Attorneys Can Benefit From Emotional Intelligence Coaching

Attorneys are taught to maximize the use of their superior IQ to analyze situations and provide persuasive logical arguments for or against any issue. They are taught to demolish the opposing counsel.

According to David A. Grenardo,  “Despite the rise of voluntary civility codes and calls for professionalism, incivility persists in the legal profession. The practice of law is a privilege, not a right, and attorneys must be held to a higher standard of conduct as a lawyer is a representative of clients, an officer of the legal system and a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice. The time for mandatory civility has long come, and all state bars should follow the lead of the few jurisdictions that have made civility mandatory.”
MAKING CIVILITY MANDATORY:
MOVING FROM ASPIRED TO REQUIRED
DAVID A. GRENARDO*

It appears that most of the current mandatory civility courses are 1,2 or 4 hour presentations designed to provide information on civility rather than skill enhancement in emotional intelligence/civility.

Training provided in law school does not include the soft skills of Emotional Intelligence or civility. However, EQ skills are important for success in leadership, business, customer service and interpersonal relationships.

What Can The ABA Learn From The AMA?

In 2008, The Joint Commission issued a Sentinel Alert mandating that all Health Care Organizations must have written policy designed to address “disruptive physicians”. This new mandate immediately created a cottage industry of providers of emotional intelligence/anger management for “disruptive physicians”. Essentially, disruptive behavior is the same as incivility or poor impulse control in the work environment. The AMA is in support of this mandate and is now encouraging medical schools to include Emotional Intelligence in the training of medical students. Major Hospital Chains are funding Emotional Intelligence Coaching for physicians in leadership positions.

The American Bar Association may benefit from carefully studying the research that was done by the Commission and the American Medical Association in defining the need to enhance the skills of physicians in practice.

In developing the internationally recognized EQ-I-Emotional Intelligence Assessment, “emotional intelligence has been defined as “ a set of emotional and social skills that influence the we perceive and express ourselves, develop and maintain social relationships, cope with challenges, and use emotional information ins an effective and meaningful way”. Steven J. Stein and Howard E. Book, The EQ EDGE.

In contrast to IQ, EQ is not fixed and therefore can be improved with coaching, classes or practice. Attorneys like facts. Therefore, they are sold on the need to improve their emotional intelligence by analyzing the results of their emotional intelligence assessment.

Most Emotional Intelligence Coaching Programs include a Pre and Post Assessment. The coaching is focused on the EQ scales selected by the client as the focus of the coaching. The Post Assessment provides objective evidence of the success or lack of success of the coaching.

Lets’ Take A Look At An EQ Coaching Model And How It Work

The A + A Emotional Intelligence Coaching for Professionals is designed to meet the needs of high-level executives, physicians, and clients who prefer to be seen on an individual basis for specialized coaching and increased privacy.

The program includes The Practice of Control, our client workbook for Physicians and other Professionals, Gaining Control of Ourselves, our anger management DVD, and the Contrasting Wheels of Behavior – the DO’s and DONT’s of self-control.

After scheduling a coaching session, each of our coaching clients receives an E-mail containing access to the internationally recognized Bar On EQ-I 2.0 Emotional Intelligence assessment. The assessment can be taken online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to most conveniently accommodate the client’s schedule.

Our Clients report back that it takes about 15 – 20 minutes to complete. For the best results, don’t overthink it. Read the questions and answer honestly for the most accurate results and most effective service from A + A. You will find it easy and interesting!

Inside The EQ-I 2.0 Assessment

This comprehensive assessment examines the following Emotional Intelligence competencies:
EQ-I- 2.0 – Five Key Areas With 15 Scales Of Measurement
The 1- 5 – 15 factor structure of the EQ-I 2.0 model features one overarching EI score (Total EI), broken down into five composite scores, which, in turn, are broken down into a total of 15 subscales.

The On EQ-I- 2.0 Assessment Instrument measures the client’s level of functioning in the areas of:

• Emotional Self Awareness
• Self Actualization
• Self Regard
• Independence
• Assertiveness
• Emotional Expression
• Social Responsibility
• Empathy
• Interpersonal Relationships
• Optimism
• Stress Tolerance
• Flexibility
• Impulse Control
• Reality Testing
• Problem Solving

The scales on the EQ-I- 2.0 are interrelated, meaning that a deficit in one area can indicate and lead to a deficit in other areas, and the strengthening of one area, will lead to the strengthening of other areas.

Choosing Your Assessment Report – Workplace Report vs. Leadership Report
We offer clients two ways to interpret and analyze your scores. We can present your scores to you in two different ways.

