■ Gauge readiness – ensure that people are prepared to
improve their level of emotional intelligence.
■ Motivate people to believe that the learning experience will
benefit them.
■ Make change self-directed – encourage people to prepare a
learning plan which fits their interests, resources and goals.
■ Focus on clear manageable goals – the focus must be on
immediate, manageable steps, bearing in mind that culti-
vating a new skill is gradual.
■ With stops and starts; the old ways will reassert themselves
from time to time.
■ Prevent relapse – show people how they can learn lessons
from the inevitable relapses.
■ Give performance feedback.
■ Encourage practice, remembering that emotional compe-
tence cannot be improved overnight.
■ Provide models of desired behaviours.
■ Encourage and reinforce – create a climate that rewards self-
improvement.
■ Evaluate – establish sound outcome measures and then
assess performance against them.
NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING
Some organizations go in for what is called rather pretentiously
‘neuro-linguistic programming’ (NLP) to develop emotional
intelligence. The basis of NLP is that each person’s concept of
reality is actually his or her subjective interpretation, because the
mind is a filtering mechanism. People learn to programme their
reactions to others, and develop unconscious strategies for inter-
acting with them. NLP helps people to identify these strategies
so that they can choose and control what would otherwise be
automatic responses and behaviour. It involves thinking of the
outcome required in a situation and identifying the personal
resources needed to bring about that outcome. These resources
are then rehearsed so that positive outcomes can be achieved in
new situations.
As described in the Successful Manager’s Handbook(2002), NLP
is a ‘tool kit’ of skills used by managers to develop emotional
intelligence skills and improve performance. NLP skills focus on
the way you think about what you are doing that already works,
74 How to be an Even Better Manager