Eric Burns presented a three-part series, The Art and Science of Managing Up: Applicable Skills to Know How to Take Initiative at Work, during the 2017 AAPS Annual Meeting and Exposition. Here is a recap for those who weren’t able to attend.
By Maggie McMullen and Erik Burns, Ed.D.
Conflicts—the Merriam Webster Dictionary calls them fights or battles—in the workplace often arise from a basic lack in skills to address problems through direct and constructive conversations. Conflicts frequently result from emotional explosions2, typically anger or frustration, directed at people, rather than the problem itself.
We are challenged daily to effectively manage our emotions; feelings of happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and shame. Our brains are hardwired to hand over the control to our emotional center, the amygdala – something known as emotional hijacking2. Our fight or flight response kick in; our emotions control our behavior and we react without thinking. Jeff Hurt, Executive Vice President of Velvet Chainsaw Consulting, told participants at the Leadership Retreat this past February that such a hijacking lasts 45 minutes or more – and your emotions are in the driver seat of decision-making that whole time.
We have the ability to take control of our emotions and improve our handling of conflict. It’s known as Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and it plays a huge role in our success in the workplace. In their book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves state, “EQ accounts for 58% of performance in all types of jobs. It is the single biggest predictor of performance in the workplace and the strongest driver of leadership and personal excellence.”
| What does EQ2 look like? |
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SELF AWARENESS
ability to understand and be in tune with your own emotions in real time and understand your typical pattern of behavior
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SELF MANAGEMENT
ability to use your self-awareness to maintain composure and respond in a constructive manner to the situation
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SOCIAL AWARENESS
ability to accurately read the emotions in others and understand their response to the situation |
RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
ability to use self and social awareness to build and manage interactions successfully
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Intelligence is defined as your ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. Emotional intelligence is the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.3
They key to unlocking successful conflict management lies in your ability to manage your emotions in a constructive and effective way. By harnessing the power of these four skills, you will have the ability to successfully navigate those difficult workplace conflicts to a positive and desirable outcome.
The first step in understanding your current ability to effectively manage your emotions is to take an EQ assessment. Here’s a free one.
Or pay a small charge to take this one.
Once you have identified how you score in each of the four skill areas, you can develop a plan to improve yourself and bring other areas to a higher competence level. Similar to establishing your career development plan (See the article What's Your Career Development Plan? in the July 2017 AAPS Newsmagazine), establish your plan to improve your EQ. Plan and measure your progress; focusing on one key skill at a time.
Your key to successful conflict management lies within your ability to manage your emotions.
1 Meriam Webster Dictionary
2 Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, TalentSmart, San Diego, CA, 2009.
3 English Oxford Living Dictionaries
Maggie McMullen is Director of Business Development at Qualyst Transporter Solutions and Erik Burns, Ed.D., is assistant dean of Outreach & Professional Development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy.