As universities face the “enrollment cliff” and shifting fiscal realities, evaluating your operating model is essential. Here are five critical success factors to keep in mind for optimizing campus shared services in 2026:

1. Culture – Shifting to a Service-Oriented Mindset
When many campus SSCs started, it was essential to create a culture focused on operating with professional efficiency. This remains mission-critical in 2026. SSC leaders play a key role in bringing to life a value proposition that resonates with faculty, students, and staff alike. Academic units will continue to sign up for shared services only if the SSC achieves a steady track record of lower administrative burden, relevant subject matter expertise, and world-class service. Processes must be re-designed to focus on the student and faculty “customer” experience.

2. Continuous Improvement (CI)
This is a massive driver of success. Campus stakeholders want responsive service and reduced “shadow IT” or administrative bloat. SSC leaders must own end-to-end processes—such as the student lifecycle or grant administration—and focus on continuous improvement. Leveraging frameworks like Lean or Six Sigma provides the ROI and employee ownership needed to drive results. A key point: Measure everything. Balanced metrics and broad communication of successful milestones will sell your value to the Board and the Provost.

3. Technology, AI, and the Cloud
In 2026, you must go “all-in” on cloud technology and AI integration. The landscape is complex—modern ERPs, student information systems (SIS), AI-driven predictive analytics, and workflow automation. You cannot afford to operate without an up-to-date technology strategy. Spreading the costs and benefits of these tools across multiple academic and business units lessens the risk and increases the odds of achieving institutional goals.

4. Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
SLAs are a necessary continuation of your improvement efforts. It is a worthwhile exercise to develop and iterate comprehensive SLAs that include in-scope services, turn-around times, quality of outputs, and clear dispute resolution. In a university setting, these must be balanced—they should provide accountability without becoming overly bureaucratic or rigid, ensuring they support the academic mission rather than hindering it.

5. Centers of Excellence (COEs)
Determining your institution’s operating model is one of the most challenging tasks. What are your core competencies? Which functions—such as HR, Finance, or Research Administration—should be shared across the entire university system versus kept within a specific college? As processes become standardized, they are prime candidates for a COE. However, high-touch areas like specialized faculty research support may require local subject matter expertise. Collaboration across the institution will provide the guidance needed to strike this balance.

Evolving your institutional operating model to optimize shared services in 2026 can pay handsome dividends. By keeping these success factors in mind, you can increase your odds of long-term sustainability.

Contact TSI at tsi@transforming.com to learn how we help institutions navigate these transformations.

The post Modernizing Campus Operations: 5 Success Factors for Shared Services appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

Through repetition, successes, and errors, as well as guidance from the Project Management Institute (PMI), my hypothesis was proven accurate. At the time, I was checking the boxes and reaping the rewards. Yet, not every Project Manager saw the same success. Was I that much better at managing projects than my peers? Or was something in the system hindering them from realizing success?

The Ecosystem of Project and Portfolio Management

Not until I moved into consulting (and began holistically working with organizations of all shapes and sizes) did I conclude that the approach of managing projects was not as singularly focused as I once thought. Rather, there is a much more complex “ecosystem” in which project managers operate.

In 2026, this ecosystem is the key to truly effective project management, and truly effective project management is a key input to the ecosystem. Although many organizations understand this concept, they often struggle to materialize its value in an increasingly automated and data-driven landscape.

PPM Defined

Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) is the foundation of the project management ecosystem. According to the PMI Community, “Project Portfolio Management is the centralized management of one or more portfolios, and involves identifying, prioritizing, authorizing, managing, and controlling projects, programs, and other related work, to achieve specific strategic business objectives.”

PPM is not a new concept, but it has blossomed alongside the rise of shared service centers like the Program Management Office (PMO) and the ongoing shift of transforming IT organizations from cost centers into value centers.

The PPM Hierarchy 

At TSI, I’ve helped organizations understand their current state of PPM capabilities and evolve using our PPM Maturity Hierarchy. Whether an organization currently sits at Level 1 or Level 3, the goal is to evolve toward Level 4 Optimization and beyond to stay competitive.

