TUNE IN TO
TURN ON
Your Emotional Intelligence
Feelings connect us as humans. Emotions and a desire for safety drove us to connect tribally and eventually become the Earth’s most dominant species. Companies covet people who possess high emotional intelligence (EI) because individuals with high EI often outperform even those with high technical skills or functional knowledge. But what happens when your feelings overwhelm you? Anyone who’s awoken in the middle of the night with a racing heart due to the thought of a bad moment at work can relate. Your career and personal goals may be held back by not improving your emotional-IQ (EIQ). JOURNAL Track your feelings daily and weekly. Note your highs; note your lows. What are the triggers to these feelings? What are some of the simple things that bring joy to your life? Time with your family, a favorite series on Netflix, reading before bed, making it to the gym — make a list and do these things each week. In no time at all, you will have a list of 20–30 simple things that cost little time and money but pay large emotional rewards. Here’s a note on journaling: Don’t do as I did and use the “not enough time” excuse. You absolutely, positively have control over two time periods every day no matter the circumstances: first thing in the morning and the final few minutes of the evening. Use a variety of forums (email, webinars, brown bag sessions, etc.) when communicating organizational and other changes, to accommodate your audience’s various learning styles. Remember you are now the Chief Marketing Officer for your portfolio’s successes. Focus first on leadership buy-in, and then use the right leaders’ “voices” to communicate change and highlight its importance to the organization. Who says what is often as important as what is said. • Here are my favorite techniques to improve your EIQ. ... continued from cover •
Figure out if that’s at home with a coffee cup or before logging into your PC at work, but burn that thought into your head, and you will make it happen. GIVE THANKS If I could provide you with the single best activity in my personal “return on emotional health,” it would be to give thanks. Once a day, every morning, quickly rattle off three things you are thankful for — health, a nice meal, a roof, electricity, a California sunrise, weather, a family dinner, TGIF, money to make the mortgage payment. Do it. Do it fast and don’t ever say, “I don’t have three things to be thankful for today.” 5-SECOND RULE In our last letter, I briefly mentioned a book titled “The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence With Everyday Courage,” by Mel Robbins. This is going to sound terribly simple, but the best advice I can provide from this book is to train yourself to count down from five (as in, 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1), and when you reach zero, go, do, execute, write, walk, talk — whatever you may be holding onto in your mind. This “take immediate action” approach will leave you feeling more accomplished and invigorated with a clearer head. Often for me that is a trigger to open one of my journals and put down my creative thoughts. Or it is a trigger for me to do one rep of something. One rep for me is setting a timer for 20 minutes and working until that timer goes off. More often than not, 20 minutes turns into 45 or 60 minutes. In addition to the common Microsoft technology, there exist ample, newer cloud- based applications that can help you organize, track, and report on your projects, or increase collaboration and productivity. There is no shortage of apps available, and each has its sweet spot. Some may fit your project better than others, so don’t be afraid to experiment and find what works best for you. Many benefits of a PMO can be realized with a lighter-weight set of methods and standards that focus on the right blend of needs for your organization. We can’t emphasize enough that there is not a one-size-fits-all model. In fact, trying to “lift and drop” from other organizations will cost you in the long run. The journey is often well- rewarded with a less-is-more approach. • LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY •
Robbins goes into a lot of scientific detail of how and why her technique works; it is a good and recommended read.
PRACTICE AND PRACTICE YOUR ACTIVE LISTENING
Often the act of super-active listening can single- handedly connect you to other people with the least amount of effort. Dale Carnegie wrote about the concept of active listening in what has been called the single greatest business book of all time: “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” I find that the more focused I am on active listening, the higher my empathy becomes. The higher my empathy becomes, the easier it is for me to continue to actively listen. And the end result is typically that I strengthen my relationship with a colleague or friend or, at the very least, make someone’s day more enjoyable. I would love to hear what works for you! Please email me at kyleh@compassx.com. Kyle J . Heppenstall Kyle J. Heppenstall Founder | Managing Director
TOOLS AND TEMPLATES
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Create a few high-quality templates and samples of the heavily used day-to-day management tools so PMs can hit the ground running: status reports, project charters, schedules, risk and issue registers, etc.
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