Group Emotional Intelligence - The link between sport and business.

I have often wondered what makes teams, both in the business and sports worlds, successful. The most obvious point of view is that successful teams have the most talented individuals available. Whilst that much is obvious, it is definitely not enough. One only needs to look teams who seem to have an endless supply of talent but consistently underachieve. The most obvious example of this is Real Madrid, the Spanish football club who have superstars littered across all positions, but yet never scale the heights that they are supposedly capable of. On the flipside, you get teams who are supposed no-hopers but yet they achieve great things. Teams like the Greek football team who in 2004 won the European Championship with a team of average club players, or the Bulls super rugby team who in 2002 lost all of their Super 12 games, but a mere 8 years later are the most successful South African franchise in the history of the game. In the business world, Apple Computers were on the brink of bankruptcy until the launch of iTunes and the iPod, which changed the face of the music industry forever and since then Apple have gone onto much greater things, and in some cases have overshadowed their much maligned competitors, Microsoft.

But what makes these teams, groups, and companies so special? How do some achieve the impossible when the rest of the world writes them off? Leadership is obviously a very important factor, but I believe there is far more to it than that. The key lies in Emotional Intelligence, or more specifically Group Emotional Intelligence. In the business world it has long been accepted that EQ (Emotional Quotient) is just as if not more important than IQ (Intelligence Quotient). Many companies these days will conduct tests for potential employees determining their EQ before employing them, a strategy that has proved very successful. For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence (New York: Bantam, 1995), defines Emotional Intelligence (EQ) as the ability to manage your own emotions. If IQ is your brain power, then EQ is your emotional control power.

However, Emotional Intelligence (hereafter referred to as EQ) in groups is quite different to individual EQ. In other words, a group of people with high individual EQ’s does not necessarily translate into a high Group EQ. The group, or team, needs to be seen as a separate entity and as such must have its own character. Creating an upward, self-reinforcing spiral of trust, group identity and group efficacy requires more than just individuals who display a high level of EQ. It requires an atmosphere whereby the norms build emotional capacity and influence emotions in a constructive manner. The team must be aware of the emotions of its members, the general emotions of the group as a whole, and the emotions or moods of other teams or competitors. Study after study has shown that teams are far more efficient and successful when they can achieve high levels of participation, cooperation, and collaboration among members. But truly interactive behaviours like these aren’t easy to set as a norm. Three basic conditions need to be in place before these behaviours can occur: Mutual trust among members, a sense of team identity (a feeling among members they belong to something unique and special), and a sense of team efficacy (a feeling among members that the team can perform well and that members are more effective working together than working apart). Group emotional intelligence is not about dealing with the necessary evil of suppressing emotions before they bubble up and cause a problem, far from it. In fact the essence of group emotional intelligence is bringing emotions to the surface and understanding how they affect the team’s performance. It’s also about behaving in ways that build relationships both inside and outside the team and strengthen the team’s ability to face challenges.

It is also the reason the why certain sport players can perform like a world class individual at club level, but never seems to replicate that form on an international level. A high group EQ might exist at club level, but not at national level, and the player struggles to form part of the group and the vision unless he totally buys into it. The same can happen where players perform poorly at club level but at national level they step-up to a whole new level. Look the All Blacks, South African teams dominated the Super 14 this year, and we all expected the Springboks to dominate the All Blacks... and we all know how that turned out. The All Blacks, through consistency in selection and coaching, the correct structures, and the lure of that jersey have created what I believe must a truly special environment to be a part of. Now just imagine if they could replicate those structures from ground-level up to the senior national team. In fact, let’s rather not, I’d like to get some sleep tonight.

This also applies to the corporate world, where much like rugby and other sports, success depends on tactics and strategy, and importantly a high level of EQ across the board. You might wonder how you can compare sports to business, however in the current professional environment sport IS a business. There are certain strategies in the sports world that work in the corporate world, and vice versa. Imagine SA Rugby created an environment whereby every single employee, from the receptionist to the CEO, from the baggage-handler to the national captain, all bought into the same vision and same sense of efficacy? Imagine if all provincial unions then also bought in this; imagine if they all trusted each other (try not to laugh at this point!)? SA Rugby, our provincial teams, and most importantly the Springboks, would be near untouchable. Now imagine a corporation with talented and ambitious staff did the same thing, I’m sure the result would be the same. Are you starting to see the link?
I know the next question will be, but how on earth would you implement something like this? Well, I’m still working that one out, and will be the subject of my MBA Thesis, which won’t get published on the internet for free I’m afraid! Ya’ll gonna have to cough up 

I’m going to try make this blog a more regular thing, and don’t worry it won’t be so academic every time. I’ll start sharing some of my rather alternative views on life, which will piss some of you off and make some of you nod your head in quiet agreement...

Catch you on the flipside...

Darren