Overview of The Big 5 to Thrive Qualities

Adaptability

For good reason, adaptability is identified as one of the most desirable candidate traits employers seek, as it is the quality of being able to adjust and respond to new conditions. It is a part of many other facets of a person’s employability - like their mindset and their resiliency.

ADAPTABILITY IS DEFINED AS "THE ABILITY TO ADJUST TO NEW CONDITIONS."

The ability to adjust to new conditions is necessary for survival.

As employers continue to shift from singular job roles to job rotation and flexible job descriptions, adaptability will also continue to rise as a much sought-after soft skill. For good reason, flexibility/adaptability is identified as one of the most desirable candidate traits employers seek, as it is the quality of being able to adjust and respond to new conditions. 

Generally, those with a high Adaptability Quotient (AQ) also possess one of the principle underpinnings of a growth mindset, which is the ability to view challenges as opportunities; this enhances their employability factor through continual learning and improvement. 

"91% of HR director s believe people will be increasingly recruited on their ability to deal with change and uncertainty. By being adaptable, you can not only survive but thrive as you enhance your ability to respond intelligently and mindfully to the inevitable changes of life and work. There will be many aspects of a job that you may have to adapt to during your career and these may include new roles or responsibilities, changing customer needs, workplace demands, market changes or technological trends."

Mindfulness, Mindset, Moxie and Mojo: Job-Seekers Guide to Success - Michael R. Frazier, 2018 (Amazon)

Adaptability will also allow you to boost your talent value, as every workplace needs those who can keep calm and persist when faced with difficulties, mindfully accept new challenges, deal with changing priorities/workloads, keep an open mind, be less judgmental of others and willingly accept new perspectives. 

 To turn inflexibility into adaptability, first start with working to become non-judgmental or more open-minded. Focus on listening to others more, try new approaches, fight the urge to react negatively when you hear differing opinions, and if something isn’t working out the way you expect it to, pause and be open to the new experience, rather than judging it immediately with your own personal bias. Lose the inflexibility, or the rigidity of “It’s my way or the highway” or “this is the way I’ve always done it!” 

Empathy

Empathy  allows you to navigate the needs of others - whether those others are your team or the customers of the business you work for. It is the beginning of great customer service and team-mentality. 

Increasingly, organizations are seeking out those who can work well with others, not just work. Employees with the ability to contribute within a team concept, build great client relationships with empathy and enthusiasm, and most importantly, manage themselves above all else, is at the top of every HR manager’s wish list. 

Mindfulness, Mindset, Moxie and Mojo - Michael R. Frazier, 2018 (Amazon) 

People can learn to practice empathy in their everyday lives, but the start to knowing how empathetic you or your employees are is assessing it in a practical way.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence, or EQ, is the capacity to understand and manage your emotions. It is that "essence" in each of us that affects how we govern our behavior, navigate social complexities, and make personal decisions which power us to achieve positive (or negative) outcomes.

Emotional Intelligence, or EQ, is the capacity to understand and manage your emotions. It is that "essence" in each of us that affects how we govern our behavior, navigate social complexities, and make personal decisions which power us to achieve positive (or negative) outcomes. And most importantly, it drives our life, work and career success.

Emotional Intelligence is responsible for 58% of individual performance.
What are you doing to enhance yours?

THE FIVE CORE COMPONENTS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Broadly speaking, EQ refers to someone’s ability to perceive, understand and manage their own feelings and emotions. Psychologist Daniel Goleman says it has five core components:

1. Self-awareness – the ability to recognise and understand your moods and emotions, and how they affect others

2. Self-regulation – the ability to control impulses and moods, and to think before acting

3. Internal (or intrinsic) motivation – being driven to pursue goals for personal reasons, rather than for some kind of reward (the opposite is external motivation)

4. Empathy – the ability to recognise and understand others’ motivations, which is essential for building and leading teams successfully

5. Social skills – the ability to manage relationships and build networks

Benefits of Enhancing EQ in the Workplace

Enhancing EQ in the workplace has two very practical benefits:

• The individual who can understand what stimuli 'pushes his buttons' 0r creates anxiety can learn to harness those emotions, control them, and use to create more positive outcomes. Being able to interpret and respond appropriately to the emotions of others makes a manager more effective and builds camaraderie among workers and stronger client connections.

