Polishing up your team’s emotional intelligence has been shown to accelerate higher productivity and enhance job satisfaction, behavioral scientist Layla Sweet told advisors and leaders during a webcast co-sponsored by the Center for Women in Financial Services at the American College and Financial Advisor magazine last week.
Sweet, who retired as a colonel in the U.S Air Force after 27 years of training and teaching behavioral science, said that individuals’ emotional intelligence (EI) can be measured and those who possess it or take the time to learn its attributes EI are much more likely to perform at their maximum, build engagement among staff and clients and navigate challenges more successfully.
That also translates to higher productivity and revenues, Sweet said. “In an Ameriprise Financial study, advisors’ sales increased 18% after attending emotional intelligence training. Sales managers who attended the training saw sales in their regions increase 11% over those who did not attend,” said Sweet, who joined Dynamic Perspectives as a senior strategist in 2020.
What exactly is emotional intelligence? “It’s not about being emotional, but how we recognize and use emotional information in our day to day lives, in work lives, interacting with family and in the workplace,” she said.
EI is important in the financial advice arena because it is proven to be a key indicator of human performance and development. Companies seek to hire employees or managers with EI—or train them to sharpen skills—because they have been found to “communicate more effectively, form stronger relationships and create more powerful coping strategies,” said Sweet, who worked with senior military officer from more than 90 countries as a political and military affairs strategist at the Air Force's International Officer School.
“Layla’s insights and knowledge are so important to advisors and leaders who want to better equip themselves to thrive and excel in our fast-changing industry,” said Lindsey Lewis, director of the Center for Women in Financial Services.
EI has been shown to be a game changer for leaders who want to recruit and retain higher performers, build teams, manage diversity, lead development and even manage change such as a merger or acquisiton, Sweet noted.
In fact, emotional intelligence is estimated to account for 27% to 45% of job success and 60% of job performance for leaders, she said. Some 90% of top performers are high in EI, while only 20% of low performers test high in EI, she added.
At one national insurance company where the emotional intelligence of insurance agents was measured, those who scored high in the areas of self-confidence, initiative and empathy sold policies with an average face value that was twice that of agents who scored poorly in EI, Sweet said.
While EI can be measured more effectively than IQ and can be strengthened and developed, it does not correlate to IQ, she told the webcast audience.
Even very intelligent advisors and leaders may lack EI, Sweet said. Financial advisors who are not particularly comfortable talking about clients’ needs or personal challenges, such as divorce, caregiving or loss of a spouse, may be lacking in EI, she said.
Sweet said one of her greatest breakthroughs as a coach came when she worked with a manager who never even told his staff to “have a good weekend.”
It can hurt employees’ morale and motivation to work for someone who never takes an interest in their well-being or personal life, so turning that around was critical, Sweet said.
Now, as a result of simple behavior modification techniques Sweet taught him, the manager focuses on connecting to his staff through simple phrases, wishing everyone good morning and to have a good weekend, even strangers in stores, Sweet said.
“The most effective approach to developing your emotional intelligence is really just to get into a daily habit of practicing those small micro-resolutions that create changes in behavior over time," she said. "We encourage our leaders to start with small changes and then keep developing them. We found this results in big results over time.”
For instance, for lack of optimism and low self-regard, which can create a constant litany of internal self-criticism, Sweet tells managers to “picture a big stop sign in your head and tell yourself this is not helping in any way and deliberately think of something else. Or, to increase emotional expression, when explaining something to someone else, include a feeling that helps you describe your perspective,” Sweet said.
Telling staff you see much more positive outcomes for the company and with clients, instead of just directing them to perform a task without reason, can be motivational and provide purpose to them and even create camaraderie, she said.
Those with higher EI, “find a higher meaning in their work, report a higher level of well-being, handle stress better and are able to help others fulfill their potential,” Sweet added.