Back in March I asked people who were using my Four Questions chart to tell their stories. Linda Zdanowicz was the first . Now, Galba Bright brings his story. Also, check out his new series, Me and My EQ.
The
4 Questions Every Leader Must Ask - Galba Bright
I use your Four Questions as a tool for reflection, evaluation and action. I use it to help me in my chosen vocation of helping people increase their Emotional Intelligence. I provide Learning Programmes throughout the Caribbean and Coaching Services throughout the world. I also operate the Tune up Your EQ Blog and Website www.tuneupyoureq.com.
It is an unusual journey, full of different twists and turns. I ask your 4 questions every Sunday as part of my regular reflections.
Question
1 What is our impact?
It’s hard to tell whether or not the people
I have contact with are more emotionally intelligent as a result. It's even
harder to determine whether this is because of anything I've said or done. I
don't say this to be irreverent, or to fake humility, rather in order to be
honest. Helping others is often a complex activity.
I do have a sense of whether I feel I have done the best that I can. I work hard to keep up to date in the EQ field and I feel that I’m a good improviser. I try to do my best and when I feel that I have done so and am moving towards my purpose of “Developing People, Transforming Organisations”, I feel fulfilled. As I get a little wiser, I realise that this is the most important thing of all to me.
Of course feedback is important. I look at indicators that give hints about impact, for example, the amount and range of email and blog feedback, questions, complaints and suggestions. I also look at web metrics and I do a lot of consultation with clients before I design programmes. I also evaluate programmes with clients by asking open questions. This often yields new service ideas and insights.
Question
2 Who are we impacting?
A wide range of adults at a variety of
different levels, face to face, via the web and in electronic and print media.
Now that I am online, I interact with people from six of the seven continents
of the world. I'm pleased because I wanted to give a wide range of people a
menu of ways that they could have an experience about emotional intelligence.
Question
3 What opportunities do we have now?
Numerous. The ones that are most in my mind
are developing a community of Tune Up Your EQ Readers and developing closer
links with other EQ practitioners.
Question
4 What Problems have we created?
To me problem creation and solutions are linked like a figure of eight. I try, through regular reflection to keep the ball rolling. Key current problems are my lack of focus on certain key tasks and my lack of realism in the number of tasks that I try to undertake. I am getting better at saying no to myself and others.
Thanks Ed. Your 4 questions certainly help me to keep me on track. I look forward to your feedback.
FOLLOW UP:
Galba, the purpose of this tool is to help us think more clearly so that we know how to do the things that create the impact we desire. The more specific you are about the impact of Emotional Intelligence, the easier it will be to see the impact that you are having on your clients. If you continue to ask the question, what is the impact that I am suppose to have, then I believe you will find the focus you need.
Jim Collins' approach to focus I find helpful. If you have read his book, Good to Great, you'll know the chapter on the Hedghog and the Fox. It is an ancient Greek myth which says, "the fox knows many things, the hedgehog one big thing." Collins builds that focus on the one big thing around three key dimensions.
1. What you can be the best in the world at (and, equally important, what you cannot be the best in the world at). This discerning standard goes far beyond core competence. Just because you possess a core competence doesn’t necessarily mean you can be the best in the world at it. Conversely, what you can be the best at might not even be something in which you are currently engaged.
2. What drives your economic engine. All the good-to-great companies attained piercing insight into how to most effectively generate sustained and robust cash flow and profitability. In particular, they discovered the single denominator—profit per x—that had the greatest impact on their economics. (It would be cash flow per x in the social sector.)
3. What you are deeply passionate about. The good-to-great companies focused on those activities that ignited their passion. The idea here is not to stimulate passion but to discover what makes you passionate.
This is a practical approach to focusing. My Impact Question primarily relates to Collins' third area about passion. What you are passionate about and where you want to create your impact need to be closely aligned.
The Opportunity Question focuses on what you can be the best in the world at. Our talent for doing things well should be where we find most of our opportunities.
The social network that we identify in the People Question is the environment where we find our Opportunities.
And I suspect, that one of the most challenging problems that we all face is how to take what we are passionate about and what we do well and make a living at it, hence the Economic Engine dimension.
What I have also learned is that most of what we learn to do takes time to mature. Each time we practice some skill it gets just a bit better. At some point, if we've been committed to improving, we'll see our real talent emerge, and distinguish itself from the other skills that we have come to master. Then we find our passion growing too. There are no short cuts to creating a life of impact that we desire.
Thanks for sharing your story.
Comments