Emotional Intelligence: Where’s The Beef?
I recently had the opportunity to read a “case study” about the implementation of an Emotional Intelligence program in a large institution. It explained the need the organization had and went into detail about how the program was implemented and internal trainers were trained to roll out the program.
When it came to the “results” the roll out of the program the author noted…
- It is very popular
- Participants are engaged
- They are aware of their reactions
Reading these “results” reminded me of an experience I had a long time ago.
After college I worked as a manufacturing engineer in a large plant. Three years later I began working for a global manufacturing organization at it’s headquarters. The organization offered three internal courses for professionals: Management Development (MD) I, II, and III. Each one required a week’s commitment and held off-site at a nice facility. The feedback I got before I signed up for MD was that it was popular, people had a good time, the subjects were interesting, and the meals were great. After three months of waiting I got the opportunity to attend MD I.
What a disappointment. I went into that program wanting to know how to do things better- write a performance appraisal, coach to improve performance, set annual goals and objectives, etc. What did we do? We talked about all those things but never practiced them and never were shown or explained how to do them well. Was it interesting? Kind of. Did I get an opportunity to express my thoughts? Yes. Was the food good? Yes. Could I do something better after the program? No.
Before I go on I must remind you that I was an engineer, and engineers have a mindset -they want to make things that work. In other words they want to ensure that the things they make do what they are designed to do so that the outcome is consistent and effective. For example, if an engineer designs a door on a refrigerator s/he wants to make sure that it will work repeatedly over the life of the refrigerator. The engineer begins by asking what do you want the door to do? In this case the answer might be to open, close, seal in cold for one million opening and closing cycles.
This mindset of wanting to make things work is what delivers enduring results. In fact, that mindset is a view that Engineers hold about most things … and, in my case, that includes development or training programs.
How do you design a development or training program so that it delivers results? You ask, “What do I want each person to be able to do effectively back on the job (i.e. results) that they don’t know how to do yet?” Then you build a program that gives them practice in doing those things and you give them feedback on how well they are doing them.
And how can you evaluate the effectiveness of a training program? There are four widely recognized measures that can be taken:
- Level One – Did the facility, food, instructor contribute to your learning?
- Level Two – Did you practice and can you do what you were there to learn to do?
- Level Three – Are you using on the job what you learned to do in the classroom?
- Level Four – What is the impact of applying what you learned for the organization?
Now back to the case I read about the Emotional Intelligence program. A program may be popular, and the participants may be more aware of their emotions during it. But the real payoff lies in the Level Three and Four evaluations. What do you think hard-nosed, numbers-oriented (dollars and cents) executives want to see their divisions producing? Better dollars and cents whether they are through increased productivity, lower product costs, more sales, lower turnover, increased customer satisfaction, lower development costs, lower healthcare costs, etc., etc.
The company that provided the case study may well have those Level Three and Level Four numbers. If they do, share them, market them, prove to the leadership of the organization and to people who read the case that EI training is delivering a valuable outcome to individuals, customers and the organization. These thoughts remind me of an old commercial that asks the question, “Where’s The Beef?”
You can see some level three and level four results our programs have achieved by visiting Emotional Intelligence Training Results on our website. Please feel free to share your thoughts.
