A call full of business owners and company executives greeted me at the first session of Saroca’s LeadHERship Program. Being surrounded by so many successful women was assuring that the course would be something like career rocket fuel, teaching skills about leadership from women in leadership.
The lie of multi-tasking
After breaking down the housekeeping rules, the Program began in full with its first question – how valuable is multi-tasking? And more importantly, how important is giving someone or something undivided attention, from both a productivity and emotional perspective?
Consider times you have spoken to a friend, when they get a text and their eyes move to their screen. They are still listening to you, sure, but it feels different, doesn’t it? You are fighting for their attention. Ignoring how you will certainly have to re-tell parts of what you just said when their attention is back to you (a 2003 study from Hembrooke & Gay found that classroom mono taskers have a +200% recall memory to those using laptops and other devices), how does it feel to talk and not have attention paid to you?
Understanding the importance of your presence is a crucial leadership skill. Showing someone your attention is all theirs, that it is undivided, is powerful. It allows you to build genuine rapport with those you work around – but how does your emotional background impact your leadership?
Emotional intelligence
Knowing the root of the problem presents the path to grow from it, but that journey of growth is a personal one. It is not something that can be forced
Next, we tackled emotional intelligence. How does your relationship with your emotions shape you as a person and leader, and how can EQ training improve your performance both in and outside of the workplace?
If a child grows up in an environment where their feelings are disregarded, an issue commonly faced by girls due to our labelling as ‘sensitive’ or ‘over-emotional,’ we can go on to become women who struggle to connect and address our emotions, both in and outside of the workplace. To overcome a relationship to our emotions engrained in us since childhood is undoubtedly a challenge – but a challenge that must be tackled to develop as leaders.
For example, in a study by the Fast Company, 15% of Coca-Cola leaders outperformed their targets by 15% following EQ training. Those with a high EQ make 30% more than those with low EQ and, according to the study, 58% of our job performance is down to EQ.
What did I learn?
Understanding the importance of your presence is a crucial leadership skill. Showing someone your attention is all theirs, that it is undivided, is powerful
From the first session of Saroca’s LeadHERship Program, I gained an understanding of how important it is to pay attention, and really pay attention. (If you are reading this while someone is talking to you, turn back to them – we can wait!)
We are constantly interviewing, taking notes and listening to conversations. But when we can be so easily distracted by spelling our notes right or the atmosphere of an interview environment, our performance can falter.
I also gained an understanding of my relation to my emotions and how they have shaped me and my disposition as an adult. Knowing the root of the problem presents the path to grow from it, but that journey of growth is a personal one. It is not something that can be forced.
