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…from emotional intelligence at work

Newsletter 25 : 29 november 2009

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Welcome to our Newsletter. You’ve received it because either you requested it (extra thanks!) or you met Jeremy or Kay. We offer a change from other newsletters which do demand an awful lot of reading, and hope you will find it diverting. We aim to publish once every two weeks, but sometimes the flesh is weak even as the spirit is willing.

Thought of the week

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in an attractive well preserved body; rather to skid in sideways, body thoroughly worn out, covered in scars and screaming “Yahoo! What a ride!”

Unknown author

Video of the week

Here. A fascinating, and funny, talk on leadership illustrated with clips of various conductors. I hesitate to describe it as a talk about conducting as the speaker omits too much, starting with the fact that all the performances—whether Strauss’s or Bernstein’s—will have been achieved in rehearsal, as Bernstein so nicely illustrates at the end. For us at emotional intelligence at work, the rehearsal is the work, because it is the creation of the performance, and true leadership is getting the right results doing the legwork in rehearsal. Showing off how clever you are (whether the conductor or the orchestra) looks a bit like an ego trip to us. It would have been interesting to see clips of some more self-effacing conductors, such as Haitink and Colin Davis—conductors often praised for bringing out the essence of the music rather than their interpretation of it.

[The full clip of Bernstein conducting the finale of Haydn‘s symphony 88.]

Quotations of the week

The human condition can be summed up in one sentence: Some people elevate it and others undermine it.

The condition of all human ethics can be summed up in two sentences: We ought to. But we don’t.

Kurt Tucholsky (1890 – 1935), German philosopher

Course of the week

We’re delighted to announce our new course Escape from the Dead Zone. Please contact one of us for more details.

Emotional intelligence problem of the week

“The team leader and one team member have an exceptionally close working relationship… [they] spend the majority of their time away from the office in meeting rooms, having discussions away from the rest of the team. …
In addition, [this] team member … often speaks to me and my colleagues in a disparaging way, criticises our work, is reluctant to work in a collaborative way, and has fits of temper during which he swears loudly. However, this only happens when our team leader is not around… My line manager has not been willing to believe or respond to these issues.
I feel I am in danger of letting this matter build up and reacting angrily to his comments or fits of temper, but am reluctant to raise it with my line manager because I don’t feel she will believe me or take any action.”

Before reading the professional’s reply—here,—what would you do? What if you were the apparently inactive line manager? What if you were the team leader—would you feel this was a fair description of what is going on?

Contributions always gratefully received.

Thanks this time to Jenny Bowen of Sense Africa
and Jonathan Evans of Skills for health

If you have been, thank you for reading.
Kay and Jeremy