Episode 43

Emotional Intelligence in the Modern Workplace

Libby Mullen

Brought to you by your hosts:

Hannah Brenner
L&D Specialist
Derek Smith
L&D Specialist
With special guest:
Libby Mullen | Learning and Development Manager
Libby Mullen is the Learning and Development Manager with BizLibrary; her favorite aspect of her role is coaching her team members to proactively consult with clients in ongoing strategic partnerships. Libby has over 25 years of experience in education and training and business consultation, both in the higher education realm and in all verticals of the business sector. Building positive partnerships, solving business problems creatively, and bringing out and developing the strengths in others are what makes Libby “tick.” Libby is a fervent writer, an experienced public speaker, and is most passionate about demonstrating the importance of life-long learning and helping clients to create and grow learning cultures in their businesses. 

Description

Happy Valentine’s Day to all the great listeners of The BizLibrary Podcast! This week, we welcomed back Libby Mullen, the talented L&D manager here at BizLibrary.

Things got emotional as we discussed emotional intelligence. You may be surprised to learn that emotional intelligence is one of the top predictors of success.

That’s because the strength of our relationships has a lot to do with how we perform. When we are able to leverage relationships to extend and improve results, some portion of our successes are owed to emotional intelligence.

At the core of emotional intelligence, Libby explains, is self-awareness. Most people have some idea of who they are, but rarely do our ideas of ourselves match up with others perceptions of us.

Self-awareness, then, helps us understand how we are perceived by others. By understanding this, we are able to better understand how and when to communicate with others.

A great way to fill the gaps in your self-awareness is to take a few self-assessments. The BizLibrary resource library has such assessments and our emotional intelligence handbook is a great place to start.

Libby isn’t the only person who understands the value of emotional intelligence and soft skills in general.

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner revealed to CNBC a study that concluded that communication and interpersonal skills are the number one skill gap that US employees face.

That means that no matter what industry you work in, or what level of employee you are responsible for training, developing emotional intelligence is a powerful way to improve the performance of your organization, increase employee retention, and build a more agile workplace.

When you’re finished listening to this week’s interview, be sure to download our related resource. It’s a great look at how soft skills training can impact sales growth in an organization.

Thanks for listening to The BizLibrary Podcast!