Written by An emotionally intelligent organizational culture remains positive even through changes and challenges. Far from just being a corporate buzzword, it is an important skill needed by leaders, mentors, and coaches to elicit the best from their people on a performance level as well as on a personal level.
Coaching in a sporting organization isn’t just managing the resources, it’s also the dedication to continuous improvement. More than that however, it is the establishment of effective relationships within the team through the adoption of emotionally intelligent principles.
All the investment in research and implementation of new sports techniques in the world will not replace the responsive articulation of the components of a healthy organizational culture. In this sort of climate, the individual has a perception of trust and support. This will influence behaviors; motivation, creativity, problem solving, enthusiasm, self-regulation, and empathy.
Regarding the social awareness critical competency of empathy applied in effective coaching, it enables the ability to ‘read’ the athletes and assess their mental and emotional state. This ultimately guides the coach in how they should most appropriately respond. Without this skill, coaches are at risk of making unreasonable demands on their athletes and miss the signals an athlete gives out when they are disengaging. Once an athlete becomes disengaged, it is difficult to bring them back on board and into the program – they may be present physically present but can the same be said about their emotional and mental presence.
“Empathy is about noticing the small signs that always precede a given performance, great or poor. In improving any performance, 75% of the improvement equation lies in self-awareness of the need to improve, the methods to improve and the strategy to improve.”
There is a lot of science in assessing the personality type of the team’s individuals, and regardless of which tool is applied; MTBI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) or DISC, and these are the only four-letter words that should be used, the ultimate goal is knowing how to communicate with the team in an effective way.
Former Wallabies (Rugby Australia) coach Michael Cheika laughed off English coach, Clive Woodward’s dismissal of the Australian players as “not the brightest“, saying it was “emotional intelligence” that counted. The often-smiling Cheika told a news conference: “Mr Woodward is right. I only got 300 out of 500 in my high school certificate. My mother wasn’t happy either with the result, I can assure you, but somehow I got through. But no, sometimes it’s not intelligence but emotional intelligence that helps in this game. It’s not the IQ, it’s the EQ.”
Cheika has just landed a new job as the director of rugby at Japanese Top League outfit NEC Green Rockets. His impressive career as a coach and a coaching consultant has been made possible by his long-standing belief in the power of self-awareness, self-control, self-motivation, social skills, and empathy, as things that every athlete manages within themselves to some extent, with the support of the intuitive coach.
Michael Cheika NEC Green Rockets Japan Top League rugby news (nine.com.au)
Emotional Intelligence and Peak Performance: A Winning Strategy – Langley Group