Use EQ to Show Appreciation for Your Employees This Holiday

Your employees are gearing up for the end of the year and that means working hard to achieve year-end quotas and putting in longer hours to account for that extra time off. Your managers are busy too. They are working under tight deadlines and trying to balance business goals with everyone’s natural tendency for holiday socializing.

Managers need Emotional Intelligence

More than any other time of year, you need your leaders to act emotionally intelligent. No tricks needed, motivation is largely influenced by managers who have a high EQ.

The most meaningful components of Emotional Intelligence are those that are visible to others. These components are often neglected in other EQ training programs, but are the most important for improving performance and enhancing the probability of success. This is why TRACOM’s EQ Model is made up four sections – Emotional Intelligence of Self, Emotional Intelligence of Others, Behavioral Intelligence of Self and Behavioral Intelligence of Others.

Set the standard in your organization

While all of the elements of TRACOM’s EQ model help to contribute to being a motivational and successful leader, focusing on others will help your team have a more enjoyable work experience by enhancing the company’s culture and establishing a standard for office communication and interactions.

Use EQ for employees to demonstrate appreciation

  • Be flexible. This is the ability to adapt to new circumstances, multiple demands, and changing priorities. Trust that your employees are putting in their best effort and be flexible to their needs. It might be “crunch time” but it’s also family time. Give your employees the ability to work from home or let them go holiday shopping during their lunch break. Flexibility determines how a person views events and their ability to change their thoughts and behavior as circumstances change. When leaders are flexible to their employees’ needs their employees feel appreciated, and are more likely to be accommodating in the future. Next quarter when you need them to stay late until a project is finished, they will happily and respectfully pay it forward. Unless your employees know you would do the same for them, asking for favors from your employees, like staying late or taking their work home with them, will fuel resentment and low quality work. Treat your employees like family this holiday season and it will be re-paid in the future
  • Be open to new ideas. Encouraging creative thinking and promoting novelty is a key aspect of Behavioral EQ. We often don’t realize it, but under times of pressure we can ignore, and even discourage innovation. Many amazing ideas were once overlooked by a leader under a tight timeframe or budget who wasn’t willing to hear something completely unusual. Your leaders must be aware of this and be open to thinking outside of the box. By giving your employees the gift of being open to innovation, your employees will feel respected, valued and heard. Your organization will also benefit.
  • Be open to building new relationships. A great leader should always keep an open mind and leave room to develop new relationships even with not-so-new personnel, and what better time of year to establish new relationships at work than during the holidays. Rather than sending yet another email about a new task, take a walk down the hall and visit the employee you were going to assign it to. Have a conversation with them about their holiday plans, and then explain the assignment. Human beings are naturally social beings, we crave socialization and many of us need it to help us through the day. The better our relationships with co-workers, customers, and others at work, the happier and more productive we’re going to be. We’re also more likely to influence others to our causes, and we’re more innovative when collaborating with others. No matter what type of work you’re doing, whether your team is spread across the globe or you see them every day, building good relationships takes effort, but the payoffs are worth it.

TRACOM’s Behavioral EQ Model™ is based on the latest research in both brain function and performance. It focuses on the most important elements of Emotional Intelligence and those that can be successfully developed. The Model consists of four dimensions which house the fifteen various core competencies.

If you’re ready to help your managers take their leadership to the next level, give them the gift of emotional intelligence training. Your leaders will be given knowledge to enhance their ability to motivate, influence, listen, innovate, and understand the emotional responses of others and of self.

Check out what all of the buzz is about with EQ.