Leading with Emotional Intelligence: Hands-On ... - always yours

78 LEADING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Now what? If you score or your direct report scores in the
“warning” or “at-risk” level, make sure you read and study the next
sections. Many suggestions and practices will be helpful in keeping
you or your employee on track and more effective.
*Adapted from Leslie and Van Velsor, A Look at Derailment Today: North America
and Europe (1996); Byram, Smith and Paese, Grow Your Own Leaders (2002);
Kaplan, Beyond Ambition (1991); Dotlich and Cairo, Why CEOs Fail (2002);
Kellerman, Bad Leadership (2004); and Lipman-Blumen, The Allure of Toxic
Leadership (2005).
STRATEGIC USE OF STRENGTHS
How can you use your strengths more strategically? First, look
to see if there are some obvious ways your strengths can be used or
applied to help beef up some important competencies. Zenger and
Folkman use the term competency companions to describe how
one competency can enhance another. 94
Leaders who scored in the top 10% on the differentiating behavior
also tended to score very high on these supportive behaviors.
We have called these supporting behaviors ‘competency companions’
or . . . ‘behavioral buddies.’ 95
They list mechanisms that best explain the competency companion
phenomenon:
1. Competency companions facilitate the expression of their
competencies.
2. Achieving excellence in one behavior helps develop a
related behavior.
3. One competency is a building block or main element for
another competency.
4. Developing a competency companion can change the skill
level of a leader. 96
Following are a few examples of how you can utilize your
strengths to support other areas. I’ve often seen leaders who have
great skills in one area but are blind to using the same skills in a