Carolyn Stern, Author at EI Experience

Upskilling Emotional Intelligence in Your Company

by Carolyn Stern | Oct 8, 2021 | Emotional Intelligence, Personal Development

The concept of “upskilling” employees, which refers to allocating time and resources to develop existing employees’ new skills, has become increasingly popular. Companies have embraced this practice, with firms such as PwC and Amazon publicly announcing commitments in spending billions of dollars in upskilling programs.

As HR professionals struggle to find candidates with the right soft skills for their organization, it’s clear that the future of the workforce is centered around the pivotal ingredient: emotional intelligence. In fact, the World Economic Forum reports that skills including emotional intelligence, creativity, and ideation will be in demand for the years to come.

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Defined as the ability to detect, analyze, and regulate one’s own emotions, emotional intelligence is the backbone to reducing stress and anxiety, communicating effectively, engaging with others, overcoming adversity, and handling conflict. Given the fact that many teams operate virtually, emotional intelligence is no longer optional to have. Instead, it is a necessary skill to instill in your organization in order to stay emotionally connected with your remote team, and we have uncovered how to begin upskilling emotional intelligence in your teams.

2022 Skills Outlook emotional intelligence

Upskilling Emotional Intelligence in Your Company

Zero in on Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Successful managers show self-awareness 一 the ability to perceive and articulate their emotions. They have a thorough understanding of themselves and are aware of both their abilities and limitations.

One of the most effective ways to upskill your soft skills and emotional intelligence is by keeping an inventory of your emotional strengths and weaknesses.

If you are unsure about your emotional strengths and weaknesses, take our free 15-question quiz to assess your level of emotional intelligence.

Zero in on Your Strengths and Weaknesses

How High is my EI?

By leveraging your strengths and recognizing your limitations, you can develop your self-awareness and take advantage of development opportunities. To learn more about discovering yourself, read our recent blog on enhancing your emotional self-awareness.

Develop Your Assertiveness

Assertiveness is the practice of openly sharing your ideas and thoughts in a polite and non-offensive approach. Since leaders must express themselves despite what others believe or say, assertiveness is crucial in leadership. Managers with a high level of assertiveness can stand up for their ideas and deliver bold perspectives without fear of judgment. But most importantly, learning how to be assertive comes with being capable of standing alone if your ideas are unfavorable.

It’s important to recognize that assertive leaders do not force their views on others and get everyone to agree with them. Instead, assertiveness is about finding the right balance between passive and aggressive communication, articulating your viewpoints, and establishing your position.

Pinpoint Your Triggers

Many of us have faced situations that triggered emotional reactions. For some, it can be when our colleagues say “I don’t understand”– which triggers us to become defensive. For others, it can be stressful situations that set off our emotions. Whatever the circumstances are, one of the most pivotal steps to upskilling emotional intelligence in the workplace is by identifying triggers.

Once you’ve determined what your triggers are, it’s essential to investigate the “Why” driving your reactions. What is it about these topics or situations that cause you to react strongly? The goal of pinpointing your triggers is to help you respond – rather than react –to similar situations in the future. By understanding our triggers, not only will we stay level-headed, but we can also avoid making hasty actions that we might later regret.

Invest in Virtual Emotional Intelligence Training

The need for internal employee training has never been greater. We’ve all witnessed how the workplace has transformed over the years, and the difficulties brought by COVID-19 have just added to that transformation. Upskilling enables employees and managers to stay ahead of emerging trends and develop their agility to remain competitive in the current market.

With 70% of employees forgetting what they learned in training after just 24 hours, it’s clear that employees need an interactive and unique training program. Every company and employee is different, so what works for some employees won’t work for others.

So how do you ensure your employee development program isn’t a waste of time? By focusing on customizable and personalized emotional intelligence training solutions. And as many businesses transition to a mainly remote or digital working environment, nothing is more useful in our digital age than a seamless online employee training program.

