By Mary Tucker, IAEE Senior Communications and Content Manager
Expo! Expo! IAEE’s Annual Meeting & Exhibition 2023 features a three-day educational journey covering seven diverse content tracks, including this dynamic session led by Jeffrey Youngs titled The Power of Mindset and Emotional Intelligence in Building Teams That Thrive. In today’s workplace, employees are looking for more than just a paycheck – they want to work in an environment that nurtures growth, opportunity, and fulfillment.
In this presentation, Jeffrey will discuss how leaders can uplevel their skills and emotional intelligence and, ultimately, their team’s success. The presentation will cover specific strategies that event professionals can use to foster an environment of trust, collaboration and innovation. Topics including leadership, self-awareness, communication skills, and giving and receiving feedback that can help leaders build the skills they need to contribute to a thriving team dynamic.
Here, Jeffrey shares a preview of how participants will benefit from the information presented at The Power of Mindset and Emotional Intelligence in Building Teams That Thrive.
In this session, attendees will learn to define and understand the difference between Leaders, Managers, Mentors and Coaches. What makes this understanding so important in building productive emotional intelligence among the team?
Jeffrey: An emotionally intelligent team, like everything else, starts at the top. The building blocks for this kind of discussion are to first standardize the language. As leaders, we all wear different hats at different times. Occasionally, more than one at a time. Defining the differences will set up a basis for how to address Leadership and Coaching specifically. HOW we lead and HOW TO Coach are the key components of this discussion.
Attendees will learn what it means to lead effectively – and how Emotional Intelligence is a key factor. How does an understanding of these concepts benefit the organization?
Jeffrey: “How am I doing?” is a question that leaders are continually asking themselves – if they are interested in upping their game. HOW we lead is critical. Once we establish the definitions and clearly define the conversation, we can dig into what our mindsets are as we lead. What are we thinking? How are we approaching the problem? This will help people to define their approach at any given moment in order to shift that approach – if that’s what’s needed. When we have enough emotional intelligence to know if we are truly “doing great,” only then can we really help our team to “do great.”
You will also teach participants specific coaching skills and how to implement a coaching process to build a more engaged team. What results can attendees expect to see by applying the methods they will learn and in what timeframe can they expect to see it?
Jeffrey: These are basic skills to get people started on coaching. They will be able to use them immediately. If they are used consistently, then results should be apparent fairly quickly. After implementing these skills, they’ll begin to get better, clearer information from their team right away. Defensiveness will be diffused and real teamwork will take hold or grow. Depending on how new these concepts are, and how different the leader’s behavior is, then the results could be anywhere from subtly positive improvements to large-scale positive changes in the team’s behaviors.
What fuels your passion for this subject, and why is this information so relevant in today’s business environment?
Jeffrey: I love the approach. I received a master’s degree in psychology a few years back, and I’ve found this approach to leadership and coaching to be nothing short of transformative. The changes I’ve seen in myself, my teams and clients have been nothing short of astounding at times. It was a big “A-Ha!” for me, and it’s fun to see others have that kind of moment. And with the diversity of today’s workforce, it’s helpful to have a set of tools that can help leaders relate to all personality types, cultures, perspectives and ages. This stuff is universal.
