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

254 LEADING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
pany in the “Davies Way” and give everyone a chance to master the
urgency, complexity, and change that takes place at work. He also
realizes that his team needs “practice time” away from the demands
of their clients to provide the service and quality that bears his
name. Although some of these retreats cost up to $20,000 in lost
billing, Davies is confident that the investment in his people and the
Davies brand results in the excellence and integrity he requires.
One recent training was designed to practice teamwork and give
new leaders time to interact with their team by doing business simulations
in a non-client setting. Davies, Edwards, and the facilitators
gave the team feedback on their results. On one activity, the teams
assembled a series of nuts and bolts from memory after brief exposure
to a model. They then compared their product to the model for errors.
Each team did it numerous times and decreased their time and errors
to near perfection. The teams were competitive, enthusiastic, and
committed. The conversation after the exercise was about what the
teams learned about their leadership, teamwork, project management,
communication, and how to improve these in work projects.
Davies is also personally committed to learning and has been
a part of the “Strategic Coach” for over 10 years. This organization
holds quarterly meetings that focus on business and personal innovation
and success. As part of the process, Davies feels that writing
down his personal and business goals every year and reviewing
them four times a year is very beneficial. He reports, “When I review
them I discover that most are already accomplished and some I
believe get done simply by writing them down.”
10. QUALITY IN ALL
Davies takes a great deal of time mentoring his staff on the
“Davies Way” to guarantee that all of the products they create reflect
the highest quality. There are hundreds of details to be attended to
that require meticulous care, such as writing a quality cover letter for
a campaign; working with graphic artists and printers; stuffing enve-