David and Bijal discuss how our capability impacts our behaviours.
Our ‘Why people do what they do’ behavioural model shows the personal and cultural factors that may impact your behaviour. At Rambutan, we believe these factors push, pull and shove you into behaving in certain ways, in different situations. Capability is one of the personal factors within our model and can be split into knowledge, skills and emotional intelligence.
Lately, we’ve been hearing all about how artificial intelligence (AI) can replace the workforce. Is that really true? Let’s look at this idea in terms of our capabilities. AI can certainly compete or even beat humans on the knowledge front. How many of us have switched from memorising facts to Googling for the answer? Why not take it one step further and cut out the human completely? What about emotional intelligence? Can AI master that?
What is emotional intelligence? Some time ago, the idea of different sorts of intelligence came to light. We all know about IQ and there are established ways to measure it. Over time other forms of intelligence were identified – including musical, spatial and kinaesthetic. Emotional intelligence was also identified, but unlike the other intelligences, this was found to be something that can be developed and mastered. It wasn’t a fixed trait like IQ.
There are lots of challenges in our lives. Once we become aware of our own emotions we can start to manage them using techniques like ‘surf the urge’. We often have to overcome instant gratification, as smartphones take over more and more of our lives, and there’s sure to be new challenges in the future. What’s key is how we integrate those challenges – first with awareness and then mastery.
Why is emotional intelligence so important? Well, compared with other elements of the model, our emotions are powerful. If we’re not careful, they can often override other things. For example, seeing someone being treated unfairly might invoke a strong reaction and cause us to behave in a way that breaks the rules.
What about knowledge and skills? It’s interesting that we often lump these two together. How often do we ask people if they know how to do something when actually we need to know if they’re skilled? A physics professor can easily write the mathematical equation for a perfect free kick, but that doesn’t mean the professor has the skills to actually score a goal. David Beckham has the skills to bend the football around the ‘wall’ of players, but does he have the mathematical knowledge that describes the motion?
We can start to be more discerning – what knowledge do I have? How skilled am I in that area? What excuses do I make when I don’t have the capability? Have I invested in self-development or passed the task on to someone else? Why? It’s only natural that we want to focus on the tasks that we can master. By being more aware, we can start to understand our behaviour and make better choices.
Building on that further as leaders, we need to think about other people’s capabilities – both now and in the future. Many managers promote good workers based on their current job. We need to ask ourselves, “Have I thought about what skills and knowledge they’ll need in their new role? How can I upskill them?”
If we don’t understand and act on this, the newly promoted person may end up micromanaging others because they have the skills to do the task, but don’t have the skills to lead and support others.
How do we as leaders, not only check understanding, but also create opportunities for our teams to demonstrate their capability?