Level 1 – Infancy: Organizations in the Infancy stage manage projects reactively, focusing only on individual execution. Leadership often scrambles to stay on top of daily demands. Work is captured project-by-project with little transparency into synergies or risks. In 2026, this lack of visibility often leads to significant “technical debt” and wasted resources.

Level 2 – Emerging Discipline: This stage replaces isolated decision-making with the identification of the best collection of projects. Organizations at this stage successfully prioritize and align projects with their 2026 strategic initiatives.

Level 3 – Initial Integration/Value Management: At this stage, organizations introduce technology, models, and tools to quantify the value derived from projects. This allows them to identify which initiatives in the pipeline provide the most “bang for your buck.” Proactive, standardized PPM enables value-driven decision-making.

Level 4 – Optimization: Here, the focus shifts to maturing PPM capabilities through optimized processes, analytics, and quantitative metrics. In 2026, this often includes leveraging automated data flows to improve value creation in real-time.

Level 5 – Innovation: At this most advanced stage, PPM has full buy-in from executive leadership. It is a core competency that utilizes best practices. The organization is focused on continuous innovation, ensuring they are not just “doing things right,” but “doing the right things” as the market shifts.

Is your organization looking to take the next step in Project and Portfolio Management?  Do you have questions on where to get started? If you’d like to brainstorm with one of TSI’s consultants, or have any questions on how we help organizations similar to yours, feel free to reach out to me directly at dfeely@transforming.com. You can also visit our website at transforming.com for more information.

The post Project and Portfolio Management – The Evolution appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

This kind of bold self-awareness is a hallmark of great leaders. Admitting there’s room for growth takes courage, but it’s a necessary step toward lasting improvement.

“The most dangerous kind of waste is the waste we do not recognize,” is attributed to Shigeo Shingo, a prominent figure in the field of Lean Manufacturing.

Here are four critical questions to help you evaluate your processes and customer experience:

1. When was the last time we thoroughly evaluated what our customers go through to do business with us?
2. Is our process easy and seamless, or does it present unnecessary hurdles?
3. How have we differentiated ourselves—not through our products or services—but through the way we onboard clients, deliver, and administer those offerings?
4. What have we done recently to create a competitive advantage in this area?

At TSI, we thrive on solving these challenges—whether they’re big or small. As process improvement experts, we are excited to help businesses transform how they operate and deliver value to customers.

If these questions resonate with you, we’d love to explore how we can help you create a smoother, more competitive process. Reach out to us today!

– written by: Dan Feely, TSI’s President and Founder – Visit The TSI Team page for more information on Dan and his talented team.

The post How Leaders Look at Process – 4 Questions to Ask Yourself (and improve) appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

• A while ago I was in Montreal checking in a hotel (part of a major chain) at about 10 PM. The night desk clerk spent close to 10 minutes trying to look up my loyalty account, with no success.  Then he informed me I should go look it up, come back down to the front desk, and he would input my information. Note, the per night cost of this hotel was about $300.
• While merely trying to sign up at one of those indoor skydiving places, I discover a poorly organized website that is cumbersome and does not show accurate availability. I called to make a reservation, and after being put on hold for 8 or 9 minutes, the worker says she cannot sign us up.  All because she is too busy.  She asks for my number to call back when she has time, but never actually does.
• My flight is delayed due to mechanical issues (on an airline that I’m a Platinum member); this will cause me to miss a connecting flight and this 1 hour delay, will ultimately cost me 12 hours due to no open seats on other flights to my destination.  I never receive a call or text to attempt to problem solve this.

If you’re thinking, “Dan, if this is all you have to worry about, you have it pretty good”.  Well you’d be right, I do have it good.  These are definitely not awfully inconvenient problems for me. Not even close.

However, if you are a leader at any of these three businesses, or if your organization is not that ETDBW (Easy to do business with), know that you are inadvertently creating a a few lasting impressions:

1. They don’t care about my business
2. They would rather maximize profit on one transaction than have me as a customer for a lifetime
3. My time does not matter to them.

