I was about to embark on a project with a new client.  In preparation for my site visit, all key managers took the EQ Profile.  An emerging crisis at headquarter delayed my site visit for about 5 or 6 months.  

 

I arrived very concerned about the Controller, given Profile #1 generated months earlier.  This Profile reveals someone who is in very deep trouble somewhere in her life and it could not help but to affect her work.  Several patterns stand out.  First, the Emotional Energy score was so low that it was out of the normal range.  This Controller reported to the CIO of a very large corporation and had five direct reports who managed a staff of about 30 people.  Her Energy score needed to be at least at 7 to have the drive to lead a Department, especially since the company was installing a new system that was changing how it managed it financial matters.  

 

Not only is her energy too low to drive that kind of change, her score was low enough to suggest that something was going on in her life that was draining her of the power and drive it would take to function even in a normal setting.  I was concerned that she might be depressed or might have something going on in her personal life that was emotionally draining such as an illness in the family or divorce.  My concerns were further raised by a pattern: Her Energy and Optimism scores were lower than the Stress score.  This pattern is another indicator of something going on in her life that was causing personal distress.

 

Also note the the Work, Detail, Courage, Direction, and Assertive scores were also very low.  She might have been working hard but with low Energy and low Work, she wasn’t enjoying it nor was she being as effective as she needed to be.  Her Detail score is too low.  Again, it is hard to pay attention to details when you are distracted by a crisis somewhere in your life. Her Courage score was extremely low, suggesting a complete loss of self-confidence and ability to take risks.  The Direction score is so low that she appeared incapable of making decisions.

 

Not the high Change score.  This is often seen in people in crisis who know they need to make a change happen somewhere in their life.  Given her overall pattern, the change score is a cry for help.

 

The Assertive and Tolerance pattern was not consistent with someone who needed to be leading a team, especially one engaged in a reorganization of its systems and procedures brought on by the implementation of new software.  At the bottom of the page, note that her General Performance score is only 5.1, indicating a very low productivity level.  On the Company Executive norm, she needed to score at least a 7.  She has a 3.5.

 

And now the rest of the story…

I arrived on site several months after the Profiles were taken, fully expecting that my interviews would reveal that she needed to be replaced.  In sharing my concerns with the CFO about her Profile, he asked me to speak with her before drawing any conclusions.  

 

I discovered that at the time she took her first Profile, she had been extremely ill for two months.  The weak after taking the Profile, she went to her doctor and discovered she had a serious medical condition in need of immediate medication and life style changes.  She said the first Profile was an accurate depiction of her physical and emotional state at that time.  She had to drag herself out of bed in the morning and force herself to go to work.  She would somehow get through the day and go home in the evening too exhausted to cook or do anything else but go to bed.  Her husband convinced her to go the to doctor and her illness had been diagnosed.  She was now feeling much better.  Her medication was working.  Dietary changes and a progressively challenging exercise program was allowing her to shed weight slowly.  Overall, she was feeling so much better that she felt like a new woman, even though she had some distance to go in managing her physical condition.

 

I felt it would be appropriate to ask her to take the Profile again, given the dramatic shift in her psychological and physical state.  See Profile #2.

 

This Profile does show significant change but the pattern of scores is highly consistent with what I learned in the interviews with her staff.  Let’s look at the changes and what I learned about her in the interviews.

 

Her Energy score is up but is still not at the level required of someone in a leadership position.  Leaders need to be somewhere between 6 and 8.  The higher the position, the higher this score should be.  She needed a score of at least a 7, given her position and the changes she was expected to be leading in her area.  

 

 

Irrespective of her health, what I learned about her in my assessment interviews was highly consistent with the rest of her Profile.  Her direct reports were frustrated by her hesitancy to make decisions.  She seemed to lack self-confidence and would call staff meetings in which prolonged discussions may or may not lead to an actual decision being made.  And this was a time she needed to be taking a very active lead in driving the implementation of the new financial system.  In addition, they noted that she would equivocate and change her mind.  “If you want the decision to go your way, you want to be the last person to get to her.  She is incapable of making a decision and standing by it.”

 

Note the Assertive, Tolerance, Considerate, and Sociable scores.  She was incapable of taking a strong leadership stance on a decision.  Her Assertive score suggests she could not make demands on people, convince and persuade, or hold people accountable.  Her Tolerance score indicates that she was tolerant and forgiving to the point of denial of issues that should be concerning her.  

 

Her Considerate score was much too high.  She was so “others” oriented that it would be all but impossible for her to make a decision that might upset someone or hurt someone’s feelings.  The new system being implemented demanded that people adopt new ways of getting things done.  But in this situation you cannot please everyone and she was finding it very difficult to make a decisions and stick with it if people complained.

 

Finally, her Sociable score is a “Band-Aid” score.  She knew she had not done a good job for some months.  Even though she was feeling better physically, she still did not possess the leadership capacity demanded of someone in her position.  The extremely high Sociable score indicates that she was attempting to compensate for her shortcomings by behaving in a very outgoing and friendly way, in hopes that people would like her and not judge her too harshly.

 

Note that her General Performance score has risen but still needed to be at a 7 or 7.5.  Her Score on the Company Executive norm was still only 5.4, not even close to the 7 required of her.

 

 

Even before her illness, the CIO had concerns about her leadership, concerns that were confirmed by comments made in the interviews with her direct reports and with other staff in the Controller’s Office.  She had never be a strong leader.  Her illness just amplified her leadership problems.  Even though she had extensive experience and training in financial management, her professional abilities were not enough to enable her to succeed in a high-level executive position.

 

I recommended he put her in a staff position, one in which he could benefit from her financial abilities but would not require her to be responsible for leading people.  Although she initially resisted making a move out of a line position, she accepted it.  Followup six months later found that her health is continuing to improve.  She also discovered she was happier in a position in which she could do her job well without having to be responsible for leading other people.

The Health Crisis