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Christmas is coming....but what does it bring?

Guest post by: Kool Results

Article Overview: I am sure most of you will have noticed the baubles, streamers and trees in the shops which indicate that Christmas is around the corner. Apart from sending us all into panic, some of us may genuinely fear all the social expectations at this time, whether at work or at home. Have you had a good look at your social skills recently? When you are in a leadership role, how you behave towards your staff is critical to how successful a leader you are, and, ultimately, critical for the success of your business.

Christmas is coming....but what does it bring?

Social intelligence – the sort of present we’d all like to have! We are all familiar with emotional intelligence, but what about social intelligence? Do you have the ability to empathise with your staff in order to motivate them? Daniel Goleman’s book ‘Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships’ explores the concept that effective leadership requires a real ability to promote positive responses in your staff. It’s about how to get your people on board so they buy into the same values and goals as you. There is scientific evidence which suggests positive behaviour is infectious! When you see the results on your bottom line you know you are doing something right. The ability to retain staff is important, as is getting greater commitment out of them which often leads to an increase in sales. Creating a positive attitude in the workforce will consolidate good employee relations. If there is a ‘disconnect’ this can have negative ramifications. We have all come across highly intelligent people who are experts in their field, but lack the ability to transfer this knowledge to others. Or maybe they are competent in the laboratory, but lack interpersonal and relationships skills to work effectively with colleagues, let alone take on the role as a leader. Goleman’s research has uncovered new evidence that suggests social intelligence has its roots in our biological neurons. Goleman calls these ‘mirror neurons’, where we pick up, whether consciously or not, signals from another person about the state of their emotions, merely through the way they behave. Our own neurons then ‘mirror’ these emotions. So, in a business environment, a leader’s emotions and actions can be picked up by others and they can share a similar experience. This is a very powerful concept and the importance of being upbeat cannot be underestimated. A leader may deliver a good performance appraisal, but in a negative and non-empathetic way. The result will be a dissatisfied employee. Conversely, a different leader may give negative feedback, but deliver it in such a way as to make the employee feel good and positive about how he may improve his performance. Feeling good about yourself improves confidence and enhances success at work. When you have several people in your team feeling satisfied, a positive environment is created. In collaboration with Richard Boyatzis, Goleman has written ‘Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership.’ In it, social intelligence is defined as having seven main elements: 1. empathy – the ability to understand people and to be aware of their needs, particularly when dealing with people from other cultures 2. attunement - tuning into the moods of others by careful listening 3. values awareness - appreciating business culture and understanding social networks 4. influence - appealing to people’s self interest and gaining the support of key players 5. personal development of others - providing the necessary coaching and mentoring 6. inspiration - articulating a compelling vision and bringing out the best in people 7. teamwork – promoting teamwork through co-operation and collaboration So what can you do if you feel your social intelligence is not up to scratch? We can all work on strategies to improve social intelligence. At Kool Results we will observe how you work and offer objective and constructive ways to help. By using us as your mentor, we can design a plan to improve and to enhance your existing skills to become the best you can. And what better present can you want than that?

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Article Tags: Social intelligence



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Being generous has its rewards! - My friend wants to go around the streets on Christmas night giving homeless people $20 bills. Maybe I'll tell him to start a fundraiser, find a few sponsors and hold an event instead? It could be for everyone who don't have a families to be with during Christmas? They can all get together on Christmas day and have some fun and get to know each other. (sort of like a little family?) It probably sounds better in theory though, lol.
Re: Moderators on vacation - Off on my Christmas holidays with my family later today! Actually, we are flying to England and have been watching BBC World News reports about Heathrow struggling to cope with the snow... Hope the trains manage to run on Christmas Eve... I probably won't appear on the forum very often until around 5th January, DV... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everybody! David H
Re: What are reasons to stay in touch with your customers? - To remind them of a holiday for which they may want to buy a gift from your business and give to the person (such as Mother's day or Christmas). Although I've never done it, I've heard that off holidays (such as Memorial Day) for which we don't think of getting a card on, are the best ones to send them on so they don't get lost in all the other Christmas or Easter cards people are sending at the typical times. I don't know if that's what you're looking for or not. That's all I can think of right now.
Merry Christmas everyone! - I'm just waiting for my son to wake up to start our Christmas traditions and I wanted to drop a quick note here to thank everyone for your support of the forums. We've have an exciting year and hopefully we can reach and help even more entrepreneurs in 2011! I hope you enjoy your families and have a fantastic holiday break... and then get ready to kick some butt with your business in 2011! Merry Christmas everyone!
Favorite Christmas movies - Back when us kids were young (my parents had 3), my mom, sister and I would watch White Christmas every Christmas. (My dad and brother were never interested.) Now the rest of the family is scattered, and only I live close to my parents. We got away from the tradition, but now my mom and I watch [i:1h8kfk2v]White Christmas[/i:1h8kfk2v] again. (Just as every Halloween we watch Arsenic and Old Lace.) I also like the 1970 musical [i:1h8kfk2v]Scrooge[/i:1h8kfk2v], starring Albert Finney, much better than any version done since! I do have to say I've never liked[i:1h8kfk2v] It's A Wonderful Life[/i:1h8kfk2v]. He spends all his life having his hopes and dreams shattered, feeling miserable, and its only at the end of his life that he can look back and realize how many friends he has, etc. But that doesn't change the fact that up until that point he was miserable!


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