In short, a positively memorable CX matters!  Why?  It’s certainly a logical leap to think that a customer who has an excellent experience, remembers it.  Because of one positive experience, they can tell others about it; sometimes even becoming mini marketers for that product or service.  Further, those that are loyal, having had a positive experience are retained, will buy a product or service over and over.

Consider the following:  Studies[1] by Bain & Company, along with Earl Sasser of the Harvard Business School, have shown that even a 5 percent increase in customer retention can lead to an increase in profits of between 25 and 95 percent.

There are several reasons why this small increase in retention can have such a large impact on profits. Here are two important considerations:

1. Customers are likely to spend more with companies they’ve already done business with. Particularly with small businesses that don’t have a lot of brand recognition, a customer’s first purchase or two can be considered somewhat of a risk. So they are likely to keep the cost relatively small, and then increase spending as the relationship grows.
2. Repeat customers are more likely to refer others. Bain & Company’s research showed that after just one purchase from an online apparel retailer, an average shopper was likely to refer three other people to the site. But a customer that made ten purchases from an online apparel retailer was likely to refer seven different people to the site.

Now, you might find yourself asking: “So what?”  I can tell these organizations do not believe in Design Thinking or Voice of the Customer ways of looking at their processes.

Well, creating a positively memorable experience is HARD! Especially for an organization that has any degree of complexity around the following:

1. The types of products/services your customers want;
2. How easy or hard, fast or slow, manual or automated, simple or cumbersome it is for you to quote/price the right products/services;
3. How easy or hard, fast or slow, manual or automated, simple or cumbersome it is for them to order it, receive it, process the invoice, and actually pay for it.
4. What about the delivery, set up/configuration, training, etc., how seamless are these processes?
5. Do you have numerous people involved, sometimes with “less than ideal” coordination when you think about those involved from a contracting, pricing, order processing/execution, set up, training, implementation touchpoints?

Having lived this firsthand, I know onboarding new clients/customers is not only challenging, but it is very time-consuming, and candidly, frustrating.  Now with even more awareness in the marketplace around this elusive goal of creating an ideal customer experience, the typical customer is more perceptive to whether you (or any) organization is truly “easy to do business with”.

In fact, check out this article on customer service expectations – https://www.alltius.ai/glossary/millennials-gen-z-customer-service-expectations 

If you feel that you may have some opportunities for improvement in this area, TSI can help. We’ve created a very hands-on training workshop that is short + sweet, and worth your investment. You will learn solid foundation of concepts and perspectives as well as tools to be used so they may be applied for your organization. If you are interested, email us at tsi@transforming.com.

The post Why a Positively Memorable Customer Experience (CX) Matters appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

Lo and behold, through repetition, successes and errors, as well as my good friends at the Project Management Institute (PMI), my hypothesis was proven to be accurate.  At the time, I was checking the boxes and reaping the reward as a Project Manager.  Yet, not every Project Manager saw the same success.  Was I that much better at managing projects than my peers?  Or was something in the system hindering them from realizing success?

The Ecosystem of Project and Portfolio Management

Not until I moved into consulting (and began holistically working with organizations of all shapes and sizes), did I conclude the approach of managing projects was not as singularly focused as I once thought.  Rather, there is a much more complex “ecosystem” in which project managers operate.  This ecosystem is the key to truly effective project management, and truly effective project management is a key input to the ecosystem. Although many organizations are beginning to understand this concept, those same organizations are struggling to materialize its value.

PPM Defined

Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) is the foundation of the project management ecosystem.  According to the PMI Community, “Project Portfolio Management is the centralized management of one or more portfolios, and involves identifying, prioritizing, authorizing, managing, and controlling projects, programs, and other related work, to achieve specific strategic business objectives.”  Conceptually, PPM is no new concept.  It has been around for years, but has especially blossomed alongside shared service centers like the Program Management Office and the recent trends of transforming IT organizations from cost centers to value centers.