Invest in Virtual Emotional Intelligence Training

The Time to Reskill Is Now

One of the best decisions you can make for your company is cultivating employee development through emotional intelligence training. Not only is investing in your people a critical step in developing an engaged workforce, but it’s a small price to reduce employee turnover, protect your bottom line, and promote your company’s continuous learning culture and values.

An organization that focuses on upskilling its team’s emotional intelligence can find itself in the driver’s seat on the path to success. So, what’s stopping you? Take the first step in improving employee experience and development through upskilling emotional intelligence by booking a call with us here.

To learn more about emotional intelligence and how it impacts your organization, sign up for our newsletter here, where you will receive our latest updates, an inventory of resources, and much more!

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Linkedin to keep up with our latest blogs!

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How to Conduct Employee Engagement Conversations

by Carolyn Stern | Sep 24, 2021 | Engagement, Transformational Leadership

What’s the Difference Between Employee Engagement and Employee Satisfaction?

When you hear the phrases “employee satisfaction” and “employee engagement,” you might think they’re the same thing. However, they’re actually quite different!

Managers need to make every effort to ensure that their employees are both engaged and satisfied in their jobs. If they want to develop a high-performing workforce, it is critical to recognize the distinctions between the two phrases.

Employee Engagement vs. Employee Satisfaction

Employee engagement emerges when an employee is dedicated to ensuring their organizations accomplish all of their targets. An engaged employee is driven to turn up to work each day and continuously seeks ways to enhance the organization.

Employee satisfaction describes a person who enjoys their work but is not invested in it. Picture an employee coming to work day in, day out, not contributing more than they’re asked, and counting down the minutes until they can leave work.

Engaged employees are satisfied with their jobs, but satisfied employees are not particularly engaged with theirs. In research conducted by Gallup, employees who scored in the top half on employee engagement almost doubled their odds of success compared with those in the bottom half.

How To Conduct Employee Engagement Conversations

Employees who work for companies that execute an employee engagement strategy are more likely to have trust in their leaders and feel as though their organization values and respects them. As a result, all aspects of the company benefit from greater employee engagement:

Higher levels of productivity
Improved customer experiences
Unleashed employee potential.

To help you conduct employee engagement conversations, we’ve included four questions to ask your employees to understand their level of engagement and determine the most effective way to engage your staff.

Can your workers clearly correlate their efforts and the company’s goals?

As a leader, you must instill passion in your employees to stay one step ahead of the competition. That starts with distinctly highlighting the correlation between their contributions and the organization’s goals. Engaged workers who recognize the impact of their contributions will feel like an integral component to the organization’s success, which enables them to take pride in their job and the company’s brand.

Is the company’s leadership capable of motivating employees?

There are two areas of emphasis when building employee engagement: the level of engagement a worker has with the company, and also with their manager. As a leader, ensuring that your employees do not just enjoy their work, but are also engaged and driven to perform, can help you overcome your company’s biggest roadblocks to success.

Employees who are more engaged with their management are given both guidance and flexibility in their tasks. When leaders are involved in their employee’s journey, their team will be motivated to show up to work on a daily basis believing in what they’re doing. Engaged employees believe they have the support of the firm they are working for and will feel emotionally invested in their job, which propels them to contribute to the company’s success.

Is it easy for your staff to understand the mission and goals of your company?

To be engaged, an employee must be dedicated to the company’s values. They are continuously driven to strive for a common objective that is consistent with the company’s vision. If employees have a north star that they constantly refer to, they will have a clear understanding of their priorities and feel more attached to their tasks. Plus, those who work with a sense of purpose put out their full effort, helping your business achieve its goals.

How Well-Equipped are Your Managers to Lead a Successful Team?

Maintaining high levels of engagement starts with the leader, and trickles down to the rest of the organization. Specifically, it requires the use of emotional intelligence to make employees feel like a vital part of the team. Without tuning into how emotionally attached employees are in their work, managers won’t know how dedicated their workers are to the company’s success. Ultimately, leading with emotional intelligence and connecting at the heart of employees can foster a stronger corporate culture, high-performing and cohesive teams with increased efficiency, and an esteemed reputation that only few can beat.

