MANSFIELD — A group of Richland County supervisors were instructed to approach their employees with intelligence and sensitivity on Thursday morning during a Regional Manufacturing Coalition meeting at Gorman-Rupp.
The event was geared toward boosting the development of emotionally intelligent leaders. Scott Warrick, of Scott Warrick’s Consulting, Coaching and Training Services, spoke to approximately 40 supervisors about focusing on developing trust and boosting their employees’ self-esteem.
“Eighty percent of how successful you will be in a management or supervisory role, and more so, 80 percent of how happy you will be, is going to be based on how you control yourself and your ultimate goal; to resolve conflict,” Warrick said. “If you can not resolve conflict, your relationships will die.”
Using characters from The NBC Show, ‘The Office,’ Warrick noted the courage it takes to courage to handle conflict between employees.
“You’ve got to coach him, (and if) he doesn’t improve you’ve got to warn him, (and if) he doesn’t improve. You’ve got to fire him,” Warrick said.
Warrick reminded the audience it’s normal to dislike being involved with conflict, but it is important for supervisors to be prepared as leaders to handle dramatic situations.
“Emotions and drama are why we need supervisors,” he said.
Warrick used neurology to explain conflicts, suggesting humans are “wired to throw rocks at people.”
“Is that logical? It’s not logical at all; we are animals. But the person who can control themselves tends to be the most happy,” Warrick said.
To build trust and engage employees, Warrick said the best thing is to listen.
Using empathy, listening and repeating what the person speaking says is the best way to show a supervisor cares about what the employee’s concerns are — and provides a way to establish trust among employees, he said.
Doing that is one of the best ways to create a happy atmosphere in the work place, Warrick argued, noting 70 percent of Americans hate their current jobs.
“Self-esteem is where most of us operate, Warrick said, looking at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs on his slide. “If you damage somebody’s self esteem, they could kill you. As of 2014, two murders that occur a day in American (are in) work places.
“We have created the most dangerous workplaces on the planet. No other country on the planet has the homicide or assault rate in American workplaces. We have 36,000 assaults in the work place a week. Because someone who’s been with them for an average of four or five years just snaps.”
Emotional intelligence can be improved no matter what age, Warrick said, referring to several slides of Chief Executive Officers of Ohio hospitals and tax corporations. He showed the slide of one of his clients who scored below average on interpersonal relationships, empathy and social responsibility.
“In America, we don’t value this. This is a pattern that I see over and over again: ‘We value assertiveness and problem solving and flexibility. We value this so we’re good at them,’” he said. “This stuff right here (interpersonal composite on the clients scores) is going to determine if you meet your strategic goals or not.”
Keith Thomas of Gorman-Rupp Pumps and a participant in the seminar said he enjoyed hearing about how to be a more productive leader.
“I’ve heard a lot of this before, it re-hashed some things for me. But (Warrick) is a good speaker in general.”
For more information about the RMC, contact Melanie Riggleman at rmc.ohio@yahoo.com or visit the RMC website at www.rmc-ohio.com.