The PPM Hierarchy 

At TSI, I’ve helped organizations understand its current state of PPM capabilities and
evolve using our PPM Maturity Hierarchy.  Beginning at the Level 1 “Infancy” stage (or whichever stage an organization currently sits), the objectives is to evolve the organization’s PPM capabilities to a Level 4 Optimization stage and beyond.

Level 1 – Infancy:  Organizations within the Infancy stage tend to manage projects in a reactive manner, singularly focusing on the execution of individual projects.  The organization often scrambles to stay on top of daily demands.  Work is captured on a project by project basis with little to no transparency of synergies and risks between projects. Project financials and risk is not monitored closely.

Level 2 – Emerging Discipline:  The Emerging Discipline stage replaces project by project decision making with identification of the best collection of projects. Organizations at this stage are successfully prioritize and align projects with strategic initiatives.

Level 3 – Initial Integration/Value Management:  Within the Initial Integration/Value Management stage, organizations are introducing technology, models and tools to quantify the value derived from projects.   This allows organizations to identify projects within the pipeline that provide the most “bang for your buck”.  Proactive, standardized PPM enables value driven decision making.

Level 4 – Optimization:  Once the Optimization stage is reached, the focus of an organization moves to maturing the PPM capabilities.  This involves a focus on optimizing process, analytics, quantitative metrics and improving value creation.

Level 5 – Innovation:  At the most advanced stage of PPM maturity, Innovation, PPM has full buy-in from executive leadership.  It is now a core competency of the organization that utilizes best practices and processes. The organization is now focusing its attention innovation and continuous improvement.

Is your organization looking to take the next step in Project and Portfolio Management?  Do you have questions on where to get started? If you’d like to brainstorm with one of TSI’s consultants, or have any questions on how we help organizations similar to yours, feel free to reach out to me directly at dfeely@transforming.com. You can also visit our website at transforming.com for more information.

The post Project and Portfolio Management – The Evolution appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

At one point in my career, I had a wonderful opportunity to speak at a global trade organization in Puerto Rico at their annual conference.  This organization is comprised of many engaged members, largely small and mid-sized business owners, many of whom started their businesses, and compete in an extremely competitive marketplace. Like many organizations, their customers range from extremely discerning and focused on high quality and service, to others who are highly price sensitive and view their services purely as a commodity.

So we titled this speech/workshop as “Defining Your Unfair Advantage” but it’s really about trying to answer a tough question:  What is truly unique about your organization?

As a background, TSI (transforming.com) is a growing consulting firm and like all companies that grow, at one point in our company’s life cycle, we were hitting a plateau.  So a few years back, we put a small advisory group – consisting of a few people both in and outside of the consulting industry.

One of our advisors asked me a basic, yet poignant question.  He asked, “Dan, what is TSI’s Unfair Advantage?”.   In other words, what are the most compelling 1-2 things that you do or you know that completely differentiates you?

So I began going through our services (albeit somewhat generically) – helping to improve a company’s efficiency…help them select technology to run their business more effectively.  And one of my advisors replied “Dan all kinds of companies do that”.

I’ll come back to TSI’s story in a minute, but the real point of this article is about you and your organization.

Understanding Your Unfair Advantage

If I was to ask you, “what is your company’s unfair advantage?”, how easy or hard would it be for you to come up with something unique?  Let me put you at ease – this is normal and it’s something that, just like we did, can be overcome by a little focused thought and work.

Keep in mind the following – a real unfair advantage has the following characteristics:

• Takes investment to define/try/refine;
• Can and should change over time;
• A well-defined and real unfair advantage is one that cannot easily be copied or bought. In other words, it truly creates an unfair advantage for your organization;
• Will likely require you to increase your performance (that may include process, technology or people) in meaningful ways AND includes how articulate your employees are at describing your organization.

Here are 4 great questions you can ponder to get started:

1. What is your organization really good at?
2. How does that compare to what your customers want/need?
3. What are your competitors good at and how does that compare to what you are good at, specifically in the context of what your customers want or need?
4. In parallel, think about this from a customer’s standpoint; are there other alternatives than what they have? This may include choosing not to do the work.