The Next Step

It’s one thing to ask employees the questions above, but it’s another to put their feedback into action. The next step is to actively work on improving employee engagement within the company by using their responses and discovering the areas that need improvement or modification. This starts with listening intently to employees’ questions and concerns, immersing them in discussions, and mentoring and coaching them to put forth their best abilities. An organization that can reflect its employees’ sentiments and needs can develop an attuned workplace bursting with innovation and productivity.

As long as managers are part of the solution, they can avoid being the cause of the problems. What’s stopping you? Take the first step in driving performance and retention through employee engagement conversations by booking a call with us here.

To learn more about emotional intelligence and how it impacts your organization, sign up for our newsletter here, where you will receive our latest updates, an inventory of resources, and much more!

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Linkedin to keep up with our latest blogs!

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Improve Employee Mental Health with Emotional Intelligence

by Carolyn Stern | Sep 10, 2021 | Emotional Intelligence, Wellness

The Decade Long Rise

When we struggle with our mental health, it feels like we’re on a sinking boat. It becomes increasingly difficult to stay productive at work, we lose motivation and we aren’t performing optimally. Therefore, not only are your people suffering, but so is your bottom line. Here’s some evidence to pay attention to:

It costs the global economy US $8.1 trillion, nearly 10% of GDP, in lost productivity each year.
“It is possible — even likely — that employee mental health will get worse.”
In 2020, the year in which COVID-19 took the world by a storm, seven in 10 employees were struggling or suffering in their lives.
2020 may have been a record year for negative emotions, but Gallup has reported that the world has been on a downward spiral for the past decade.

Gallup has reported that the world has been on a downward spiral for the past decade

Why Emotions Matter

For most of us, we have been trained to leave our emotions at the door. As a result, we’ve become detached from our emotions, particularly powerful ones such as sorrow, anger, and anxiety. But while we can suppress or deny our emotions, we can’t get rid of them. Whether we recognize them or not, they’re still there.

Consequently, until you are connected to all of your emotions, you cannot cope with stress, fully understand your actions, or regulate how you think and behave. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to recognize, comprehend, and manage your own emotions in order to reduce stress and anxiety, communicate with impact, connect with others, overcome life’s obstacles, and resolve conflict. It is classified into five composite scales: stress management, self-perception, self-expression, interpersonal, and decision making.

How can your company do its part in improving your employees’ mental health and well-being by developing the five EQ composite scales in your team?

Stress Management

The most crucial composite in improving your employees’ well-being is stress management. We all know that stress cannot be eliminated completely, so the aim should be to boost our employees’ ability to cope with stress without a decrease in performance. By improving your employees’ ability to manage stress when things are changing or are not going well, they’ll be able to face larger challenges with more self-assurance and emotional resilience. They will have a positive attitude and adapt more easily to unfamiliar and unpredictable situations.

Self-Perception

Self-perception is one of the core components of emotional intelligence and is all about how one sees themselves. When employees recognize their own emotions and how it impacts their thoughts and behaviors, they’ll be able to self-regulate better and work more effectively. Once your employees enhance their self-perception competencies, they’ll have a greater understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. They will gain self-confidence and belief in their abilities, which will allow them to believe they can and will achieve the work at hand—ultimately adopting a mindset of resilience and mental toughness to be more productive, optimistic, and adaptable.

Self-Expression

When employees have too much on their plates, whether it be at work or in their personal life, their mental health takes a toll. However, most employees are reluctant to ask for help from their employers. Consequently, they’ll be overworked, more likely to become burned out or distracted, and less likely to perform to the best of their ability. In fact, distraction at work is an issue for 69% of full-time employees, according to a survey by Udemy. By empowering your employees to develop the competencies within self-expression, they’ll be able to narrate their internal thoughts to others effectively and constructively communicate their needs and desires. They will also learn to balance knowing when to ask for help and when they have the emotional stamina to manage independently.

