Back to school

My daughter was talking about getting ready for school next week. I remember starting back at school each September with a brand new pencil case free of any scrawls and ink blots , it was a bit of a tradition alongside getting new school shoes and any school uniform which either didn’t fit or was worn out. I also remember at primary school having to write about what we did over the summer. In fact one year my daughter came home on the last day of the summer term with a paper bag having been asked to collect things from the summer ready for a more creative look back over the school holidays. She went back armed with postcards, tickets to various places we’d been alongside a number of exhibits from nature.

In one of the training sessions which I run I regularly ask people to take themselves down memory lane and think about their early school experiences (the ones which they can talk about in public!). Playing in the sandpit, drinking milk, singing and every so often playing “kiss chase” are brought up-people remember doing lots of fun things which involved learning through art, story time, play, music or dancing. I ask people to then reflect on what happened when they went into secondary education. Did it get more serious?

The general consensus is yes it got a lot more serious and the focus was very much on academic achievement for many of us-the message was often “if you do well in your exams, you’ll get a good job and have a good life”. The focus was (and still is) on Intelligence Quotient (IQ).  

In the 1990s an American author called Daniel Goleman introduced the idea of Emotional Intelligence (EI). The idea is that people who display high levels of EI are likely to be successful. The traditional measurement of IQ, ignores essential behavioural and character elements thought to be vital in being successful. We’ve all met people who are brilliant academically but in social situations may find it a struggle. Having a high IQ doesn’t automatically mean that success will follow.

 The EI model is built on:

1.      Self-awareness- understanding yourself, your goals, intentions, responses, behaviour

2.      Self-management

3.      Social awareness- understanding others and their feelings

4. Relationship management

The starting point working through the EI model is increasing self-awareness. To help do this personal profiling tools are often used. I work with a couple of different models which use colour as an easy way of understanding how you show up to other people, and how you can adapt your behaviour to meet the needs of different situations and people you meet in life. Understanding self and how you relate to others is arguably the single most important aspect of personal development.

If my daughter was still at primary school she’d be writing about her adventures in her neatest handwriting (which is always a struggle given her dyslexia) or creating a work of art with her goody bag. Instead of this we’ll be recounting her adventures and how she’s used her “super powers” of rising to a challenge, determination, her sense of fun (she has a wicked sense of humour), her ability to converse with adults and be interested in other people, her kind and caring side and her empathy for the underdog. I’m on a mission to help her understand herself which often comes much later on in life for many of us in the world of work…if we’re fortunate enough to work in an organisation where the need for self-awareness is embraced.  

At Ascent we work with two colour models-Insights Discovery and Clarity4D These powerful models help people to understand themselves and others better. So, if you want to know more about you and/or your team (and what my daughter’s colour preferences are!) do get in touch.

suzanne@ascentdevelopment.co.uk, www.ascentdevelopment.co.uk, 07763 232763