• For an organization, encouraging emotional intelligence leads to better collaboration and creates a happier, healthier, and more dynamic operation.

“Multiple studies have identified the one dynamic that employers see as a true necessity in their employees-they seek talent with a desire to make a positive difference inside their organization; those who possess a higher sense of self and responsibility. They overwhelmingly value Emotional Intelligence (EQ)over IQ and skill.”

— Michael R. Frazier | Mindfulness, Mindset, Moxie and Mojo

More EQ Research

It was in the early 1900’s that people began searching for an early predictor of success, and they settled on Intelligence Quotient or IQ; a score derived from standardized tests designed to assess human intelligence. But it quickly became clear that while IQ was important, there were other human elements that were perhaps even more relevant to individual performance and outcome. Studies have concluded that there is a small correlation between IQ and career success, with both career success and employability depending on individuals behaving in socially desirable ways, especially when interacting with recruiters, employers, and managers. Now, decades of research point to emotional intelligence as the critical factor that sets star performers apart from the rest of the pack.

HERE’S THE GOOD NEWS: UNLIKE IQ- WHICH IS LIKELY STATIC AND UNCHANGEABLE NO MATTER HOW MUCH ONE WISHES TO IMPROVE IT- EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE CAN BE ENHANCED.

Psychologists John Mayer, Ph.D. of the University of New Hampshire and Peter Salovey, Ph.D. of Yale University coined the term emotional intelligence in an academic paper which was published in 1989. Emotional Intelligence is defined by Mayer and Salovey as follows:
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to effectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth.

Mindset

We have studied Mindset and its effect on individual work and career success since 2017. We utilize assessment methods, coupled with learning and development initiatives to ensure we hire and provide those who embody the behaviors and traits necessary for enduring success.

Mindset.com defines mindset as “a collection of beliefs and thoughts that make up the mental attitude, inclination, habit, or disposition that predetermines a person’s interpretations and responses to events, circumstances and situations.” Simply stated: Your mindset is your way of thinking, your disposition, or your frame of mind. Your mindset shapes your attitude, thoughts, perceptions, how you respond to setbacks and drives your ability to achieve transformational results.

To grow as an organization, leaders must develop not only the systems and processes that support product/service demand but also the right human capital that contribute to its growth.

It's undeniable that organizations and people prosper when growth mindsets are sought-out, supported and encouraged through assessment and development.

There’s nothing more important to a organization's overall health than having the right mindsets in the right seats at the right time. There will always be those who allow attitudinal/behavioral issues to upend their success -- but together we can control our exposure to the fixed mindsets that can impede our mission, and through direct mindset training, we can help others rise beyond their own self-imposed limitations. Win-Win-Win.

MINDSET AND SUCCESS

Peak has studied Mindset and its effect on individual work and career success since 2017. We utilize assessment methods, coupled with learning and development initiatives to ensure we hire and provide those who embody the behaviors and traits necessary for enduring success. We can help your organization use these same methods to improve your human capital investment.

“Mindset is the mother of behavior and the cornerstone of success. Let’s start our search there; we can build on top of that solid foundation.”

— Michael R. Frazier | Mindfulness, Mindset, Moxie and Mojo

Fixed Mindset vs Growth Mindset

Resilience

Resilience is one of those intangible soft skills that is difficult to develop and sustain, but it is an absolute necessity for your well-being and a key component for current or future performance. We can help you identify it and train it in your potential or current staff.

Resilience is defined as “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stressors.

IT MEANS ‘BOUNCING BACK’ FROM DIFFICULT EXPERIENCES.

A boxing catchphrase "protect yourself at all times" offers simple, yet powerful advice for all pursuits in life … We can prepare and work diligently to protect ourselves but getting knocked down at some point is a real possibility. This can be a traumatic event for some. How do we bounce back from the knock down and carry on to the last bell? After all, we’re in it to win it. 

Mindfulness, Mindset, Moxie, and Mojo - Michael R. Frazier, 2018 (Amazon)

Resilience is one of those intangible soft skills that is difficult to develop and sustain, but it is an absolute necessity for your well-being and a key component for current or future performance.