Imagine you are the Executive Director of a large non-profit organization. Your insurance company notified you that starting in 6 weeks your premiums for health insurance benefits for your employees would cost 25% more for the next year. Your Board of Directors instructed you to change to another plan called a Health Savings Account Plan that promised not to raise costs next year. At a total staff meeting, you explained how the new benefits plan would work. You said that employees will be required to pay all medical expenses until they satisfied a $1500 deductable. Employees were angry about this since the current deductable was only $100. Afterwards, they complained bitterly to your Operations Manager. Finally, at another staff meeting, it all came to a boil. Employees complained that they had no savings due to their low pay and therefore had no way to finance the initial $1500 of medical bills. Some were terrified of not being able to afford to go to doctors. They were very angry at you and the Board. They called the new plan a bomb shell that had been dropped on them at the last minute. They said it all showed that the Board and you did not care about them. This actually did happen. What if it had happened to you? Pause now and imagine what you, as the Executive Director, would be thinking, feeling, and needing. To practice being emotionally intelligent, write these things out, such as "I am having these emotions …." "I need …." Also write out answers to these questions: -What do you intend to do? -What will you say to employees? -What will you say to the Board? Now are you curious as to what actually happened? I was on site leading my Tele-Workshop series, Emotional Intelligence for Resilient Leaders and Professionals. Staff asked to discuss this benefits problem with me. The Executive Director who was present welcomed me to facilitate a discussion. I asked the staff what they were feeling. They replied that they were furious, afraid about their future health and financial well being, and felt uncared for. I asked them "What really matters here?" They replied that they needed to be understood by the management, cared for, assisted with good health care benefits so that they would have financial and physical well-being. Then I asked them to create strategies to get what they really wanted. We all, including the Executive Director, collaboratively created two strategies, a letter to the Board and a request for a meeting with the Board. Results? The Executive Director delivered the letter and made arrangements for the Chairman of the Board to come immediately to talk with the staff. Then the full Board met and decided to fund the new health care insurance program with a $1,000 grant to each of about 20 employees to help them with their first medical payments toward the deductable. The staff became exuberant as they relished their victory and sense of empowerment. The Board felt glad that they listened to the staff and responded in a caring fashion. It was a win/win. Can you see how emotional intelligence helped this process to work? 1. First, the staff was able to discern what was most important for them. 2. Secondly, they created strategies to get that. 3. Thirdly, staff communicated their needs clearly and emphatically, in a non-threatening fashion. 4. Fourthly, the Executive Director used a collaborative approach to solve the problem. 5. Fifthly, as an outside consultant, I was able to guide the above process so that people utilized their emotional intelligence. 5. Sixthly, the Board was able to listen caringly and respond generously because they valued having a win/win solution. They still saved money and the staff was jubilant. For more information visit our Eagle Alliance website.
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Article added to SearchWarp.com on Thursday, September 18, 2008 View other articles written by William Murray(34)
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