You Are Really Intelligent
SUMMARY
Some organisations judge the value of their employees by their technical abilities and skills because they think these skills are the ones their clients are paying for. Although knowledge and technical skills are really important, I believe there are other skills that are just as or even more important than those technical skills.
Yes, you need those technical skills to get the job done — that is “what you do”.
However, Emotional, Social and Creative Intelligence are the ones that determine HOW you get the job done.
This week, I want to help you recognise that you are more than what you know and do. Your ability to lead yourself, and what you and others do in your organisation, can be empowered by tapping into your Emotional Intelligence.
TRANSCRIPT
Have you ever thought that you are dumb, or had people say that you are and put you down, thinking that you weren't all that smart?
Well, I've had that too.
Stick with me because I want to help you this week to uncover a hidden gem that you may not even know is there.
Hi, this is Grant Herbert, Emotional Intelligence Master Coach Trainer and Sustainable Performance Coach, and I want to continue our conversation around the 9 crucial shifts that every leader needs to make by helping you to understand that you are really intelligent.
Over the last few weeks, we started a conversation about these shifts —three in each area — of personal, professional and people leadership.
Last week we talked about the first one, which was about your identity. Identity is who you believe you are more than what you do.
Well today, I want to continue that conversation in the second shift where we look at going from singular intelligence (cognitive and technical intelligence) to multiple intelligence (emotional, social and creative intelligence).
Some organisations judge the value of their employees by their technical abilities and skills because they think these skills are the ones their clients are paying for. Although knowledge and technical skills are really important, I believe there are other skills that are just as or even more important than those technical skills.
Yes, you need those technical skills to get the job done — that is “what you do”.
However, Emotional, Social and Creative Intelligence are the ones that determine HOW you get the job done.
Many roadblocks that stop people from getting enough done in the day, and from getting the results they want, do not come from their technical skills but from these other people skills.
So, in this shift, I want to help you recognise that you are more than what you know and do. Your ability to lead yourself, and what you and others do in your organisation, can be empowered by tapping into your Emotional Intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to be aware of what's going on for you emotionally, to be able to recognise the physiological cues and clues that you experience in your body, to have the awareness, and be able to notice, name and then navigate them in a way that creates healthy feelings and behaviour.
Emotional Intelligence allows you to get on well with yourself. It allows you to build your self-confidence (your personal power) and have that identity that we talked about last week that will allow you to thrive in any environment you work in.
Social Intelligence is the ability to be aware of what could be happening in other people and to use that information to do what you need to do to have mutually beneficial relationships.
Relationships are the key to everything we do in leadership — whether it be the relationship with yourself, your suppliers, clients, team members, or the people outside your work environment. They are the relationships that will help you get done what you need to be done in the workplace. Relationships that are not mutually beneficial create conflict, strife and stress.
So, I want to encourage you to look beyond what you know and what you do (your cognitive intelligence and technical abilities) and tap into the empowering skills in your Emotional and Social Intelligence.
When people do professional development, I have noticed that it is primarily geared around technical skills. There is an imbalance because we have a tiny smattering of what I believe are wrongly called “soft skills” that are thrown in there just so we can say we did something.
Well, it's been recognized (post-pandemic in particular) that emotional intelligence is the number one (or two skill) for everybody in the workplace, particularly if you are leading others.
Therefore, I want to challenge you to take this topic, which you might have thought was nice to have, and turn it into a must-have.
Do what you can to learn about these competencies.
I work in 13 competencies of Emotional Intelligence and 13 competencies of Social Intelligence. I've done many videos about them, and I'm happy to point you to some resources to help you build your emotional and social intelligence.
The other intelligence I talked about is creative intelligence.
Some may say: “Oh, I’m just not creative.”
Well, I don’t believe that.
Human beings are creative. Our brain is a prediction machine that creates your future based on what you feed it.
So, to say that some people are creative and some aren’t is not true. Every single one of us can be creative in our thinking, and in how we do things, so that we can go from where we are now to where we want to go and get different results.
How about you? Are you relying on your technical skills alone?
If you are, please remember that they can only get you so far.
Emotional and Social Intelligence can make you stand out and help you become who you need to be so that you can better lead yourself, a project, an organisation, and others.
Well, that's it from me for another week. Join me again next week when we continue this conversation around the 9 crucial shifts every leader needs to take by helping you become more intentional.
I'll see you then.
