Coaching for Emotional Intelligence

Book excerpt: At some point in their careers, all managers face a frustrating and seemingly insurmountable challenge -- the highly intelligent, highly skilled direct report who is failing when he should be excelling. Often, this employee is destroying not only his own career, but also the morale of the rest of the team. While this behavior may initially seem willful, it is more than likely due to a lack of emotional intelligence -- the ability to comprehend one’s emotions, empathize with the feelings of others, and interact with people in ways that promote congenial working relationships. More than any other trait, emotional intelligence is the one variable that can transform a mediocre employee into an exceptional one. Managers now have a new and demanding role. They must become coaches who help their employees to develop emotional intelligence and the positive interpersonal relationships that result. And while this kind of corrective coaching may seem daunting and unpleasant to many managers, it is also achievable with the right tools. In Coaching for Emotional Intelligence, Bob Wall offers coaching strategies that will enable every manager to elicit excellence by improving the negative behaviors and communications flaws that are undermining an employee's performance. The book provides a structured format for formulating and delivering both praise and corrective feedback, as well as a step-by-step method and sample scripts for conducting a coaching session. Readers will: Overcome the fear of coaching on sensitive, personal issues. Learn the critical importance of praise--and how to give it. Understand the influences that shaped the behaviors of the individual being coached. Determine whether an employee is responding to corrective coaching, when to keep him -- and when to fire him. Create an action plan for teaching employees to identify and alter unwanted behavior. Master spontaneous coaching: delivering praise in 15-20 seconds -- and corrective feedback within 45 seconds. Formulate structured conversations when corrective coaching isn’t working. Create successful, detailed, and clear personal, team, and work evaluations and mission statements. The first book of its kind, Coaching for Emotional Intelligence is a thoughtful, realistic, and accessible guide that will change the way managers lead in the workplace -- and will ensure that their employees are reaching their full potential.