GL MONTHLY e-NEWSLETTER - February 2004

Brought to you by Jeff Thoren, DVM  

The amygdala is the emotional center of our brains and is key to how human beings process information and control behavior.  The little amygdala can determine the fate of organizations, because it influences employees' emotional responses and behaviors.  Human beings, whether they are clients or employees, are naturally predisposed to be emotionally engaged.

Great companies realize that emotional engagement is the key to developing productive employees and the most profitable relationships with clients.  They pay particular attention to the "emotional economy" in the workplace and set up conditions that cultivate emotional bonds with employees and clients.

The irony is that while 70% of clients' buying decisions are based on positive human interaction with staff, companies dedicate a miniscule 10% of their resources to ensuring that positive human interactions will take place!  This month, we'll learn how leaders can improve team performance by increasing their own emotional intelligence.

Here’s this month’s feature …

Leading Resonant Teams - by Daniel Goleman

From Leader to Leader, No. 25  Summer 2002

Highlights from the article:

• People do not leave their emotions at home when they go to work.  We are always feeling something.  And despite the fact that many organizational cultures place a high value on intelligence devoid of emotion, our emotions are really more powerful than our intellect.
    

• Research clearly shows that when people are angry, anxious, alienated, or depressed, their work suffers.  Since emotions are contagious this can also cause the productivity of the team to suffer.
    

• The leader's fundamental task is an emotional one.  Leaders in a group determine the consensual emotions, the shared emotions.  So it is very important for leaders to pay attention to the emotional reality of a team and take care of it.
    

• When emotional intelligence is developed in a team, the team "resonates".
    

• If you are a resonant leader, you tune in to your own values, priorities, sense of meaning, and goals - and you lead authentically from those, and you do it in a way that you tune in to other people's sense of values, priorities, meaning, and goals.  You create a climate where you can articulate a shared mission that moves people.
    

• The opposite of resonance is dissonance.  Dissonant leaders don't care how people feel.  They just want to get the job done, no matter what.
    

• On a team, resonance releases energy in people, and it increases the amount of energy available to the team, which, in turn, puts people in a state where they can work at their best.  Resonant teams are top-performing teams!

For the full text article, go to . . .
http://www.leadertoleader.org/knowledgecenter/L2L/summer2002/goleman.html

Maintaining Team Performance

If you have a resonant team, the team often leads itself, in a sense that if the ostensible leader isn't doing it right at the moment, anyone on the team can step forward and become the leader for the moment.  Leadership is always dispersed to some extent in a team setting.

Any team can get off track and veer towards trouble.  But the difference between teams that derail and those that do not is monitoring and maintenance.  Leaders who monitor team effectiveness on an ongoing basis can make course corrections that keep small problems from becoming major disasters.

Research at the Center for Creative Leadership has identified six factors essential for team success:

1. A clear purpose (everyone knows the team's mission)

2. An empowering team structure (everyone knows their role)

3. Strong organizational support (supportive reward, information, and control systems)

4. Positive internal relationships (everyone respects and trusts each other)

5. Well-tended external relationships (the team is responsive to it's customers)

6. Efficient information management (important information for decision-making is available to the team)

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