For those of you that know about Emotional Intelligence (EI), you know that self awareness is critical to being an effective leader. We need to understand our own style and behaviors before we can influence others. Emotional Intelligence is broken down into five parts:
Self-awareness – the ability to recognize and understand your moods, emotions, and drives as well as their effect on others.
Self-regulation – the ability to control or redirect your impulses especially when they are negative or disruptive. The ability to think before you act, to maintain professionalism at all times.
Motivation – a passion to work for reasons that go beyond money or status.
Empathy – the ability to understand where other people are coming from.
Social Skill – the proficiency to build relationships and influence others.
According to the Center for Creative Leadership, the primary causes of derailment in executives involve deficits in emotional competence. The three primary ones are:
difficulty in handling change,
not being able to work well in a team, and
poor interpersonal relationships.
The DISC assessment is a fabulous tool for increasing self awareness. I have used the DISC assessment for years as pre-work prior to leadership training and executive coaching. It takes about 15 minutes to complete the DISC assessment online. After taking the assessment, a comprehensive report is generated which describes behaviors, preferred work environments, motivating factors and other nuggets of information. The majority of professionals who take the time to complete the DISC assessment find value in the feedback. If you are interested in taking the DISC, give me a call today.