Monday, March 30, 2009

Leadership and emotional intelligence -- a new survey

Joshua Friedman at the Six Seconds consulting firm is an insightful analyst of the role of emotional intelligence in leadership. His organization is conducting an interesting survey about the bigguest issues that people perceive at work--and how they see emotional intelligence as part of the solution. You can take part in the survey by clicking here.

So far the results have been provocative. Here's what they show (based on rought calculations up to this point):

89% say employee’s feelings are “important” or “essential” to solving the issues the organization faces
91% report that “emotional intelligence” skills are “important” or “essential” to solving the issues the organization faces
The “people issues” are perceived to be about 63% more significant than “technical issues”

Only 9% report that they’ve received training to effectively deal with the issues they’re facing
And by about a 20% margin, “mentoring” is perceived as the most effective way for people to develop what they need.