Interpersonal

In a meta-analysis conducted by the journal Personality and Social Psychology Review, they reported that people who felt more camaraderie with their coworkers, and more engaged to their company, had better mental health and were less prone to burnout. It’s crucial to encourage your employees to develop and maintain strong interpersonal relationships. Not only is it beneficial to their mental health and productivity, but it benefits your company’s productivity and success as well. When you instill strong interpersonal skills within your employees, they’ll be able to identify and interpret the emotions of others and respond accordingly. Ultimately, your employees will be able to effectively communicate, inspire and motivate others, collaborate on projects, and resolve conflicts.

Decision Making

Although we make choices and problem solve on a daily basis, it can become more difficult to make sound decisions when we are faced with mental health struggles. The last EQ composite scale, decision-making, is focused on our ability to make informed decisions even when emotions are overpowering. It’s essential to develop your employees’ decision-making skills in order to help them regulate their emotions, use the data provided by their emotions to avoid impulsive decisions, take initiative and show dedication, and make rational decisions in times of chaos.

Emotional Intelligence Can Save Your Team From Sinking

As much as we like to leave our emotions at the door before we walk into work every day, the truth is—we’re human. When we’re struggling or suffering in our lives, it’s difficult to stay engaged and perform optimally in our professional lives, no matter how hard we try. Considering that 80% of employees are not engaged or actively disengaged at work, it’s imperative that companies take a step back, and construct a game plan to manage the mental health and well-being of their employees. Your employees are on a sinking boat, and you’re the lifeline that they need to ride the wave again and gain stability rather than emotional turmoil.

develop emotional intelligence skills to improve well-being and employee experience

Yet, no matter what your circumstances or obstacles are, it’s not too late to learn, develop, and enhance the vital emotional intelligence skills to improve well-being and employee experience.

To learn more about emotional intelligence and how it impacts your organization, sign up for our biweekly newsletter here, where you will receive our latest updates, an inventory of resources, and much more!

If you need help improving or managing employee well-being and mental health in your organization, book a call with us here; we’d love to listen and provide support in any way we can.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Linkedin to keep up with our latest blogs!

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4 Steps to Creating a Culture of Engagement

by Carolyn Stern | Aug 25, 2021 | Corporate Culture, Engagement

There are two types of companies in the world: those that prioritize a culture of employee engagement, and those that don’t. The main difference between the two? The latter misses out on lowering their risk of turnover, gaining a measurable increase in productivity and profit, and boosting their overall chance of success.

Imagine two employees who work at different companies: The first employee comes to work each day with determination and constantly bounces off new ideas with other employees. The second employee does the bare minimum to get by, gets their paycheck, and constantly keeps their eye on their watch to see when they’re off work. Which worker is immersed in a culture of engagement at their company?

For managers looking to elevate their company, the answer should be clear. Engaged employees, who are emotionally and behaviorally attached to their job and company, go above and beyond to contribute to the success of their organization. Read more to learn how to create a culture of engagement.

How to Create a Culture of Engagement

1. Master Your Onboarding Process

In a survey conducted by Society for Human Resource Management, one-third of new hires left their jobs after only six months. In other words, you’ve got fewer than six months to engage your employees before they walk out the door. However, with an interactive and thorough onboarding program, you can demonstrate to your employees that you appreciate them, which allows them to recognize the value in their job at the beginning of their journey with your company. We understand that remote work is here to stay, which comes with the challenge of effectively communicating and connecting with others through an effective virtual onboarding process.

2. Step Back from Micromanaging

It’s crucial to realize that micromanaging can do more harm than good to your organization. In a survey conducted by staffing agency Accountemps, 68% of employees working for a micromanager claimed a decrease in morale, and 55% reported that their morale was negatively impacted. Low morale and poor productivity—two indicators of actively disengaged workers.

As best-selling author Daniel H. Pink says, “Control leads to compliance; autonomy leads to engagement.”

Allow your employees to take the reins over their work. When employees have the freedom to come up with their own ideas and solve problems, they’ll develop a sense of autonomy and engage more with their job. Whether it’s taking on a new project or contributing to strategy development, encourage your employees to come up with their own decisions, while underlining that they can reach out to their managers if they have questions. Offering freedom and a greater sense of control in your employees’ tasks show that you trust their skills and abilities.

