Watch out, the Emotional Capitalists are coming, and they are going to change the way we do business for good.
Global research by Hewitt Associates, pioneers of measuring employee engagement, established that employee engagement is significantly higher within companies that are enjoying double-digit growth. This is a view shared by ‘The Sunday Times Best 100 Companies’ who recognise that a more engaged workforce is a more successful workplace. Subsequent studies and research have consistently found that one of the quickest and most effective ways to build high engagement is by developing Emotional Intelligence and authenticity within leaders, managers and high potentials.
Leaders who can capitalise on their own emotional state and that of the people around them, their followers, will be the driving force behind growth. It’s not just about growing an organisation. As a result of the last few years businesses are making huge amounts of change to the way they work. The number one barrier to any change initiative is the emotions of the people who are part of that change.
Anthony Jenkins has his feet firmly under the table as the new driving force of Barclays Bank and his first actions proved that his leadership is not to be a soft approach. In fact he is moving forward to tackle a situation that all of the other banking institutions will soon be catching up with. After just two weeks he has wrote to all 140,000 members of staff and told them
“Success will be defined by how our stakeholders think and feel about Barclays. It is about creating an emotional as well as intellectual connection with them,”
It seems Mr Jenkins is in touch with his emotions and understands the value of connecting with the emotional side of each and every one of the stakeholders, be them the people in the city or those of us on the high street. Barclays are going to be “Touchy Feely” and that can only lead to success. Jenkins has also stated that he will be reforming the investment banking arm of the business in light of the bad name created over rates fixing. It seems that, Emotional Capitalist, Anthony Jenkins knows just what Leadership is and knows the right way to engage with the business.
Being an Emotional Capitalist in a leadership role is about fueling everything you do with a driving force that everyone can see, by doing so you create such a clear vision that people can and want to be part of. Letting your true self shine through can only lead to success, removing your own personal barriers and creating an energy that beats at the heart of everything you say and do.
Leadership teams that engage with their followers will grow and develop their business, research shows that a highly engaged business has double digit growth and high levels of success with change programs. Research with 2663 organisations, globally, shows that engagement is created by a strong leadership team who are authentic to themselves. The University of Lausanne published recently that Charisma, an strong element of Emotional Intelligence, can be developed and those leaders that do take time to develop out perform their peers by up to 60%.
It is exciting times out there, as the case for developing corporate Emotional Intelligence grows ever stronger, I can’t help but be excited to see what will become of Barclays, what will become of banking and certainly what is happening to every business that harnesses the power of every employee in 2013.
