Emotional Intelligence Consultant: Have a Psychologist or Psychiatrist on an Advisory Board
After selling my company, the one person I wish was on my board was a psychiatrist or psychologist as an Emotional Intelligence (EI) advisor. Their job would be to enhance emotional intelligence within the leadership team and the organization as a whole. I define emotional intelligence as the ability to recognize, understand, and manage the business owners’ emotions, as well as the ability to recognize, understand, and influence the emotions of others – especially our employees.
Here are four reasons why having a psychiatrist or psychologist on a business or personal advisory board can be beneficial:
- Mental Health Expertise: Psychiatrists and psychologists bring a deep understanding of mental health, which is crucial for fostering a healthy work environment. They can offer valuable insights into stress management, work-life balance, and strategies to support the mental well-being of team members, ultimately leading to increased productivity and job satisfaction.
Our company was built to sell. We knew that selling our business was the end game, and the proceeds would be our pension plan. We shared that knowledge with our employees during our 16 years in business. However, when it was time to sell the company, we could have used the help of an emotional expert to guide us in sharing the news with our employees – they were not happy!
- Conflict Resolution Skills: These professionals are trained in conflict resolution and can offer valuable guidance in navigating interpersonal dynamics within a team or organization. Their expertise can help mediate disputes, improve communication, and foster a collaborative atmosphere.
We waited too long to tell our employees that we were selling the company. If I had to do it over, I would tell the people we identified as key employees. It’s a double-edged sword – they could decide they will stick with the company because they were key employees who we identified as having the continuation of knowledge after we were gone, or they could start looking for jobs and not stay to be key employees.
We told our key people about a week before the sale was finalized. They were extremely upset and wanted to renegotiate their contracts. The buyers could have called off the sale and refused to negotiate with them. Thankfully, they came to terms right before our deadline, and most employees stayed with the group for over ten (10) years and counting.
- Understanding Human Behavior: Psychologists and psychiatrists have a keen understanding of human behavior, which can be instrumental in areas such as marketing, customer relations, and employee engagement. They can provide advice on how to better understand and predict consumer behavior, as well as how to motivate and retain employees.
Looking back, having a human behavior expert could have guided us on how to better prepare our employees and clients for the company sale event. We knew many of our vendors through previous work experience as colleagues, or we had opened and managed their accounts for years. They became family.
A psychologist could have guided us on how to treat them as we would our family. They could have prepared and guided us on our behavior as owners during a difficult process. We could have used an expert on the aftermath of a sale. We had an earn-out agreement that required us to stay and work for the company, with the disappointed employees and the new owners, for a specified period.
- Ethical Decision-Making: With their background in ethics and human behavior, these professionals can contribute to ethical decision-making processes. They can help ensure that the board’s decisions consider the psychological and emotional impact on employees, customers, and other stakeholders, promoting a more socially responsible approach to business.
Knowing that we have someone on our team, whether on the board or an employee, who has deep knowledge of all parties could have been a game-changer for us as owners.
During the 2008 financial crisis, we had about 10 core team members (both employees and 1099 consultants). We had to decide on letting go some of our core team members. We included the team, of course, and came to a consensus as to which person was “nonessential personnel,” meaning someone else could do that job.
If you’ve ever played Spin The Bottle, you know how it feels to have the bottle point to you. The person immediately knew it was her and could hardly speak. She was going through financial difficulties, had a spouse going through cancer treatment so needed the medical insurance, and was the nicest person you could ever meet. She begged us to keep her, but we couldn’t. The only time I have ever cried was when I had to look at her and give her the bad news that we had no money to keep her. I locked myself in the bathroom stall and cried.
We did negotiate with her and gave her an extension on her medical benefits to support her husband and to investigate other options. It would have been awesome to have a therapist to talk us through the process beforehand, as well as after delivering the news. One outcome was that we got an HR person who managed that future detail!
Do you now understand the importance of having this skill on your team? That’s why the word “emotion” is a part of Emotional Intelligence. Motivation. Empathy. Self-Awareness. Social Skills. They are all a part of emotional intelligence. As owners, we must recognize these skills, or lack of, in our employees and ourselves. That is why I will seek a psychiatrist or psychologist to serve on my future boards.