A psychologist’s secret to high-performing teams | Dr Renee St Jacques | TEDxFiesole

Key Concepts

• Emotional Intelligence (EQ): The ability to understand and manage one's own emotions, and to understand and influence the emotions of others.
• Leadership Activated Framework: A research-backed framework developed by the speaker, consisting of three key skills: Connect, Correct, and Cultivate.
• Psychological Safety: An environment where individuals feel safe to communicate and take risks without fear of negative consequences.
• Feedback Sandwich Technique: A feedback method involving praise, criticism, and then more praise, which can lead to misinterpretation and false expectations.
• Intrinsic Motivation: Motivation that comes from within an individual, driven by interest and enjoyment in the task itself.
• Accountability: The obligation to accept responsibility for one's actions and decisions.
• Impostor Syndrome: A psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a "fraud."

The Disconnect Between Intentions and Impact: The Case of Low EQ

The speaker begins by illustrating a common scenario where a manager's well-intentioned use of the "feedback sandwich" technique led to a significant disconnect with an employee. The employee was confident about a promotion, while the manager had no such plans. The manager admitted to embedding critical feedback within praise, creating false expectations. This resulted in manager burnout from overcompensation, a breakdown in employee trust, and ultimately, unachieved organizational goals. This example serves as a prime illustration of how low emotional intelligence (EQ) can lead to poor results, a phenomenon supported by decades of research linking EQ to increased profitability.

The Speaker's Background and Mission

The speaker, a psychologist and executive coach, draws upon a unique background in both corporate and counseling settings to bridge theory and practice in team dynamics. Their personal journey, marked by witnessing the negative legacy of low EQ in family dysfunction, fuels their passion for this work. They acknowledge the pressures managers face to achieve bottom-line goals, often with limited resources, and emphasize that excelling as an individual contributor does not automatically translate to success as a manager. A leader's impact is measured by their team's achievements, and fostering intrinsic motivation and accountability, especially amidst resistance or trust issues, is a significant challenge. The speaker's core belief is that unlocking leadership potential within every team member begins with elevating their EQ through three key skills.

The Leadership Activated Framework: Connect, Correct, Cultivate

The speaker introduces their research-backed framework, "Leadership Activated," designed to help leaders practically build trust, guide behavior, and foster growth. This framework is built upon three interconnected skills: Connect, Correct, and Cultivate.

1. Connect: Building Psychological Safety and Trust

The first "C" is Connect. This skill is crucial for unlocking high performance by creating psychological safety, where individuals feel free to communicate without fear. Research indicates that job satisfaction is primarily driven by feeling valued and appreciated, not just by pay. The speaker argues that taking the time to connect is an accelerator to business results and builds trust.

• The Problem with "Push Without Connection": When managers push for results without connecting, their attempts at correction can feel like rejection, worsening the behavior. Connection is what separates work from worth, valuing individuals for who they are, not just what they do.
• Best Practices for Connecting:
  • Use a tone of curiosity.
  • Employ open-ended questions like, "Can you help me understand?"
  • Use empathetic phrases such as, "I see you. I hear you. That's hard."
  • Paraphrase back to ensure the employee feels heard.
• The Outcome of Connecting: This process helps uncover root issues, such as impostor syndrome or personal challenges, and identifies what motivates individuals. It's about talking with employees, not at them, and importantly, it involves owning one's impact rather than defending intentions. Phrases like, "It looks like I need to work on that," can be highly effective.
• Connect is Not Optional: The sole goal of connecting, even if it takes multiple meetings, is to make an employee feel seen. However, failing to provide developmental guidance after connecting can be seen as coddling.

2. Correct: Providing Clear and Kind Guidance

The second "C" is Correct. This skill addresses the need for developmental guidance after trust has been established through connection. The speaker shares an anecdote about a COO who redid his team's work instead of correcting them, enabling their underfunctioning. The COO's self-narrative was that feedback hurt people, but the speaker posits that feedback, delivered with psychological safety, is empowering.

• Separating Work from Worth: After establishing connection, the focus shifts to behavior, not the person. The goal is to correct the behavior, not to criticize the individual.
• The Ineffectiveness of Hinting: Managers often hint at issues, which is ineffective because no one can read minds.
• Balancing Clarity and Kindness: Effective correction requires a balance of clarity and kindness. Instead of vague statements like "deadlines are important," specific examples should be used: "The deadline was X. This was submitted on Y. We need all deadlines met from now on because of Z impact."
• The Psychology of Feedback: Authors Hen and Stone's work is referenced, highlighting that feedback sits at the intersection of the human need to learn and grow, and the need to feel worthy. Vague feedback leads to vague commitment and no change. Shame is not a motivator.
• Effective Correction Techniques:
  • Use "and" instead of "but."
  • Use "we" instead of "you." For example, "Your client dedication is impressive. And can we collaborate to improve communication?"
• The Role of Connect in Correct: The trust built through the "Connect" phase makes the "Correct" phase of clear, kind guidance possible.

3. Cultivate: Fostering Ongoing Growth and Ownership

The third "C" is Cultivate. This skill emphasizes that leadership potential, like a garden, requires ongoing care and coaching. The speaker criticizes the common practice of waiting for year-end reviews to deliver vague feedback, which erodes trust.

• The Power of Real-Time Feedback: Research shows that real-time, informal, and frequent feedback is far more effective.
• Empowering Teams Through Questions: Asking open-ended coaching questions, such as "What do you think we should do?", empowers the entire team to contribute solutions. This unlocks the leadership potential of both the team and the individual leader, shifting from burnout to a culture of ownership.
• The Interdependence of the Three C's: The speaker stresses that these three skills are like a tripod; excelling in only one or two will lead to a breakdown in leadership activation.

EQ as a Strategy for Results and a Healthier World

The speaker refutes the notion that EQ is "fluff" or that focusing on people detracts from the bottom line. They assert that EQ is the greatest strategy for results because work quality is directly tied to the quality of interactions with others. The secret to high performance lies in raising intrinsic motivation and accountability by making teams feel seen, heard, and valued.

Beyond performance, the speaker highlights the profound impact of low EQ in creating cycles of mistrust, disconnection, and pain. They envision a healthier world where organizational achievements, even those accelerated by non-human means, are anchored in uniquely human elements, with connection remaining the cornerstone of progress. The goal is to create workplaces that are as kind as they are effective, leading to both measurable and meaningful impact.

Conclusion: Becoming Cycle Breakers and Architects of Tomorrow's Leadership

The speaker concludes by framing leaders as "cycle breakers" and urges them to consider the legacy they wish to leave. This legacy can be defined by the "what" (bottom-line goals) or by transcending to the "how" – how connection was used to create a truly impactful difference. The call to action is to collectively architect the leadership of tomorrow, emphasizing that true progress is built upon a foundation of human connection.