Continuing our series looking at coaching tools and techniques, Coaching at Work road-tests the Individual Effectiveness questionnaire.
The tool
What is it?
The Individual Effectiveness (IE) questionnaire measures 16 scales of Emotional Intelligence (EI), ranging from underpinning attitudes, such as self-regard, to relationship skills, such as conflict handling.
It is designed for use by trainers, coaches, mentors, management consultants, HR managers and business psychologists to improve self-awareness, unblock potential and deliver sustainable change. The tool was developed by occupational psychologists JCA. It claims to provide focus for change, a clear route for development planning and powerful 360-degree feedback.
It is supported by Team Effectiveness and Organisational Effectiveness questionnaires, providing businesses with a practical solution to improving EI. The IE is also linked with other models such as TA, MBTI, FIRO and competencies.
How does it work?
Based on a coherent and integrated theoretical framework incorporating major advances in EI over the past three years, the IE is a diagnostic tool comprising both linear (‘more is better’) and bipolar (‘can have too much’) scales. All aspects of EI (based on the IE model) can be developed.
The IE is an online self-report tool developed to help consultants and development practitioners have a powerful impact on their clients’ short- and long-term effectiveness in managing themselves and their relationships productively. For more information go to: www.jcagroup.net
The administrator
Using the tool
The IE has proved invaluable in developing the EI of more than 60 IT consultants at Thomson Reuters. Analysis of IE scores was gathered by group. The first group to complete the programme showed an 11 per cent increase in IE scores over nine months.
I worked with IT consultants to develop a consultancy-based approach to meeting clients’ needs effectively and speedily. I combined my knowledge of building effective relationships with the problem-solving methodology of Performance Consulting’s Nigel Harrison, to interweave soft skills and hard process. People can now experience directly how business process without effective relationships is slow to deliver and will not get at the real customer need.
Development modules were run first on business process, with effective relationships as the sub-agenda, followed by two days on effective relationships, with business process as the background. A follow-up day focused on both aspects.
The IE instrument was initially fed back on the relationships module, with a group session and a short one-to-one, followed a few days later by individual coaching on IE. This was essential, and because of the power of the IE feedback, it was vital we allowed enough time for detailed individual sessions.
Monthly one-to-one coaching is now on offer and proving popular. The agenda is often EI quadrants. At some stage in the coaching the IE instrument focuses on subjects such as assertiveness, emotional expression and control, and goal directedness.
The verdict
I find IE very powerful as it tends to get to the heart of the matter. It brings into focus patterns of relating to ourselves and of managing relationships that can be deep reaching. It brings profound awareness so feedback should be handled with care.
Phil Dickinson is director of People Development.
The client
The experience
For me, attention to all four quadrants (self-awareness, self-management, awareness of others and relationship management) was a mechanism to align my internal truth with that of the individuals around me. I was deeply sceptical at the start. I remember putting my hand up in our first session and asking for it to be made clear that what we were about to be taught was something from the coaches’ perspective. Phil’s answer that day summed it up: “Actually Karen, I think you’ll find it will be relative to yours.”
The application
Using IE for where we were at that point and other tools to understand our behavioural traits, the coaches took us through various exercises and stages of analysis, gradually painting a picture of ourselves and the world around us – untainted by professional disciplines, social presumptions or environmental expectations.
The verdict
The coaching always gives me insights and has left me with more confidence and broader thinking. Working on my life stance and assertiveness through IE feedback has been valuable. Those teachings would have been priceless to me at the start of my career. I now feel a sense of liberation from the past and confidence to approach the future.
Karen Clarke is an IT architect at Thomson Reuters
Individual Effectiveness questionnaire:
pros and cons
UPSIDE
- Delivers sustainable change.
- Provides precise item analysis of individual development needs.
- Works in conjunction with other tools.
DOWNSIDE
- Needs in-depth knowledge of the tool and an experienced facilitator.
- Requires plenty of time to work on one-to-one feedback.
Volume 5, Issue 2