Emotional Intelligence and Your Profession

Recently, I’ve been working with auditors–my former life as a financial analyst provides insights into work style patterns in their profession and how they compare to many other professions. Below, I’ll be highlighting emotional intelligence sub scales, as described by Multi Health System’s EQi 2.0© instrument, one tool for thinking about these kinds of patterns, so that you can think about how these ideas might apply to the strengths and struggles of your own profession.

Research exists on some of the biggest problems facing the audit profession. The Dallas chapter of the Institute for Internal Audit found that

  • The audit function is often undervalued by other corporate leaders
  • Audit teams often struggle to recruit, develop and retain employees
  • The overall image of the profession needs strengthening; it is seen as less than public accounting and other financial professions.

It doesn’t take much thinking to see how the audit profession’s core strengths, especially independence and assertiveness, might create these issues. Every strength has corresponding blind spots. If you need to be objective and independent, buildinginterpersonal relationships, emotional expression and empathy can seem not only counterproductive but outright dangerous. Think how this might contribute to the first two problems the industry cites.

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Yes, Star Trek Into Darkness Holds a Key Leadership Truth

EnterpriseEven if you think you hate Star Trek, or skipped the new movies out of reverence for the original cast, stay with me. Captain James Tiberius Kirk is a perfect illustration of how our greatest strengths — those assets fundamental to our leadership success — can also be our biggest nemesis. (And if you haven’t seen Star Trek Into Darkness, I’ll do my best to avoid spoilers).

The movie kicks off with Kirk breaking the Prime Directive (that pesky rule stating that Starfleet personnel must never interfere with other societies or planets). Jim does so, though, to save an entire civilization. Reasonable, right? Kirk excels at reading situations and people, weighing risks, sifting through possible consequences, and acting.

But then Kirk falls into the trap we all are susceptible to — we make up our minds without conscious reasoning and then justify our reasoning after the fact. He lies about their actions in the report he submits to Starlet. And Spock doesn’t. They get hauled on the carpet in front of Kirk’s mentor, Admiral Pike. Kirk gives a million reasons as to why his actions were right.

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The Power of Three

All of us find ignoring feedback quite easy—all too often the source doesn’t really understand the situation, or your intentions, or how different your needs are from others, right? Ignoring results on many psychological assessments or instruments can be easy,…

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Are They Acting On Your Priorities?

DSC00328I recently heard of a school district with five hundred initiatives underway right now. They’re proud of it–they’re reaching out to students at risk for dropping out, targeting STEM enrichment, working on literacy, increasing coaching capacity, and so on.

The problem? No change effort can be focused in 500 different directions. Right now, things are falling by the wayside–and the district leadership probably doesn’t know what is and isn’t being done. Somewhere down in the ranks, people are deciding, whether consciously or unconsciously, what they will actually accomplish.

It may be what seems most urgent to them. Or what best fits their current skills. Or what is easiest. Or what the person above them is screaming for.

Chances are, though, it isn’t what the leaders at the top consider most important. Why?

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