Dr. Relly Nadler: On this call, both Cathy and I want to talk about some of the emotional intelligence strategies. We really want to take the opportunity to zero-in on some of the tools and strategies that are facilitated by taking the Emotion Quotient Inventory. It’s a tool that has been around for a while; Cathy and I are both certified in it.

Dr. Cathy Greenberg: You know it’s always very exciting when you and I get an opportunity to spend out airtime talking to our audience about things that are not only the latest and greatest in the world of leadership development, but when we get to focus on our sweet spots and the things we are doing to enhance what we think business people should be enhancing and focused on to get top-line, real results in order for them to get buy-ins from their key decision makers; to also help them and their clients be the best they can be.

Dr. Relly Nadler: One of the things that we are talking about is the EQi 2.0 which Cathy and I are both certified in. This EQi 1.0 has been around for a long time and both Cathy and I have used that prior to the new 2.0. We like to share with you some of the things that are different about the EQi 2.0.

First, the definition that we are using is: What is emotional Intelligence? It is a set of emotional and social skills that influence the way we perceive and express ourselves, develop and maintain social relationships, cope with challenges, and use emotional information in an effective and meaningful way.

The new 2.0 has got new norms; 5,000 adults from both the U.S. and Canada were norms. What is interesting is that they have 200 men and women in all the different age groups; race, ethnicity, educational levels, geographic regions, are all within 4% of the census targets. There are a couple of changes in the 2.0, just some of the different names that we are going to go through that they have been relabeled. You have:

• Self-perception.
• Self-expression.
• Interpersonal.
• Decision making.
• Stress management.

Overall, you have this well-being. It is basically normed like an IQ test; IQ is +/- 115. Well EQ, for the EQi, is the average score +/- 15 points. We are going to talk a little bit more about that. I think the other thing that is really fabulous, aside from being a really useful tool, is all the evidence-based research, the scientific data that is behind that. Cathy, maybe you can share some of that we know is a return on investment for people who want to do more with the EQi.

Dr. Cathy Greenberg: You know, one of the things that I think most of our listeners hear often, over and over and over again, is it’s not enough to say that something will work, what you need is to bring to the table evidence of clear return on investment. That includes clear statistics and research that links to the EQi and that is what we have to offer you as well. We have data that shares higher sales and profits, we have data that shows increased performance, improved customer satisfaction, decreased attrition rates and reduction in training costs while you are improving the individual’s capacity to do their job more effectively. What we want is for you to hear the right level of information from the stories of companies that have shared their case studies with MHS who is the creator of the EQi 2.0. For those of you who are, what I would call, interested, excited, and motivated by what emotional intelligence has to offer; Relly and I are very focused on the EQi 2.0 right now.

Dr. Relly Nadler: What is good about this is there is a profile that you can get for your own organization depending on these competencies. Cathy can you talk a little bit more about some of these profiles?

Dr. Cathy Greenberg:  The proof is in the results, and we luckily have the results to prove it. One of the big case studies is the study of American Express that was done with MHS, Mental Health Services. What they were looking for was the ability to predict key characteristics associated with top performers where they could have selection criteria that was generated to help them make and create a higher sales performance.

In this particular instance they looked at several characteristics and the characteristics in emotional intelligence that predicted a model that significantly differentiated between high and low performers in the sales representation categories. So these are people that they wanted to have as sales representatives for the follow up. They were people who had what we would call a higher degree of empathy, self-regard, people who really were focused more on the satisfaction of others and people who really understood about one or two of the highest components in the emotional intelligence work which also included looking at the perspective from someone else’s point of view. Looking at what they could do to help people make decisions using better decision making categories and also what we might call testing for reality or reality testing. Looking for what kinds of perspectives they needed to have in order to see a sale from the buyer’s point of view.

Those were the kinds of competencies in the EQi that helped them look at these individuals and be able to say with certainty that they had a capacity for being better sales professionals; this was an example of one.

Dr. Relly Nadler: Another, this is a report that we have on our website XcelInstitute.com on the ROI, one was about the United States Air Force and some of the power rescue jumpers; who would make it through the training and who wouldn’t. What they found is that they had the right selection; they did use the EQi for people to be able to get into the paratroopers. They saved $19 million in training. A couple of things that they found that the EQi tested for, is that the folks that made it through successfully were higher in stress tolerance; their ability to handle stress and they were also very, very high in flexibility. You could see in hiring and in selection, if you knew that ahead of time you could say, ok, here are some folks who are high in this, therefore their chances of succeeding in this program higher and we are enhancing the success rates so that we don’t spend so much on training. Their bottom line was they, in their study, saved $19 million in training costs by selecting the appropriate people with the appropriate profiles to be successful.

Dr. Cathy Greenberg: It’s very exciting because one of the things that I failed to mention in the American Express study was; the ROI impact, the return on investment impact, was done concurrently in a follow-up study where they looked at 50 AmEx leaders who completed the EI based program, the Emotional Intelligence program that went along with the EQi, that survey showed that 100% of respondents stated that knowing their emotional intelligence strengths and the opportunities that the report provided for them helped them in transitioning to a higher level role.

Each one of the case studies, whether it’s the Air Force or American Express, clearly indicate takeaways that there is smoother transitions for people from one role to the next, reducing training costs, and better leadership performance overall.

One of the things I’ll add as we go into our discussion a little bit further here Relly, is the data we have on insurance agents. Now this company is only known as a Fortune 500 insurance company. But what is important here is they wanted to predict the characteristics associated with top performance in the selection of future agents. We know many insurance companies spend millions of dollars a year for creating opportunities and looking for talent across the nation in different ways whether they going through colleges or they are interviewing people who are already successful agent. How do you really get that future agent that is going to be a top performer? Well, the results clearly showed that using the EQi and having the agents complete a concurrent training program that focused the specific predictive characteristics associated with high performance in being an insurance agent were true to form. In fact, the takeaways were that using that EQi and the specific training created higher performing employees, decreased attrition rates and the subscales, which we are going to talk about now, that made a big difference in the higher performers where things like self-regard, emotional self-awareness, assertiveness, independence, social responsibility; doing things for the community – people want to see that if you are selling me insurance, you better be a socially responsible person. Also, you had to have a lot of impulse control.

The reason is; if you are an insurance person selling health insurance and life insurance, you are going to have to touch on a subject which is very difficult to bring up, and that is talking about sickness, health, and talking about potential death and planning for ones potential death. You can imagine, whether you are the best salesperson or the most highly trained executive in a company as a leader, when it comes to talking about things that create an emotional reaction, and you are dealing with real, problem solving and real issues in someone’s life, you have to be prepared for the flexibility of your impulse control. You have to recognize here’s where optimism and happiness and looking to the future and planning for that future are helping to save someone a lot of grief, aggravation and giving them an opportunity to make the decisions before they are put into a position where they are too stressed to do so.

Learn more about Peak Performance and using the EQi 2.0. Listen to the complete discussion above, without commercials.

Relly