Are Your Emotions Boxing In Profits?

Do your emotions impact performance and profitability? The answer is yes, but whether it has a positive or negative impact depends on you.

No matter where you are in your career, no matter what industry your organization focuses on, the desired outcome is high performance that leads to sustained profitability. The centerpiece of high performance is a combination of good decision-making and your emotional intelligence. Whether the decisions to be made impact hundreds of people or they are the smaller ones made on a daily basis, these decisions and your emotional intelligence make all the difference.

As a leader, you have tremendous impact on the tone and culture of the organization. Your emotional intelligence affects the team’s emotions and actions. These interactions generate a response which travels down the chain in your organization impacting the culture, employee engagement & performance, and ultimately the bottom line through your customer’s satisfaction & buying behaviors.

Sadly, most leaders fail to recognize this connection and unintentionally “box in” the ability to generate profits. When the negative consequences of the emotional boxes of mood, emotions, frustration, anger, etc. are overlooked they impact and distort decision-making for everyone in the company. The result is a cascading effect in your organization of negativity, anger, resentment, self-protection, and employee disengagement. The focus shifts from profitability to self-preservation, and in that environment no one wins.

The key factors in emotional intelligence are:

1. Self-Awareness – The ability to recognize and understand your moods, emotions, and drives, as well as their effect on others.
2. Self-Regulation – The ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods and the propensity to suspend judgment and think before acting.
3. Motivation – A passion to work for reasons that go beyond money or status and a propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence.
4. Empathy – The ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people.
5. Social Skills – A proficiency in managing relationships and building networks.

Think about your own organization for a moment; over the last six months how many of your decisions have been “boxed in” by poor emotional management? How many of your people are “boxed in” by their emotions? Which of the five areas of emotional intelligence are boxing in your profits?

Emotional management is crucial in leadership. You can either capitalize on it as a competitive advantage or let it continue to decrease profitability.

To truly benefit from your emotional intelligence you must accurately identify where your strengths and weaknesses are in this area. We can help you determine your emotional intelligence and how to leverage it to your advantage. Isn’t it time to take the lid off your box?