entered the workforce as a 1st year apprentice (one of six) at the pristine and untainted age of 16.

As new 1st years, we were introduced to the 2nd year apprentices and of course in those initial and torrid introductions and initiations, I uttered the words ‘flippen heck’, a typical English statement of the day. This innocent error on my part was of course immediately corrected with a large amount of ridicule directed towards me from those ‘more experienced 2nd years’, and I was quickly made to realise that the correct version of those innocent words and one I needed to learn really fast (and the globally excepted ‘shortened’ version), actually had the same first and last letter, albeit with a totally different connotation 😊.

And so, my leadership development journey started then, not with a training course, not with a people management assignment but with an introduction to culture and how to begin establishing relationships to survive!

Prior to putting fingers to the keyboard and writing this story, I had given thought to how I would approach the topic of leadership and what would be the point of the discussion, something that has always infuriated the perfectionist trait in me and usually always leads to procrastination and zero creative output. So, on this occasion I decided to go back to the beginning and identify some of the things that we all experience at the workplace and whether there is an initial common thread that permeates throughout our working life.

Obviously, the first one that came to mind was culture and the second one that jumped out and looked me straight in the eye was relationships. When I thought about this, I realised in a nano second that the ‘job’, and all the tasks that you need to learn and complete, sits in between these two elements of culture and relationships (simplistically of course).

As we all know by now, some of the imperative leadership attributes and practices required as we progress on our lifelong journey, are not just about getting things done through others (a management 101) but understanding, reading, inspiring, and influencing others to follow and deliver on an overarching purpose. A little high level maybe, given the tone of this narrative but still organic in the sense that we all need to feel valued and appreciated for who we are and what we bring to the table in whatever forum that is.

Strong leadership recognizes this need in others and nurtures it consistently. I’d even go as far to suggest that all of us at some stage have experienced this in a leader and have been intrinsically motivated to give additional effort and input simply because we were inspired to do so.

The art of influence is not just about persuading someone to change their mind and deciding on a different course of action that suits our own personal needs. Influence is also a component of healthy leadership where actions taken by others are aligned with a desired outcome based on the application of intelligence and controlled emotion, and channeled in the right way can have a significant impact on what we say, do and deliver. It’s at this point I’m introducing the EI Model developed by Stephen Gribben (2016).

The premise of Stephens model is simple but powerful in its approach and I have to admit that it’s a process that I have sometimes failed miserably at over the years but have had the good fortune to experience others who have demonstrated their mastery of it, often without them knowing what it was that they were demonstrating (ignorance is bliss isn’t it?). Imagine if they did know, what lessons these leaders could have passed onto others?

So, knowing what the outcome is that needs to be achieved which can be a crisis or a euphoric occasion, our first challenge is to manage our emotional reaction just long enough for our intelligence to kick in and consider the situation we are confronted with.

So, for everyone who is hopefully enjoying this read, and I hope you are, the EI model is a critical leadership development tool to embrace, practice and perfect in every scenario we face on a daily basis, including that initial entry into the workplace.

Those experiences and memories for some, have a lasting and significant impact on their leadership journey because I believe leadership to be an intrinsic part of who we are. Whether ‘Fight or Flight’, a decision is required so at least make that decision with intelligence and controlled emotion and where possible with the influence and support of others.

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