Do Your New Leaders Have the Right Emotional Intelligence?
July 14, 2008
Recent study finds that up-and-comers often lack key people skills
By Jonathan Tannenbaum
If you ask people what they look for in a doctor, they will probably note a caretaker exuding warmth and empathy – in other words, a doctor with the right "bedside manner." While we have no such term for business leaders, they need a strong style of their own, as they try to resolve disputes and cultivate productive employees. All too often, though, a company will elevate employees to management, but then neglect to coach them in the way of interpersonal skills. Right Management, a Pennsylvania-based consulting firm, highlights the pervasiveness of this problem, reporting that only 23% of new leaders receive any kind of formal coaching.
Right Management recently released its report entitled, "New Leader Coaching Study," which surveyed 625 human resource professionals in North America. The report finds that while companies show a greater willingness to coach developing leaders and senior executives, they're less inclined to provide such training for supervisors or "high-potential employees."
Consequently, up-and-comers often wield technical expertise but lack the interpersonal skills necessary for maintaining a strong organization.
"The primary impact of the lack of coaching is that new leaders are unable to accomplish work through other people," notes Ron Sims, practice leader of Right Management. "All of a sudden they're responsible for other folks doing their work. They need to understand what motivates people, how to build teams, deal with conflict—all those good managerial skills that we normally talk about."
Sims says that left without training, only one out of four new leaders will prove successful. And, 50% of the time, professionals in this situation go to another company within two years. The other 25% find themselves reassigned. He attributes such let downs to new leaders' poor emotional intelligence, particularly their meager self-awareness and inability to understand people. As the report matter-of-factly states, "[n]ew leaders don't need coaching in technical skills as much as they need guidance in how to treat others."
The report asserts that astute companies recognize the poor results that stem from neglecting to coach new leaders and have the foresight to absorb the high cost of coaching. In doing so, they can develop promising individuals and realize greater wealth in the long run.
But while Right Management shows that an overwhelming number of respondents (81%) believe coaching programs improve the effectiveness of leaders, many businesses are either reluctant to go through with this course of action or simply don't have the means, given the expense of hiring certified trainers.
Most companies continue to ignore this vital practice, says Sims. "Most organizations try to teach leadership through osmosis. They put you there and you copy what you observe. You may get lucky and see good leaders, but you may not."
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