My client was looking for a strong executive to lead a new department providing an interface between the company’s IS Division and eight subsidiary companies. Though owned by the company, these subsidiaries have a long history of operating independently, including managing their own IS Departments, resulting in a mix of platforms, software, and data being tracked. The newly selected executive would be tasked with migrating the IS functions into the central IS Division, producing enormous savings and increased efficiencies. However, the subsidiary companies were resistant to losing control of their data, fearing loss of flexibility in serving their customers.
The leadership team had to find someone who had the technical skills to centralize IS and deliver services that enhanced what was already being done internally. This person also had to be very good at creating relationships. The company needed someone who could build collaborative relationships between the subsidiaries and the IS Division. The job, to borrow from Yogi Berra, would be “50% technical and 90% interpersonal.”
An internal IS professional looked like the perfect person for the job. She had the technical background required and appeared to have competencies associated with emotional intelligence required to do the job. She was asked to take the EQ Profile to add more information to consider in making their decision.
She generated an outstanding Profile. Note the General Performance score at the bottom, right hand corner of the report. Given her orientation to work and her relational tendencies, her 8.7 predicted a very high level of performance. Note the leadership norms. (Second line from bottom of the page.) Her 9.2 on Company Executive was one of the best fits for this norm I’d ever seen.
Her Emotional Energy score is notable. She has a very big “motor,” indicating she could put in the long hours required without letting the stress of the job get to her. She was already in a stressful position and was coping with it well. Note the low Stress score. The pattern of the Energy and Optimism scores being so much higher than the Stress score was another indicator of the capacity to cope with stressful, high-demand situations.
Her Self-Esteem score was moderate, as indicated by the end of the black bar. But note all the arrows behind the bar, the S (self-concept) and the O (how others see her). The arrows indicate variability. She is driven to achieve because she feels better about herself when she is accomplishing her goals.
Her Energy, Optimism, and Sociable scores bode well for the relationship-building side of the job required of her. People are attracted to people with high energy and optimism. She could be expected to bring high enthusiasm and an infectious optimism to the role. In addition, her Sociable score indicated that she worked well as a member of the team. Note the arrows on her Sociable scores. When the occasion demanded it, she could pull out all the stops and be very sociable and relate to a wide variety of people. She would easily build relationships and trust with her contacts.
She could be counted on to be a very hard worker and very detail oriented, a combination that would serve her well in coming to understand the mix of platforms, programs, and differing approaches to data management in the subsidiaries. Her Change score indicates the high degree of creativity required at coming up with solutions to meet the needs of the subsidiaries as well as the IS Division.
Although charming and upbeat, there are indicators that she would be tough enough to handle the job. She has a strong Courage score, indicating that she has the self-confidence to take on a risky position. She is very challenge-oriented and works even harder under pressure. In addition, her Assertive score was exactly where is needed to be. She could be counted on to stand up for her positions, convince and persuade, and deal with conflict without being overbearing and alienating people whose cooperation and “buy in” was essential for the project.
The only negative score in her Profile is a somewhat low Considerate score. She might at times be so so focused on her own goals and needs that she might not listen carefully enough to the needs of others. But I felt that her energy, optimism, and sociability would compensate for this. She would, however, need coaching in developing greater sensitivity to the needs and feelings of others.
She was offered the position and she accepted it with enthusiasm. She turned out to have just the mix of technical and diplomatic skills required to succeed in this position. A short period of intensive coaching produced a marked increase in her sensitivity to others. She took this coaching on as yet another challenge to be conquered. As the Profile predicted, she has performed very well. Technical abilities alone would not have been sufficient. The job required a great deal on interpersonal finesse to gain the cooperation of the subsidiaries in centralizing the company’s IS function.
A STRONG EXECUTIVE