3. Invest In Your Employees

Each year, it costs the U.S. economy $1 trillion dollars due to voluntary turnover. When an employee leaves your company, not only do you lose their accumulated knowledge and expertise, but it wastes your time, resources, and money. To show your employees that you are committed to helping them with their intellectual and professional development, invest in their future.

The tough reality is, if you don’t invest in your employees, especially young talent, you’re also not advancing your company’s sustainability and scalability. Whether it’s fostering employee development through leadership development or coaching programs, investing in your people is a vital component of developing an engaged workforce as well as a cost-effective strategy to reduce employee turnover, protect your bottom line, and your company culture.

4. Employees: Human First

Employees don’t leave companies; they leave managers. If you plan on preventing turnover in the long run, your company must commit to an ongoing process of using emotional intelligence to intrinsically engage them.

It’s difficult for an employee to become engaged at work when they feel like the difficult tasks they’re doing are unappreciated or worse yet, unrecognized. According to a Gallup study, employees who don’t feel recognized are twice as likely to quit. When your employees know they are making a difference, work becomes more purposeful and motivating. In order to determine the best route of engaging your employees, ask them the following questions:

What do you need to feel connected to the team and the manager?

Some employees feel most connected to their colleagues when silos are broken down and information is easily accessible, when they have scheduled check-ins with their manager, or when they’re assigned a mentor in the workplace.

What do you need to feel appreciated for your efforts?

Appreciation in the workplace varies employee-to-employee. Some employees feel most appreciated when they receive undivided attention from their superiors or coworkers, but others may prefer words of affirmation instead. Check out our recommended book, The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, to learn more.

What do you need to feel fulfilled in your role?

Many employees, particularly younger workers, may feel most fulfilled when they’re given challenging tasks. Other examples of feeling fulfilled include receiving employee development opportunities, or setting and achieving goals.

A leader that is emotionally intelligent understands how their words and actions affect the connections with their employees. Regardless of how you choose to acknowledge your employees, asking the three questions above is the first step in fostering a culture of engagement by learning how their employees best feel connected, appreciated, and fulfilled in their jobs.

If you need help creating a culture of engagement, book a call with us here.

If you need help breaking down silos in your organization to foster productivity and achieve more, book a call with us here; we’d love to listen and provide support in any way we can.

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by Carolyn Stern | Aug 12, 2021 | Hiring and Recruiting, Management Skills

HR leaders understand how stressful it can be to attract and hire new employees, especially when they’re assessing whether or not the prospect will be a long-term employee. We know how tempting it is to jump the gun and consider a hire “successful” once you offer the job to a promising candidate, but not so quick—you still have to undertake one of the most critical tasks of hiring a new employee: onboarding.

Onboarding is a company’s chance to welcome new members of staff and orient them to the corporate culture as smoothly as possible. Not only does it mark the beginning of their skills development within a company, but their onboarding program begins to shape their perception of the company. If their onboarding process is rushed, ineffective, or non-existent, new hires who don’t feel appreciated by their managers will be less likely to recognize the value in their job and stay for the long haul.

A Digital Take on Onboarding

From the moment the world was shaken by a global pandemic, companies have changed the way they’ve run their day-to-day operations. For better or for worse, employees who’ve been used to working all day in an office were soon thrown into the land of remote work. Whether the distractions at home made it hard to stay focused on your tasks, or the comfortability of working in your sweatpants made remote work tolerable, long-term employees have finally settled into their new normal. Yet for the past year and a half, employers have been so focused on adjusting their businesses to the chaos of COVID-19, that they neglected the importance of onboarding new employees in the era of a virtual workforce.

As the War For Talent intensifies, it would be a mistake not to make every effort to retain talented employees. Fortunately, the Society for Human Resource Management reported that 69% of employees who’ve had a positive onboarding experience are more likely to stay with their company for at least three years. Read on as we uncover four ways to improve your virtual onboarding process and reduce employee turnover early on.