Ultimately this way of thinking is looking at the Value Proposition of your organization doing work that is perceived to be of value – this is the heart of your company’s service offering. Regardless of what industry you operate in, if any one of these dimensions is out of whack, then your business model is out of alignment.

Important Factors of Your Unfair Advantage (UA): 

So now the “nickel question” is, how can you move from defining your value proposition to carving out your organization’s Unfair Advantage?  That is definitely a great question.  At TSI, we see the UA as a function of:

Quality x Originality x Service x Convenience x Price

Therefore, in the context of your target customer segment(s) and your service offering, define the following (this is a great “homework” assignment):

• Quality – what is the quality of what you deliver? What should it be?
• Originality – how unique or different is what you offer compared to your competitors?
• Service – how do you deliver – are you punctual, polite, understandable? Also consider how comfortable your customers are working with you. Think of this as a sort of user interface for your customers.
• Convenience – how accessible are you? This can be defined by location, or your relationship to your customers.
• Price – how much do you charge and how do you charge it?

As you can probably guess, these questions are appropriate for those of you who might lead a department, such as; IT, Finance, HR, Admissions, or any other function.  How are you branding that service?  How should you and what will it take for you to live that brand?

TSI is a leading consulting firm based in the Chicago area.  We help our clients to transform; this includes the work to define key strategies and then bring them to life.

For more information on TSI’s transformation expertise, click here – https://transforming.com/services/business-transformation/

You can request more information about our service offerings by emailing us at tsi@transforming.com. To speak with TSI’s Managing Partner, you can reach him at 847-705-0960 x202, or via email at dfeely@transforming.com.

The post What is YOUR Organization’s Unfair Advantage? Where Do You Begin? appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

By some estimates, over 20 million Americans are starting and operating new businesses. The good news is, these brave entrepreneurs can harness easy to use and economical cloud-based apps/tools like Salesforce, Workday, and NetSuite to enable important functions and activities like sales, finance and collaboration right out of the gate. For the start-ups that grow and survive, more sophisticated enterprise resource planning (ERP) software will be needed to support and control the business and better serve customers.

Some key signs that you may need to consider an ERP system include the inability to easily obtain critical information about your business from a multitude of separate applications and an increasingly difficult time producing reliable and timely financial results.

The Cloud has made it possible for companies as small as $1 million in sales to access ERP capabilities for a reasonable investment. But buyer beware, many ERP implementations still fail to deliver the needed capabilities on time and on budget.

As your business ascends the growth curve on its way to future stardom, here are 5 tips to significantly raise your odds of success when choosing and implementing an ERP system:

1. Be prepared – Define your core business processes and mission-critical business requirements before choosing a system. Understand how they will most likely change as you grow. You shouldn’t buy a new car without understanding your current and future needs and choosing ERP software should be no different.
2. Consider the Cloud and then consider it again – This advice applies to small and large companies alike. Gone are the days where you will need your own hardware, software and IT staff to maintain it all. The Cloud reduces your up-front investment, minimizes the number of support people you need to hire, and gives you the flexibility to migrate to better options much faster in the future.
3. Consider more than one Cloud application to meet your functional needs – The typical middle-market ERP implementation can include 3 or more Cloud-based applications. The good news is that  integration platforms such as Dell Boomi and Jitterbit make the integration of Cloud software easier than ever before. When sourcing project assistance, check to make sure your technology partners have recent integration experience and expertise.
4. Hire consultants to fill skill gaps and manage risk – This sounds self-serving but it’s not. I have been in more than one start-up and high growth company – there are many hats to wear and there never seems to be enough time to build systems and necessary capabilities. Furthermore, your expertise – product, R&D, raising capital, serving customers – is probably not designing, selecting and installing an ERP system. Software providers will offer their own implementation consultants or trusted integration partners to help get the job done. If you are going to spend over $100,000 for an ERP solution, consider part-time or full-time help from an independent consultant with no ties to the ERP software providers. Your ROI and peace of mind will make it a worthwhile investment. Click here to learn more about our technology assessment and strategy framework.
5. Fix your implementation fee and pay on milestones – Avoid time and materials based contracts. Back to the car shopping analogy, get at least three fixed price bids and insist on a warranty to cover major issues. As part of your fixed price contract, pay for completed work based on the quality of key deliverables and the attainment of major milestones (e.g., blueprint complete, acceptance testing done, go-live date met). Make sure the software vendor and any integration partners have skin in the game. Finally, a good consultant can help you negotiate the best price and service terms for all aspects of your ERP deal.

