Friday, February 3, 2017

A641.4.3.RB - Tipping Points of Emotional Intelligence

In his video, Boyatzis (2013) talked about what a tipping point might look like, it could be that someone “gives you an opportunity and ask you to do something that you feel is over your head but and you go into it not sure you can handle it but they believe in you”.  When this happens your negative feelings change to positive and therefore causes a tipping point for you.  This can occur anywhere but often times it occurs in a work setting. 

I experienced a tipping point during one of my years of teaching math.  I had not yet earned my Special Education license, however, I had completed the majority of the classes.  Our school had unexpectedly lost our special educator and was in need of another.  I was approached by the lead teacher and the school director and was asked to accept the position (because we were a private school I did not need a license at the time).  I was very unsure of myself at first and my first thought was to turn it down, but I knew it would be a huge move for my career so I decided to accept it.  I was still unsure of how I would perform; however, my lead teacher was more than confident that I would do well.  The first week she was in my office every day giving me support and telling me I was doing great.  After finishing that first week, I went home for the weekend and realized that I could do the job and do it better than the person before me.  The faith my lead teacher had in me had finally stuck and I realized I had nothing to be worried about I had the ability to do the job all along.  If I had to do it differently next time I would realize sooner that if others have that amount of faith in me I should too. 

When Goldsmith (2003) talked about Gladwell’s presentation he stated: “that social change may occur suddenly rather than slowly and that little causes can have big effects” (para. 2).  This is similar to what I experienced.  I went home one night and all of a sudden I had an “ah-ha” moment where I realized I could do this and in fact, I was doing it and doing it well.  The idea of a tipping point is for a person to reach the top of a mountain, of sorts, and then they are no longer climbing but instead they are descending.  The climb up is the negative emotional attractor (NEA), the peak is the tipping point, and the descent is the positive emotional attractor (PEA). 

The idea that a leader will always be confident or know exactly what to do every time is unrealistic.  As Boyatzis (2006) pointed out “some of the competencies related to effectiveness reflect cognitive intelligence, but many of them are behavioral manifestations of emotional intelligence” (p. 124).  In my case, I had all the knowledge I needed to perform my job but I lacked the confidence.  On the other hand, I had enough emotional intelligence to appear confident on the outside.  Once I was past my tipping point, I was able to show the outside world exactly what I was capable of.  This was a very powerful lesson for me to learn.   
  

Boyatzis, R. (2013). Module 2 The Positive PEA) and Negative (NEA) Videos. Retrieved February 03, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=197x4dmuug8&feature=youtu.be

Boyatzis, R. (2006). Using tipping points of emotional intelligence and cognitive competencies to predict financial performance of leaders. Psicothema, 18, 124-131. Retrieved February 3, 2017, from http://www.psicothema.com/pdf/3287.pdf


Goldsmith, R. E. (2003). The tipping point: How little things can make a big difference, 1st ed. Malcolm Gladwell.  1st ed. Boston, MA: Little, brown and company 2000.  ISBN: ISBN 0‐316‐31696‐2. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 20(1), 71-73. doi:10.1108/jcm.2003.20.1.71.3

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