Our businesses are the sum of their relationships both internal and external; it follows that to become truly great at business we need to become truly great at relationships. This does require some courage but it is a question of when rather than if putting the emphasis on relationships becomes normal business practise.
Relationship management already is accepted as key to business success but what is yet to be accepted more generally is that this is not about keeping a file note on what school a customer's children go to, this is about authentically caring about our customers and colleagues as human beings. They are not revenue earning widgets, they are not a source of income to be optimised, they are fellow human beings with whom we can develop a mutually fulfilling relationship.
We are emotional creatures, we can try to suppress our feelings, or deny them or control them but the truth is we are controlled by our feelings, everyone acts the way they do because they feel the way they do - it doesn't matter how hard we resist this fact - the truth doesn't change just because we deny it. The good news is that we are totally empowered to change the drivers of our feelings and therefore any limiting or unhelpful behaviours.
The purpose of EQ training is to learn from our emotions, about ourselves, our belief systems, our life patterns and to change them as suits us. We use our relationships to show us what we need to learn, what we need to change. It is hardly ground breaking to say that since most organisations in the same sector will have similar IQ profiles, their EQ (their ability to self manage and to manage others) will be a significant factor in determining their level of success.
"There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread" - Mother Teresa