One thing is for sure, the technology world and ERP space will continue to rapidly evolve and change.

Following these tips will help assure your ultimate success and improve your ability to serve your customers. Contact TSI to discuss your specific needs and to learn more.

The post 5 ERP Tips for Start-ups and High-Growth Companies appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

When evaluating your business operating model, strategy and goals, here are five critical success factors to keep in mind for optimizing shared services and achieving the next level of performance.

1. Culture – when many SSCs started, it was essential to create a SSC culture focused on operating like a profit-oriented business. This remains mission critical, but despite 20+ years of experience in this arena, the concept is still elusive for some organizations. SSC leaders play key roles in articulating, selling and bringing to life the vision and SSC value proposition for customers and employees alike. Most internal business units will continue to sign-up for shared services, if (and usually ONLY if) they can achieve a steady track record of lower costs, relevant subject matter expertise, and world class service.

As part of the culture, processes must be re-designed and people continually incented to relentlessly focus on the ultimate customer, as well as their changing needs. As part of your culture and operating plan, build in competitive benchmarking and significant training to facilitate achievement of your specific, clearly-defined goals.

2. Continuous Improvement (CI) – this is a huge driver of success. It is no secret that SSC customers want lower costs and responsive service. How do you get there? Another main role of a SSC leader is to own end-to-end processes and focus on continuous improvement to deliver what customers need. Click here to visit TSI’s Process Improvement page for more information. Leveraging ISO, Six Sigma, Quick Change, and other CI frameworks will provide ample ROI, SSC employee ownership, and drive results in this area.

A key point here – measure, measure, and measure again. Balanced metrics and broad-based communication of successful performance milestones will sell your value and keep all stakeholders focused on the goals and activities that matter most.

3. Technology and the Cloud – go all in to leverage technology and the cloud. The options and possibilities are ever-evolving and complex – ERP, CRM, eCommerce, workflow, AI, mobile apps, predictive analytics, data visualization, bar coding, cloud integration, Google apps, and the list goes on… Bottom line here, you can’t afford to not have an up to date technology strategy and plan to generate top-box performance through automation, innovation, and technology utilization. Create a truly differentiating customer experience – Click here to visit TSI’s Customer Experience Training page for more information. Finally, spreading the costs and benefits across multiple business units, functions and channel partners lessens the risk and increases the odds of achieving the required benefits.

4. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) – this is a necessary continuation of CI from above. SLA’s will drive CI and customer satisfaction. It is a very worthwhile exercise to develop and iterate comprehensive SLAs – including: in-scope services, ad-hoc requests, agreed service turn-around times, quality of outputs, roles and responsibilities, metrics, cost/pricing, issue reporting and escalation, dispute resolution and other special requirements. Integrate SLAs into the culture via training, measurement, and rewards. Be careful, there is a real balancing act to assure SLAs are neither too complex nor overly simplified.

5. Local/Regional/Global Centers of Excellence (COE’s) – this is one of the more challenging elements of an organization’s operating model. It poses several questions, including – What are our core competencies? What functions and services should be shared locally, regionally, or globally? What geographies should they be located in and why? What are the risks involved? And, can certain sub-processes or activities be virtual outside of a main SSC? Naturally, as processes become standardized and routine, they are candidates for shifting to lower cost COE’s and geographies (e.g., APAC). However, for processes like Tax, a local level of subject matter expertise is required. The answers to these questions depends in large part on an organization’s geographic footprint, knowledge of a specific country’s legal, political and regulatory environments, as well as a host of many other issues. Collaboration with multiple business and channel partners can help provide guidance and direction here.

