By teaching people to tune in to their emotions with intelligence and to expand their circles of caring, we can transform organizations from the inside out and make a positive difference in our world.
Author and researcher Daniel Goleman is often credited with saying, “Emotional intelligence is the ability to sense, understand, value and effectively apply the power of emotions as a source of human energy, information, trust, creativity and influence.”
One of the best frames through which to view the new hard skills is the research and application of the facets of emotional intelligence.
Forbes. Jan 29, 2020.
Danny McGuigan supports the widely held view that there is nothing soft about emotional intelligence. Learning to understand and navigate emotions is just about as challenging and hard as it gets.
Over the last forty years Danny has encouraged a much bolder understanding of emotional intelligence that is supported by the world-class specialists at the Project on Negotiation (PON) at the Harvard Law School.
Basic insights on Emotions:
- First, most people are still not completely clear about what emotions actually are.
- Second, even when we understand emotions conceptually, it can still be hard to deal with our own emotional states.
Many people try to power through their negative feelings rather than attempting to understand them. But this is a lost opportunity.
Emotions provide valuable information about the state of your motivational system. Ignoring them is like driving around lost, not only refusing to ask for directions, but refusing to consult the map or the GPS, or even to look out the windshield. You will still be moving forward, but who knows where you will end up. Conversely, paying too much attention to your feelings is also bad. That’s like staring at your road atlas without ever turning on the car: you can’t get anywhere that way.
Art Markman. You Can’t Manage Emotions Without Knowing What They Really Are. Harvard Business Review, DECEMBER 23, 2015.
The Central Role of Emotions in all conflict and negotiation.
As a leader, one of the most important reasons for justifying the investment of time and resources into the exploration of emotional dynamics is that they are central to all human conflict resolution and healthy negotiation.
Emotions and negotiating.
- Negotiating is part of everyday life
- In negotiating, emotions are very powerful
- Taking & defending positions forcefully is unhelpful & risks damaging relationships
- Emotions can be obstacles to negotiation
- Emotions can also be a great asset in negotiating
- What are my typical emotional responses in certain situations?
- What do I need to do and learn in order to develop my emotional self-management in order to deepen my conflict management and negotiating skills?
Emotions and negotiation in action:
- Make sure that you can take your own emotional temperature (also others)
- To challenge / confront another, find a way of expressing your feelings – always in a respectful and non-threatening
- Learn to stay in neutral – psychologically, emotionally and physically
- Don’t react to emotional outbursts
- Healthy, stimulating negotiating is / can become a way of life & challenges us to make important life decisions
Roger Fisher and Daniel Shapiro. 2005. Building Agreement. Random House
The Program on Negotiation (PON) is a consortium program of Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Tufts University and serves as an interdisciplinary research center dedicated to developing the theory and practice of negotiation and dispute resolution in a range of public and private settings.
At the PON the benefits of learning to manage emotions in everyday life are identified in easy to understand terms:
• Discover how dealing with emotions gives you more power and control, both in negotiations and in relationships.
• Learn practical tools to navigate emotional challenges and complex relations.
• Examine the five core concerns that stimulate the emotions that arise in negotiations.
• Gain an essential framework to better negotiate the emotional challenges you face every day.
www.pon.harvard.edu/courses-and-training/executive-training/leveraging-power-emotions-negotiate/?amp
Danny is dedicated to guiding his coaching clients to learn these skills as they create balanced, happy careers and lives.
In this process Danny makes it very clear that there is nothing soft about “emotional intelligence.”
More & more people…will have to MANAGE THEMSELVES
Peter Drucker.
Management Challenges for the 21st Century.
Harper Business. Page 163.
Get in touch with Danny to explore emotional intelligence:
Tel: 07850 143 209
Email: email@dannymcguigan.com
