EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
& EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Balancing Head and Heart
For the most part, our society has failed to
develop vibrant, creative work cultures. What's out there in the world of
work is a proliferation of highly pressured, frenetic environments where
research shows the majority of people are disengaged.
Leaders earn the right to lead
by engaging the hearts, minds, and muscle of the people they lead. Too
many organizations settle for only engaging their followers’ minds and/or
muscle, while neglecting their hearts. Leadership is about engaging and
satisfying the needs and motives of followers that results in the followers
taking a course of action toward a shared vision. It’s up to leaders to
embody sharing, connectedness, and authenticity so they can help others develop
the same qualities. Strong management (the realm of the head) must be
balanced with strong leadership (the realm of the heart) for optimal results.
Gifted Leaders is all
about bringing our hearts back into both our personal and work lives. For
too long we’ve been expected to “check our hearts at the door” and
approach all our decisions using only logic, analysis, and the left-brained (now
called L-mode) reasoning of the mind. L-mode thinking dominates American
culture and organizational dynamics. The phrase, “it’s not personal,
it’s business” sadly exemplifies this mentality.
“Over the years the
logical/analytical left brain has dominated business decision making.
Skills that utilize intuition, inspiration, and active imagination haven’t
found a home within the corporate world. Work rises from the soul and sculpts
our future using creative imagination. Corporations of the future that
understand the creative impulse within the human spirit will be the leaders of
tomorrow.” – Deborah Jacroux,
a work/life consultant with the Microsoft Corporation
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