What is Relational Intelligence?
Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman’s seminal book, was published nearly 30 years ago. As a society, we know its importance, especially in terms of our performance in the workplace.
In the past 15 years, we have seen the importance of workplace wellness and mindfulness come into mainstream awareness. It has become more and more common for leading companies to implement progressive mental health and wellness strategies, as workplace wellbeing continues to prove itself vital to the satisfaction of employees.
But there is something that business leaders have been missing. If we look at the original model of Goleman’s work, the emphasis on developing the individual addresses only half the equation. When we focus solely on a specific team member’s EQ, we answer the question: “What does a healthy individual look like?”
When we focus instead on the questions, “What does a healthy team look like?”, or “How do we develop our connectedness and collaboration as a team?” we soon realize that we need a different solution.
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Relational Intelligence refers to our ability to remain in connection and co-create shared value in the midst of varying perspectives. RI’s power lies in its ability to transform conflict or tension into clarity, connection, and teamwork. This allows coworkers to move forward in collaboration with each other even in times of disagreement or challenge. Developing these skills can enable us to focus on the shared goals and tasks at hand, while simultaneously creating an environment of Social Wellbeing based in safety and trust.
Social Technology to meet the pace of change
Authentic Relating (or AR in short) is a comprehensive skill set to actively support your team in finding more flow, creativity and innovation. The implementation of AR into the workplace has been shown to reduce burnout, turnover, and unnecessary financial losses that are often rooted in miscommunication/ misunderstandings.
Authentic Relating is Open Sourced and Decentralized
For the last 15 years, leaders and facilitators in the Authentic Relating movement have been experimenting with over 100 applied practices and exercises for increasing our relational intelligence.
One of the most unique aspects of this movement is that the body of knowledge was developed by dozens of different leaders and teachers.
This unique body of knowledge has been formulated, cultivated, and practiced in 70+ communities, and on 5 different continents.
Our founder, Jason Digges dedicated 8 years to traveling the world, teaching and collaborating with different global communities and businesses.
Jason then integrated these insights into a practical manual, Conflict=Energy, a book that teaches its readers the practice of AR from the ground up.
Why is Shared Reality crucial for your teams?
Evolution is necessary for the success of any company in today’s business climate. The responsibility falls on a company’s leaders to create an environment where teams can adapt to rapid changes.
We alleviate that responsibility and help you maintain momentum by providing dozens of easily applicable tools proven to build connection and develop relational skills.
This unique set of learning experiences provides the conditions for growing self-awareness, up-leveling your mindset, and increasing synergy between coworkers. These practices, designed for both managers and workers together, also teach the skills needed for handling conflict in the workplace and cultivating Shared Reality.
Think of the most recent misunderstandings you have experienced at work. How much did they cost you in terms of time, money, and emotional energy? If there was a pathway to steer you away from unnecessary dissonance and persistent conflict in your workplace, would you take it?
Shared Reality is the route that will guide your teams toward collective flow states. When everyone is on the same page, the natural result is curiosity, acceptance, and understanding of perspectives that vary from our own. These qualities are foundational for innovation and productive collaboration.
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Advanced Culture Tools
After your team has gone through the basic foundations of AR, it’s time to access the unique growth opportunities that Authentic at Work provides through our extensive course library. Personalizing and handpicking the advanced learnings to practice with your team will take you to the next stage of building/reinventing your company’s culture.
Are you training your leaders and managers to simply implement systems/structures? Or are you training them to inspire toward a mission and create a sense of belonging among workers?
Most consultation companies focus on what needs to change or what needs to be fixed from a top-down structural approach. However, our research has shown that the importance of feeling safe, supported, and connected to one’s colleagues is more important than the organizational strategy or project management tools in use.
Psychological safety is critical to retaining talent and reducing turnover.
Companies are Communities
What makes up the actual culture of your organization are the explicit and implicit agreements that arise in the day-to-day interactions between the team and the management. Your espoused culture or mission statement is only half the story.
In the Authentic at Work advanced practices, we will dive into the process of uncovering what implicit agreements already exist and how they are shaping the culture of your business without your awareness. Our Shared Reality Experts are trained to spot these opportunities and make an appropriate cultural intervention.
Understanding PolarityThe Missing Link to a Culturally Aware Leadership/Management
In order to accomplish its mission and realize its full potential, a company must have a strategy to harness the full human being at work. Your team members are storehouse of creativity and innovation. But much of this talent goes untapped when we relate to our employees simply as cogs in the machine of our organization.
In order to really tap into the potential of the individuals in our teams, we must find ways to honor their values and differences while creating a work environment that is built on a foundation of psychological safety and shared vision.
Most companies focus so much on buy-in for the company values, yet they forget that morale can vary widely on a day-to-day basis, and employees need to regenerate their hope and buy-in on a regular basis.
Navigating polarities is about far more than balance.
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