Evolving your operating model to optimize shared services and take advantage of new tools, practices and opportunities can pay handsome dividends. Keeping in mind the above critical success factors will greatly increase your odds of success. Contact TSI at tsi@transforming.com to learn more.

The post Shared Services Best Practices – 5 Critical Success Factors for Shared Services Optimization appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

Through our work at Transforming Solutions, Inc. (TSI), we believe that understanding critical aspects of emotional Intelligence and applying them to our work with clients and other parts of life is essential to achieving goals and realizing one’s potential in many areas. In addition, leading organizational research on emotional Intelligence and effective organizational management shows a strong relationship between emotional Intelligence and effective organizational management. Leaders who have high emotional Intelligence are more likely to be effective in their roles and are better able to create a positive work environment. Do a Google search “Importance of Emotional Intelligence, and you will see an overwhelming number of articles supported by research that discuss the correlation between emotional Intelligence and success. One recent study, “What matters more for entrepreneurship success? A meta-analysis comparing general mental ability and emotional intelligence in entrepreneurial settings”, was authored by Jared S. Allen, Regan M. Stevenson, Ernest H. O’Boyle, and Scott Seibert; notes Emotional Intelligence has an 89.1% predictive variance in determining an entrepreneurs success with IQ being only 10.9% predictive of their success.

Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist and renowned author, says emotional Intelligence is highly predictive of success. He has also said, “CEOs are hired for their intellect and business expertise – and fired for lack of emotional intelligence.“. Goleman explains emotional Intelligence can be broken down into the following five categories (pictured in the graphic), as summarized by Andrea Ovans’ 2015 Harvard Business Review article titled “How Emotional Intelligence Became a Key Leadership Skill“:

• Self-awareness
• Self-regulation
• Motivation (defined as “a passion for work that goes beyond money and status”)
• Empathy for others
• Social skills, such as proficiency in managing relationships and building networks

6 ways to practice your emotional Intelligence as an organizational leader

1. Practice empathy: Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. As a leader, it is essential to be empathetic toward your employees and their situations. Practicing empathy can help you build trust and respect and foster a positive workplace culture.

2. Practice active listening: Active listening involves hearing what someone is saying and understanding what they mean. As a leader, you should practice active listening to gain insight into your employees’ concerns, needs, and desires. This will help you understand what motivates them and how to best support them.

3. Manage conflict effectively: Conflicts are inevitable in any workplace, but as a leader, it is your responsibility to manage them effectively. Emotional Intelligence can help you understand the underlying emotions driving the conflict and guide you toward a solution that benefits all parties involved.

4. Provide constructive feedback: As a leader, it is essential to provide feedback to your employees. However, the way you deliver that feedback can have a significant impact. Emotional Intelligence can help you frame feedback in a constructive and empathetic way that encourages growth and development.

5. Build strong relationships: Building solid relationships with your employees is critical to success as a leader. Emotional Intelligence can help you connect with your employees deeper, understand what motivates them, and build strong bonds that contribute to a positive workplace environment.  

6. Use tools: Using tools can help you gather input from others to better understand their perspective. While you can use various surveys, check out TSI’s Free (and short) Change Readiness Assessment.

Overall, emotional Intelligence is valuable for any leader looking to improve organizational management. By focusing on empathy, active listening, conflict management, constructive feedback, and relationship building, you can strengthen your emotional Intelligence and become a more effective leader.

If you’ve liked what you read and would like to hear more on this topic or similar topics, feel free to comment or reach out to TSI for more.

The post 6 Critical Factors of Emotional Intelligence That Can Make you an OCM Boss appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..

In an effort to achieve your goals and realize your potential, it is crucial that you understand critical aspects of emotional intelligence, as well as understand how to apply them within your organization.

The Five Factors of Emotional Intelligence

1. Self Awareness
2. Self Regulation
3. Motivation (known as “a passion for work that goes beyond money and status”)
4. Empathy for Others
5. Social Skills, such as managing relationships building networks

Daniel Goleman, an American Psychologist, breaks emotional intelligence down into these five categories. In addition to his work, Andrea Ovans’ 2015 Harvard Business Review Article, “How Emotional Intelligence Became a Key Leadership Skill”, looks at these five categories in how they relate to being a leader. She addresses cultural intelligence, as well as the connection between empathetic leaders and financial performance.

