MBA609 Study Guide

4a. Assess your own emotional intelligence and create strategies to improve emotional intelligence skills

• Based on the quiz you took in this section, what is your level of emotional intelligence? 
• What are some strategies you can implement to develop your emotional intelligence skills?
• Identify people you know with high emotional intelligence skills, and observe their behaviors and traits.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, pay attention to, and manage one's own emotions and the emotions of others. It is an important leadership skill. EQ involves four pillars: self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and social skills. Self-awareness and self-regulation refers to understanding your emotions, and logic, and controlling those emotions to handle situations you may be faced with as a leader. Empathy is the ability to understand other people's emotions. Social skills refer to the ability to understand other people's emotions and act on their emotions. Please note that intelligence quotient (IQ) is important, but EQ is another important aspect to being a good leader.

Leaders with high emotional intelligence are able to understand their own strengths and weaknesses. They also adapt to change, and don't let change paralyze their emotions. Understanding and "stepping in someone else's shoes'' can help leaders give better feedback and make them not reactive to emotional situations. People who are highly intelligent also view mistakes as opportunities to grow, and do not let failures become roadblocks to success. 

To review, see The Fours Pillars of EQ and Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Success.

 

4b. Compare and contrast models for effective decision making and critical thinking skills

• What are some of the barriers to effective decision making?
• How do programmed and non-programmed decisions vary in nature?
• How can you apply the decision-making process in order to more effectively make decisions?

Leaders are able to make well thought out decisions. There are two types of decisions, programmed decisions and non-programmed decisions. Programmed decisions are those that are repeated over time and for which an existing set of rules can be developed to guide the process. Non-programmed decisions are novel, unstructured decisions that are generally based on criteria that are not well-defined.

The decision-making process involves six main steps, which include: 

Recognize that a decision needs to be made. Generate multiple alternatives. Analyze the alternatives. Select an alternative. Implement the selected alternative. Evaluate its effectiveness.

There are several barriers to effective decision making. Escalation of commitment is the tendency of decision makers to remain committed to poor decision, even when doing so leads to increasingly negative outcomes. Some leaders also have time constraints in which they must make a decision but do not have all information. Personal bias can hinder our decision making as well. There are also logical fallacies that impact decision making, which include non sequitur, false cause, ad hominem, genetic fallacy, appeal to tradition, and many others.

To review, see Decision-Making Process.

 

4c. Evaluate personal and organizational goals using the SMART Goal model

• What SMART goals do you have for the next year?
  
• What tactics will you use to meet your SMART goals? 
  
• How will you measure each of your goals?

Another topic in this unit is effective goal setting. In order to be a successful leader, setting goals and monitoring progress toward those goals is important. One such as to set goals is to focus on SMART goals. A SMART goal is specific (defined), measurable (defined outcomes to measure success), attainable (reasonable and within your ability to accomplish), relevant (the goal applies to the situation), and time-bound (set a specific time frame for meeting the goal.

Once SMART goals are set, an action plan is needed to make sure the goals are achieved. You'll want to put a plan together that lists the goal, tasks you must accomplish to meet that larger goal, and put a timeline to it.

To review, see Goal Setting Strategies.

4d. Apply effective public speaking and communication skills

• What are some best practices when preparing an oral presentation?
  
• What are best practices associated with preparing a written paper, email, or business-related text?
• How might the demographics of the group change your delivery of the message?

An important skill required for leaders is effective communication. In addition to the information we've already presented in this course on written and verbal communication, we will dig deeper into this topic on how to prepare a message for a particular audience such as a speech or even a written email communication. The first step revolves around how to get to know your audience when preparing a presentation. There can be three main types of audiences: primary, secondary, and hidden audience. Understanding their demographics, interest in your message, environment, the information they need, you can customize the message to the specific audience.

Of course, if your communication involves public speaking, you will want your speech to be well prepared, defined, and practice it to make sure it provides the intended message. 

There are several things that can impact verbal messages, including tone, paralanguage, body language, level of eye contact, and facial expressions to name a few. Information richness refers to the amount of sensory input available during a communication. Face to face communication, for example, has higher richness than a written document. 

To review, see Perfecting Public Speaking and Presentations.

 

4e. Develop effective negotiation skills, such as building rapport, to meet organizational and personal goals

• What is BATNA in negotiations?
  
• How would you define a reservation point in negotiations? 
  
• What are some ways you can prepare for a negotiation? 

There can be many things that make someone a poor negotiator. Since leaders often negotiate, this is an important skill to learn. People often aren't good negotiators because they settle for less, or because they have faulty feedback in the process. 

Preparation in negotiations is the key, understanding the situation and parties, the issues, the interests of all parties, the goals, and then applying tactics to have a successful negotiation. Negotiations aren't fixed-sum – in other words, "you win, I lose". It means to use tactics that help people come to a conclusion they can both be happy with.

There are a few negotiation tactics you can try, they include distributive strategy, integrative strategy or mixed-motive strategy A distributive strategy means to "win it all" or claim everything for yourself. An integrative strategy attempts to create value for all and find solutions that fit best with the needs of all or most parties. A mixed-motive strategy focuses on finding a solution that meets the needs of all, while obtaining your personal needs.

To review, see Negotiation Theory and Practice.

 

4f. Apply networking and impression management skills, such as the use of social media, to enhance leadership abilities

• Why is networking important as a leader?
  
• How should a proper handshake be given?
  
• What types of other social skills would you like to develop in order to hone your leadership skills?

Part of emotional intelligence is social skills. One aspect to social skills is applying proper etiquette in all situations. First, workplace etiquette involves dressing appropriately, making sure your body language is appropriate (such as making eye contact), using appropriate communication, being one time, and knowing how to give a proper handshake. Another important aspect to etiquette is making sure you are able to introduce people's property to one another. Being professional, speaking professionally, and being positive are all important traits to demonstrate as a leader.

Networking is another important tool to help develop your career as a leader. Many people network by talking to others in social situations, however, networking must go further than that. When you network it is more than getting business cards, it is having a plan of action on what to do and how to leverage those contacts.

To review, see Leadership Etiquette and Develop Your Network.

 

4g. Identify gaps between personality traits and leadership skills to develop leadership goals and plans

• What type of self-reflection have you done recently, and how will you continue to ensure you are engaging in self-reflection?
  
• What are your short term goals? 
  
• What plans do you have in place to achieve both short and long term goals? 

In this final section of our course, you were able to perform some self-assessment to further develop your leadership skills. Important aspects to leadership include time management skills, including putting together a time management guide to help you better manage time. We also addressed the importance of having a mentor to help guide you as you grow in your career.

Self-reflection as a leader is also necessary – the ability to make decisions, and reflect on those that worked well, and those that didn't. It is also the ability to identify strengths and weaknesses and make attempts to address the weaknesses you may have. 

Finally, putting together a leadership plan helps you create a roadmap to fully understand where you are now, and where you want to be. The leadership developed a plan addressed near term goals, mid-term goals, and long-term goals. Then, you'll want to look at traits you need to develop, skills you should develop, as well as action plans that relate to your goals.

To review, see Leadership Plans.

 

Unit 4 Vocabulary

This vocabulary list includes terms you will need to know to successfully complete the final exam.

• distributive strategy

• escalation of commitment

• information richness

• integrative strategy

• mixed-motive strategy

• non-programmed decisions

• programmed decisions

• SMART goal