The Hard Truth About the Soft Stuff AGA Professional Development Training Conference October 26, 2016 Janine Moon / COPEC / Workforce Change

*Non-profit *Free Education *Community resource *

Let’s clarify terms  “Soft Stuff” = Soft Skills  Management  Communication  Leadership  Emotional ‘savvy’  Emotional Intelligence competencies, e.g. Empathy, flexibility, collaboration, etc.  “Hard Truth” = Critical!  Lack of skills costs…  $$$  More accidents  Less revenue  Lower profits  Productivity  Customers, repeat business  Skilled people, Talent  Difficult to measure & ignored

So… This is about the emotions that run business…and that determine BIG or LIMITED business success!

Emotions matter…  Implementing plans  Interacting with customers  Using technology  Delivering their piece of the service/product

What’s the value of emotional commitment?  Businesses with high emotional commitment…  28% less…  Twice as much…  Fortune 100 company: reduced quality errors from 5,658 ppm to 52 ppm  MolsonCoors: engaged employees--5 times less likely safety incident; 7 times less likely lost-time incident  24,000 business units: bottom quartile 31-51% more turnover AND top quartile had 12% higher profitability  UK measure: engaged 2.69/sick dpy; disengaged 6.19 dpy  With 65% engaged, av. total shareholder return (TSR) = 24.2%; 40-60% = 9.1%; below 25% = negative TSR.

#1 way to get emotional commitment Human connection. Overall cost to businesses for unengaged workers? * Millennial turnover costs: $ 39,5 billion annually *U. S. Lost productivity est: $370+ billion annually

Leadership Talk v. Walk

Soft Skills…

Value of EQ? Soft Stuff?  Stat: 85% of business people do not feel respected and valued by their employer. (Talent Smart)  EQ Stats…  Most important leadership skill for success  Carnegie Institute: 85% of business financial success due to “human engineering” e.g. personality, ability to communicate, negotiate, lead. 15% due to technical /IQ.  75-90% of a leader’s success is due to strong “soft,” people, EQ skills; 10-25% due to cognitive skills.

Value of EQ? Soft Stuff?  “Dispirited, unmotivated, unappreciated workers cannot compete in a highly competitive world.” Frances Hesselbein  “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” Steve Jobs  “Connect the dots between individual roles and the goals of the organization. When people see that connection, they get a lot of energy out of work. They feel the importance, dignity, and meaning in their job.” Ken Blanchard

Value of EQ? Soft Stuff?  Large National Insurance Company: 2 groups sales agents 1. weak in 8 EI areas, self-confidence, initiative, empathy, etc. sold average premium policies of $54, strong in 5 of 8 EI areas sold average premium policies of $114,000  Supervisors (large mfg facility) trained in emotional competencies (e.g. how to listen better) showed results = lost time accidents down by 50%; grievances down from 15 to 3; plant exceeded production goals by $250K  Fabick CAT improved “percent of industry net sales” by 300%.

Enough stats. What’s it all mean?  Soft skills matter.  How leaders treat people matter.  Businesses have lots of excuses for losing money and ignoring “soft”– takes too long, costs too much, too hard to measure. Smart leaders make it happen anyway.

The EQ / EI Model Know (self-aware) Know (recognize) Manage (self-regulate) Manage (social skills) EI / EQ SELF OTHERS

How to Begin / Grow: assess yourself  Assess YOUR EI Competencies  Stakeholder Importance Scale  Ask for Feedback © 2016 Workforce Change / Janine Moon Contact: ;