Workplace EQ: Motivation to Be Our Best Selves

by Karen Elizaga | Posted: March 25th, 2011 | No Comments »

Here’s a repost on workplace EQ while we’re thinking about EQ…

We came across a great article yesterday in the New York Times, in which CEO of Zappo’s Tony Hsieh talks about the importance of company culture to create a successful company. As he says, “if we get the culture right, most of the stuff, like building a brand around delivering the very best customer service, will just take care of itself.” Zappo’s is laser-focused on building a values-driven environment, and everyone’s got to buy in. In fact, company policy is to interview a candidate along two tracks – one to determine whether he or she has the right skillset, and the other to determine whether he or she fits in. Only if s/he passes the latter test does a candidate gain admission into Zappo’s hallowed halls.

As Susan surmised, I loved this. I started my workshops and coaching on this premise – that there’s much more to life than just what we can execute. It’s how we execute. While I’d always thought that success in the classroom translated to success in the real world, I had real world experiences early in my career that taught me this wasn’t true. Interviewing thousands of candidates for jobs, I realized that people needed soft, intangible skills to achieve their objectives. They couldn’t just rely on the A’s they’d gotten at top universities or even the top-tier, brand-name companies on their resumes. They needed the ability to connect – with potential colleagues, employers and clients! The people with emotional intelligence, or EQ as Daniel Goleman has coined the term, were the ones who would get the jobs, who would manage teams effectively and who would inspire confidence.

Given what’s been happening with Tiger Woods lately, I’ve had so many conversations about how morals, ethics and effective interpersonal skills are what will separate the men (IQ and EQ) from the beasts (nil). Sure, he’s smart (Stanford), he’s mega-talented (do I need to say anything here?), and he’s handsome (well, some think so anyway). But clearly (and this was apparent to many who’d come across him even before this recent scandal), Tiger did not develop the moral/ethics/interpersonal stuff that is so important. At the end of the day, is he being his best self?

What can you do to be your best self in any environment? A few tips, whether you’re in an office or otherwise:

• Know yourself – be aware of what you project and the way you treat others… Treat everyone (from the guy who vacuums your office at night to the CEO of your company) the way you like to be treated.
• Be empathetic – see beyond your own scope and tune into others’ motivation and feelings. Things are not always as they appear, and if you can figure this stuff out, you can come up with great solutions that might not be apparently initially.
• Honor your curiosity – connect with others by asking questions about their lives. People love sharing and will appreciate the attention.
• Be conscious of your strengths, weaknesses and idiosyncrasies – what makes you unique and interesting to others (Or in Zappo’s speak, “on a scale of 1-10, how weird are you?”)? Knowing who you are allows you to navigate social and work settings effortlessly.
• Show up (always) at your clearest, highest energy - eat well (for health), move your body and see the good in what you’ve got (it’s there, we promise).