Kieran
MacCourt, Marketing Director,
Dove Nest Group
DEVELOPMENT EMOTIONALLY
INTELLIGENT GRADUATE DEVELOPMENT
Emotional Intelligence (EI) and leadership behaviour are increasingly seen as essential skills to develop in the leaders of the future. However, Kieran MacCourt, Marketing Director of Dove Nest Group, asks if it is ever possible to start developing leaders too early.
My first experience of emotional intelligence was over 20 years ago, when I first arrived in a new role having recently graduated. At that time, I was full of ideas and enthusiasm and naturally believed everybody needed to hear just how good my opinions were. I attended a team building event, designed to bond together a disparate group of people, all from different backgrounds and age groups, into a cohesive team.
By the end of the first day, my manager pulled me to one side to explain that, within a few short hours, I had single
36 TheStudentEmployer
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handedly rubbed everyone up the wrong way. He actually used language far more colourful than that. But the message was clear: rather than bond with the team, I had irritated everyone and isolated myself. On hearing his candid feedback, I was both confused and crestfallen. Immediately the soul searching and questioning began: ‘what had I done?’ ‘why were they irritated?’ ‘surely I was only giving helpful and practical advice?’ Thankfully, I took his advice, kept my head down and managed to slowly turn the situation around.
Since then, I’ve worked for a variety of organisations, in a variety of roles in a variety of countries. But that first hard lesson has never left me. Regret isn’t always a useful emotion, but when I think back to that first team building experience, I regret that I had never even heard the term ‘Emotional Intelligence’, let alone understood the meaning of it.
History has a habit of repeating itself. This autumn will likely see cohorts of newly recruited graduates arriving in their new organisations. They too will likely be filled
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