The Workplace Report focuses on the impact of emotional intelligence on coworkers, supervisors, and clients, which can be used to develop current employees, or in evaluating the strength of prospective employees.

The Leadership Report evaluates an individuals strengths and weaknesses in emotional intelligence that correlate with leadership performance. This report can help answer questions like: How will this individual manage a conflict, come up with creative solutions, or lead a multigenerational staff?

The Workplace Report


The Workplace Report is designed for use in a wide variety of coaching and development situations and work settings. It focuses on the impact of emotional intelligence at work and offers suggestions for working with colleagues, supervisors, and clients. In recruiting, this report is useful when using scores to guide the selection of follow-up interview questions, and in identifying potential training and development needs.

When you generate a Workplace Report, you will receive two PDFs. The administrator retains the Coach section for interpretation.

The Leadership Report

The Leadership Report provides an in-depth look at EI strengths and weaknesses through the lens of leadership. It does this by correlating emotional intelligence subscales with leadership performance in four key dimensions: Authenticity, Coaching, Insight, and Innovation. These leadership dimensions were identified from research conducted on 221 leaders who took the EQ-I 2.0 and who also responded to a leadership assessment.

The Leadership Report contains the same EQ-I 2.0 Total, Composite, Subscale, and Validity Indicator scores as the Workplace report. The Leadership Report also contains the following features:
• Subscale pages with an interpretation of the client’s leadership and organizational impact.
• An Executive Summary page that showcases the client’s three highest and three lowest scoring EI skills.
• A Leadership Potential page.
• A Leadership Derailer section.
• A Leadership Bar that highlights how the client’s scores fare in comparison to other leaders.

Current Leadership Topics on managing conflict, achieving a work-life balance, and leading a multigenerational team.

Inside The Sessions

The Skills Targeted and the Potential Benefits of the Coaching Program

The Professional Coaching Outline

Sessions 1, 2, & 3: The coach will provide an overview of EQ coaching and the EQ-i assessment, define the 15 scales of the EQ-i, and debrief the client on assessment results with a personalized interpretation of how this impacts the client.

Sessions 4, 5, & 6: The coach will continue a discussion of the assessment results, making links to relevant aspects of the client’s personal experience in professional and personal life, and develop an action plan to establish goals for coaching.

Sessions 7 & 8: The coach will target impulse control. Sessions will introduce the A+A workbooks “Gaining Control of Ourselves” and “The Practice of Control,” as well as define and explain The Contrasting Wheels Of Behavior, which will be used to help the client master various targeted skills and complete exercises within the workbooks.

Sessions 9 & 10: The coach will target stress management, provide feedback on progress, and discuss skill applications with clients.

Sessions 11 & 12: Emotional Intelligence profile summary and practical applications.
Targeted Skills and Potential Benefits Of Coaching Program

Sessions 1-6 target Self-Awareness, the pre-requisite for all other emotional intelligence skills. To improve skills, reduce stress, and improve interpersonal relationships and performance in professional and personal settings, the client must first dedicate time to becoming aware of his or her emotional intelligence profile. These guided sessions focus on the EQ-i 2.0 Assessment, which the coach will use to strengthen the client’s understanding of the impact of emotions, thoughts, behaviors, styles of communication, strengths, and weaknesses in his or her personal life.

Sessions 7-12 focuses on skill-enhancement exercises, designed to help clients practice and improve in skill areas that will most benefit them in their lives. These areas can be identified by both client and coach, and added to the Action Plan. These sessions will feature homework assignments to help the client:
• Identify situations that produce emotions of anger or frustration
• Learn that anger is a secondary emotion, and underlying feelings trigger our anger
• Understand that anger can be an indication of unmet needs that require more attention
• Gain coping skills to manage emotions in interpersonal relationships at work and outside of work
• Practice these skills and record Behavior Logs to report how you managed a situation from your daily life and chart progress towards mastery of new skills
• Label stressors and their effects
• Monitor negative self-talk and its effects
• Problem-Solve to overcome stressful situations
• Apply emotional intelligence techniques to real life situations
• Use emotional intelligence to manage anger and develop deeper empathy

Potential Benefits of Coaching

If practiced and utilized as taught, the skills learned in the areas of self-awareness, self-control, social awareness and relationship management, as well as anger management, communication, stress management, and emotional intelligence will enable the client to be more productive. Stress tolerance and empathy are also addressed. The client will communicate more effectively, and express emotions more appropriately. Research suggests that individuals with high EQ are more successful in their careers and personal relationships than their low EQ counterparts.

In Summary, enhanced skills in emotional intelligence on the part of attorneys will likely improve effectiveness as well as the public's image of attorneys.