Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Training in Denver, Colorado

Emotional Intelligence & Leadership Training in Denver, Colorado Did you know that up to 80% of a leader’s effective is due to their EQ?

According to researchers and writers such as Daniel Goleman, leaders’ emotional intelligence (people skills) are the most important qualities that determine success.

When I work with teams, I often have them do an exercise to distinguish between inspiring leaders and “infecting” leaders.

Here is the exercise. Write down a list of 3 leaders who have inspired you and made a positive impact on your life. These can be people living or dead, that you have known well or not, personal or professional.

Now, write down at least 3 qualities they had or things they did that made a difference for you.

Now, write a list of 3 leaders who in some way were negative leaders in your life. Perhaps they infected instead of inspired. What were 3 qualities or things they did that demotivated you?

As you look at these two lists, circle the things that have more to do with people skills.

If you are like most of my participants, you will notice that the vast majority of what you have written down are related to people skills.

Lists often include qualities such as: trustworthy, honest, gave me honest feedback, led by example, dealt with conflict in a good way, listened, cared about my growth.

Now, if you look back at your two lists, which of these things do YOU do? Both on the good leaders list and the not-so-good leaders list?

There is ALWAYS room for us to grow in our leadership. The definition that I use for leadership is: the ability and skill to positive influence those around us. This includes co-workers, family, friends. This is the power of a leader, the power to influence. We all have it.

As a leader, do you see it as part of your mission to continue to grow yourself? We sure hope so!

Here are some things you might consider looking at in the realm of Emotional Intelligence. Many of these may seem to be common sense, but are you practicing them regularly?

1. Listening. It is amazing to me how many times I hear the complaint my employees: “my ideas aren’t listened to”. Do you really take the time to listen to others? Are you using reflective listening skills? Do you consider what others are saying or do you have your mind already made up?

2. Feedback. How often do you give colleagues feedback? Both positive and constructive? Is it specific? Because people often focus on the negative, we need to receive at least twice as much positive feedback as negative! This needs to be done ongoingly.

3. Self-Awareness. Are you aware of how your direct reports and colleagues perceive your strengths and weaknesses? Do you have a personal leadership goal to improve yourself? Do you use a coach? Are you aware of how your communication impacts other?

Of course there are many other elements to improving your emotional intelligence as a leader, but we think these are a good start!

Transformative Training Solutions offers leadership coaching, leadership development trainings, and retreats at all levels of leadership.

We would love to support you in your professional development. We provide Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Training in Denver, Colorado.

For your Growth,

Jeannie Gunter, MA, PCC
Founder and President,
Transformative Training Solutions

303 653-3097

Jeannie works with a wide variety of clients to help them increase their team effectiveness and leadership capacity in their teams. She has worked both nationally and internationally as an organizational consultant, facilitator, speaker and wilderness guide.

With a strong background in group dynamics, over the past 20 years Jeannie has guided hundreds of teams in a wide variety of organizations to successful outcomes in team, personal and professional development.