Leading with Emotional Intelligence – a Game Changer

Companies are naturally concerned about the top line, that being sales and gross revenue. Companies also worry about the bottom line, that being net revenue – what’s left after all the expenses.  Have you stopped to ask what’s between the top and bottom line? The middle line, the people that we employ: sales reps, admins, human resources, payroll clerks, marketing, communications, etc. Every one of those people, in between, are what matters most.  These individuals directly impact the sales and the net revenue. Every person’s individual role has an impact!

So much of business is focused on “let’s get more sales” and “let’s cut expenses” – which are real concerns that need to be considered – that companies often miss the importance of that middle line: the people.  Often companies will not invest in the training of their people; or it’s the first thing that gets cut out of the budget. Notice, I didn’t say companies spend money on the cost of training. Rather, I said companies often don’t spend money to invest in their people. When you are investing in your people, you are investing in Human Capital.  That investment demonstrates to your staff that you believe people matter, and that you care. What happens when you know someone cares about you?  You become more loyal to them. You work harder for them. You do your best for them.  By investing in your people, your staff, companies contribute to the development of a growth culture. Companies create staff loyalty. 

Studies have shown that Emotional Intelligence starts with self-awareness and moves out toward social awareness.  Emotional Intelligence is ten times more causative to a person’s success than their intellectual intelligence (IQ), and hard skills.  Emotional Intelligence deals with a person being deeply self-aware of their thoughts, words, body language, and social interaction. How much time do you spend, as a manager or team member dealing with interpersonal and personality challenges?  A lot! As a manager you know this is the hardest and most draining part of your job.

How employees behave and interact with team members, management and customers can be a deal breaker or can be the icing on the cake! Our behaviors, if you think about it, all comes down to our internal thought system. Really!  It’s a powerful process. Team consist of individuals, and each individual impacts the others on the team. 

When people have higher emotional intelligence, they are higher performers.  To build a strong team, you need to build the individuals on the team. Self-awareness is the foundation of emotional intelligence.  We need to lead our companies with emotional intelligence. As leaders, we need to invest in our people to help them develop the emotional intelligence they need as well.  Yes, the good news is that emotional intelligence can be learned. As we develop our people to become stronger individuals, we build stronger teams. 

I promote a new generation of leadership. Leadership focused on the importance of people.  People matter. People drive our business, the relationships within our business, our customer relations.  We need to break out of the old ways of managing people by micro management; by telling them to fix all of their problems – focusing on their weaknesses – while not providing them with resources on how to grow.  It’s time leaders are taught situational management so they can coach their staff when needed; and create those high-performance teams that are highly engaged, take full ownership of their work and are non-leader dependent.  Isn’t that a business manager and a business owner’s dream: to have staff that can run themselves and the business so you can have a life outside the business?  

It’s possible. Developing organizational leadership is what I do for a living. Guiding executives and senior management team in their personal growth and development; and in turn working with the team to grow a healthy organizational culture focused on growing and high performance.  

When we run a business focused solely on sales and net profit, without investing in the people, we are limiting the organization’s sales growth and profitability.  To increase productivity, increase sales and obtain employee buy-in which will help bring awareness to cutting waste, success is guaranteed. Success in so many more ways with ripple effects that touch individual and family lives, communities, and the globe at large. People don’t know what they don’t know, we all have our blind spots. It’s the middle line that has a great impact on our top and bottom lines! 

If you want to improve your sales, if you want to cut your costs, invest in your people. I guide and grow your people to be engaged with positive attitudes and to get results without being dependent on their leaders. That’s what a high-performance team is: a group of self-leaders who take initiative to meet the demands that are required – because they know what it takes to get the job done. They have the confidence in themselves and in what they are doing, as well as confidence in each other. Building that environment is what I am passionate about doing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Candace Mae spends her days steeped in connectedness with Christ's Spirit to allow her the Divine insight and guidance on personal and business growth. Whether she's working with her staff, or coaching women in leadership, executives, and business owners – or serving as a Marketplace Care Partner, her sole focus is on integrating love in the workplace to better herself and her clients.

She is developing people-centric, value-based, compassionate servant leadership that CARES. These are the tools she teaches: Communication, Attitude, Relationships, Equipping others, and Sales.

By helping leaders who struggle with a toxic environment - unengaged employees, high absenteeism, and turnover, constantly putting out fires, and internal conflicts – transform it into a warm and welcoming environment where high trust, morale, and productivity. As a result, people look forward to coming to work.

When Candace Mae isn't developing curriculum, coaching, and training, she's practicing speaking or spending time outdoors in nature with animals, family, and 3-beautiful grandchildren in a rural setting where she lives in North County San Diego, California.

I am most excited about my Upcoming Book: “Heaven Within: Restoring Wholeness for Better Leadership.”

You may also contact Candace at Leadership Speakers Bureau to schedule her for speaking or leadership engagements.