Let’s Break Down the Five Factors of EQ

Self-Awareness:

Individuals often think of self-awareness as a few physical and emotional practices to regulate mood, body language, and tone. However, self-awareness extends to understanding how all of these factors are impacting others around you. In addition to understanding how to regulate yourself, take a few minutes every day to evaluate who you are working with, as well as the approach you need to take to manage your emotions in the settings you step foot in throughout the day. It can be easy to lose sight of this important practice, as a result of the hustle of work, meetings, and to-do lists.

Self-Regulation:

Self-regulation and self-awareness are a tag team. The actions you take to improve your emotional state are the key components to self-regulation. In order to improve your performance and the overall cohesiveness of your team, practice taking these actions daily. A tangible way to regulate yourself with your awareness is through the concept of ‘thinking before you speak’. It is one thing to be aware of how you may be affecting others, but it is a whole different battle to be able to act on that on awareness. In practice, pay attention to physical and verbal cues like body language, tone, and eye contact. These small adjustments from your team members can serve as hints to adjust your communication style.

As we continue to work with team members and other organizations who operate remotely, these cues remain the same; however, they can be more difficult to spot. Depending on the angle and nature of the virtual call, it may be difficult to read body language, tone, and eye contact. However, these cues are still present in the conversation and serve as your best hints to adjusting your communication style.

Motivation:

According to Daniel Goleman, motivation is “a passion for work that goes beyond money or status,” (Ovans 2015). This passion is important in terms of improving your position in the working world both short and long term. In an effort to maintain this passion, keep your goals (90-day, 12-month, 5-year, etc.) in mind. This will only serve to improve your position inside and outside the office. As you lead within your organization, don’t be afraid to share your passion behind these goals with others in your team. A shared level of awareness and drive will help realize personal and organizational performance metrics.

Empathy:

Empathy is the ability to identify with another person’s emotional state at a given moment and then react accordingly. However, this is easier said than done. The connection between emotional intelligence and empathy benefits both you and others simultaneously, with the right intentions behind it. For example, barriers in terms of authority, resource availability, and other factors can affect overall mood and willingness to perform. However, the ability to identify and name these barriers can benefit both parties involved. This concept extends beyond your immediate team. Empathy is also strongly correlated with how your organization understands customer service.

Social Skills:

Social skills can make or break your organization’s performance. In service-oriented organizations, beneficial social skills look like engaging on LinkedIn, networking with your community, and stepping outside of your comfort zone. Beyond extending your network, the people you surround yourself with will impact your everyday life. This impact stretches beyond your physical workspace or your organizational team. In a largely virtual and remote world, you also surround yourself with individuals online. The individuals who you follow, interact with, and build connections with will impact what you see on your feed. This, in turn, affects your everyday life.

So Now What?

This was a brief overview of emotional intelligence, as well as the five factors. However, there is so much more to understand and learn! If you are interested in continuing to explore this topic, we encourage you to dive deeper into the work of Daniel Goleman and others to learn more about your EQ.

Our Top Tips to Honing Your Emotional Intelligence Toolkit:

1. Pay attention to those communication cues we discussed earlier and then adjust accordingly
2. Consider how you are delivering your message, as well as what you are saying
3. Aim to understand others’ motivations and goals through asking good questions
4. Work to empathize with others and offer help if they want it
5. Network with others and recognize that every person you meet may benefit you in ways you couldn’t imagine (or vice versa!)
6. Use tangible tools and assessments to understand others’ perspectives even better. Check out TSI’s free and short Change Readiness Assessment to get started!

Emotional intelligence is a key player in not only our work lives, but our personal lives as well. Through these five factors, your organization has the opportunity to thrive. If you are wanting more guidance on what this could look like for your team, let us know!

The post How to Level-Up Your EQ With Five Critical Factors appeared first on Transforming Solutions Inc..