What We'll Cover:

Provide Them a Mentor
Build Employee Experience by Encouraging Team Engagement
Showcase Your Learning Culture & Values
Communicate with Impact
Free Emotional Intelligence Quiz

1. Provide Them a Mentor

The right mentor can change an employee’s life. To help new virtual employees feel like a member of the team and put them on route to becoming a cornerstone of the company, give them a mentor to help them navigate their first few weeks and even beyond. Mentors aren’t there to tell a new employee what to do, but rather help launch them on the right path and avoid making costly and time-consuming mistakes. It could take several years for a new employee to advance higher up the company’s corporate ladder, but a mentor can expedite their journey and shorten the learning curve. To learn more about the impact of mentorship in the workplace on your employee’s professional development, productivity, and engagement, read our latest blogs on mentorships.

2. Build Employee Experience by Encouraging Team Engagement

In a remote work environment, engagement and social contact tend to dwindle down, replaced by interactions that feel more transactional. HR executives inform us that when there is a lack of genuine connection, some workers feel as if they could work for any organization. This rings true, especially for new employees. To deliver a successful onboarding process and establish a great employee experience from the beginning, new recruits should not only get to know the organization they’re working for but also get to know the people and faces on their teams. To keep new employees engaged from the onset of their time with your company, virtual onboarding should be interactive. Use innovative digital methods to connect with the team such as implementing polls, starting a group chat, using breakout groups on Zoom, hosting virtual lunches, and creating communities on social media platforms to build relationships.

3. Showcase Your Company’s Learning Culture and Values

According to a LinkedIn poll of over 3,000 U.S. professionals, 70% indicated they would leave a top corporation if the culture was inadequate. On top of that, 71% indicated they would take a pay cut to work for an organization that reflects their values and is committed to a vision they believe in. With most employees today feeling disconnected and unaligned with their organizational culture, it’s as crucial as ever to instill a sense of belonging in new hires and emphasize a strong culture to reduce employee turnover. In particular, this means emphasizing the company’s mission and values throughout the onboarding process. Saying it is one thing, but it’s important that you show onboarding virtual team members how your company lives up to the missions and values each day.

Despite working in a different physical environment, new employees need to be seamlessly immersed into the company’s culture in order to cultivate their sense of belonging to the organization at an early stage. To foster strong company culture, your company must encourage mutually beneficial connections between employees, which sets the tone for your organization’s success.

4. Communicate With Impact

Whether working on-site or remote, employees are currently facing a “crisis of connection.” In fact, only 40% of employees experience a feeling of belonging at their company, according to a Gartner study. The situation is much worse for new hires, with only 32% of those employed in the last year reporting a sense of belonging to their workplace. In a virtual onboarding environment, there’s no such thing as over-communicating with new recruits. However, it’s important to remember that most people only remember a small proportion of what is said to them, but with impactful communication, you’ll be more likely to leave a lasting impression on your new hires. The secret to communicating with impact? Tuning into your emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and regulate your own emotions while simultaneously being aware of and considering the sentiments of others. When you increase your emotional intelligence, you get to know your employees as humans first. Then, once you learn how to communicate with impact, you plant the seeds of trust and employee satisfaction in your new employees.

Not sure where you stand in terms of your emotional intelligence? Try our free 15-question quiz to measure your level of emotional intelligence:

How High is my EI?

Onboarding has always been a core factor of HR success. If you do it right, outstanding employees will stick around and become significant contributors to your company’s overall success. If you onboard ineffectively, talented workers will walk out the door, taking your expertise and time with them. With nearly twice as many employees working from home as in the office, most HR professionals are finding it difficult to onboard, train, and integrate new hires digitally. However, by using the virtual onboarding best practices we’ve provided above, you’ll elevate your onboarding process to help ensure your new employees won’t leave you high and dry.

If you need help mastering your virtual onboarding and the new hire experience, book a call with us here; we’d love to listen and provide support in any way we can.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Linkedin to keep up with our latest blogs!

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