#5: Developing Others

The Emotional and Social Competency Inventory asks leaders to assess how well they coach and mentor others “with compassion” and whether they “personally invest time and energy in mentoring.” Most importantly, the inventory asks whether you “provide feedback that helps people with their professional development.” Call it enlightened self-interest, but developing others is something we’re totally passionate about at Intertech. 

Every team member here participates in an annual review that covers four simple areas: (1) strengths/accomplishments in the review period; (2) defining an area for improvement; (3) what could help to make these improvements; (4) what role will you grow into within two years?

Those four simple questions are powerful because the major focus is on where an employee is heading and how we can help him or her get there. We also strongly encourage ongoing professional development through training and new skill development. Our people know that we are willing to invest in them and that we want them to stay professionally vital. We’re so committed to this value that we offer employees a paid sabbatical after seven years of service.

Our commitment to employee development has been rewarded by their commitment to Intertech and our clients. We have been named a best place to work for seven years. This honor means so much because it is based on confidential employee surveys.

Next post: Inspiration

#4: Influence

In the Inventory by Goleman and Boyatzis they ask “Do you persuade others by engaging them in discussion and appealing to their self-interest?  Do you get support from key people?”

Real influence with others is developed over time.  Also, while it ends with someone following, it starts by letting them lead.  A board member shared that for us to truly have influence and work with others we must “Seek first to understand before being understood.” I agree.

For me, authenticity and altruism are traits I require for influence (on me).  Those who consistently put the firm ahead of themselves and selflessly deliver, make it easy for me to trust, and be influenced, by their ideas.

Next:  Developing Others

#3: Organizational awareness

In chapter 18 of my new book I share how we involve the team at Intertech when defining our values.  Inspired by author Jim Collins’ Mars Group Exercise, we asked everyone at Intertech to name the individual who best represents who we are as a company. The exercise requires pretending that a space alien drops by for a visit and wants to learn what kind of company he has discovered. After employees decide who should be the official representative, we ask them why.

With almost dozens of employees you might expect that this would be a long and difficult exercise. Surprisingly, it was not. People were almost unanimous in their identification of the ideal Intertech ambassador and even more clear about why that person was selected. Through this exercise, we identified the following key values:

Attitude:  Each day we choose our attitude. Attitude is contagious.  For others to be positive, excited, and inspired, we must be. 

Commitment:  As a team, we deliver.  We demand more of ourselves than others could ask.

Excellence:  We’re committed to a world-class customer experience and world-class customer satisfaction.

 In other words, at Intertech if you’re living our values, you’re an ACE!

 Next post: Influence

#2: Attunement

Are you familiar with the old saying, “Communication takes two: one to speak and one to listen”? Seems like a lot of us forget about the listening part. Running a business can be overwhelming and it can be tempting to stop listening in favor of simply reacting, especially during time-crunched situations. Don’t give in to that temptation. Good leaders care about what others think and feel. From our clients, business partners and employees to colleagues and even vendors, paying attention to others is how we stay in touch with trends, make sure we’re meeting expectations and keeping everyone in our network connected with us in meaningful ways.

At Intertech, we have processes in place to make sure we are listening on a regular basis. Employees know our open door policy is real, but they also have an opportunity to anonymously tell us how they feel every year as part of our annual partner goal-setting retreat. Prior to the retreat, employees gather in small groups led by another employee who acts as a facilitator. There they talk candidly about their ideas, concerns, beefs , etc. The facilitator then recaps the feedback without attributing any information to any specific person. That feedback is carefully considered when I meet with the other Intertech partners at our annual planning retreat. We care about what Intertech team members think, how they feel and their ideas for making our business better.

Next post: Organizational awareness

#1: Empathy

Earlier I wrote about the emerging field of social neuroscience and new studies showing that leaders can improve group performance by improving their own social intelligence. Researchers Daniel Goleman and Richard Boyatzis created the Emotional and Social Competency Inventory to help business people who want to improve their social intelligence. As described in the spring edition of Harvard Business Review OnPoint, seven key social intelligence qualities are most important: empathy, attunement, organizational awareness, influence, developing others, inspiration and team work. I’m going to look at each of these qualities, one-by-one, in my upcoming posts and share how we make them each come alive at Intertech.

Empathy sometimes gets confused with being overly emotional. That’s a simplistic view and it simply is not true. Understanding what motivates others is crucial to being able to work together effectively. One way we’ve found to emphasize with our team members who may be feeling overwhelmed when they have to work on a tedious project is to (a) give them a definite deadline for the project’s completion and (b) offer them the opportunity to work on a “fun” project at the same time.  We have found that showing empathy to employees in these situations by using these strategies can make all the difference. They know that: we understand they’re slogging through a tough assignment, that we appreciate their commitment and that we want to make it better. The assignment still might be a challenge but it doesn’t seem quite as bad when they know we empathsize!

Next post: Attunement!