Customer Reviews

The Emotionally Intelligent Team: Understanding and Developing the Behaviors of Success

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Marcia Hughes and James Terrell truly understand what it takes to develop emotional intelligence in groups. This is a magnificent tool for Coaches, Team Building Practitioners and Leaders who work with teams. The Seven Step approach is insightful, easily understood and a tool that would deliver results. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to maximize the performance of teams.

William B. Sutherland, ACC MBA MAOD PMP, President of the Sutherland Group, Executive Coaching, Leadership Development and Management Consulting

Of the books I have read on EI, this book provides the most actionable information for improving the EI of teams. Furthermore, because of the easy-to-read style in which it is written, it was not difficult to translate many of the suggested action items for teams into similar items for individuals. Reading this book was time well spent. I highly recommend it for those dealing with EI-challenged teams in all settings.

A few weeks ago I sadly searched amazon.com for a book that dealt with team leadership AND emotional intelligence. Then I found The Emotionally Intelligent Team. Happily, it pulls off a difficult feat! Hayes and Terrell show how to combine emotional/social intelligence (ESI) with business team leadership, in a simple anecdotal format. It is focused on helping people solve real-world problems, not just on theory.

The book first states the value of emotional/social intelligence, then shows the seven essential skills needed to create effective ESI. The authors then conclude the book with a section on how to create results using their approach.

As a long-time manager in the product development world, I wish this book had been available 20 years ago. Instead I had to stumble and try hit-and-miss approaches until I found a viable approach that resonates with many things that are written herein.

For example, the quote from page 185 "When we're working together in that magical state our friends at Team Coaching International call 'high-productivity-high positivity,' our experience of performing effectively is highly motivating and a joy in itself," accurately describes my experience when projects or teams I managed were successful at hitting their goals AND doing it in a life-balancing way, not an easy feat in today's corporate environment. Also, from page 127: "Individuals and teams have a range of choices for dealing with conflicts. The strongest teams are flexible, to choose the style that fits the situation," is totally on target, and is something I have long noted in successful teams I worked with.

I could go on with quotes like this, but hopefully the point is made. If you want to learn how to mange teams with high ESI or even just get some "religion" on the topic of how to combine ESI with the teams you lead, this book is a great investment with huge ROI. And that may then lead you to their team evaluation tool, called the TESI. But that is a topic for another post!

I've read several of Hughes' and Terrell's books and found them to be both practical and informative. I especially like this one because, as a trainer and consultant, I often find that changing the attitude or perspective of one person rarely solves team issues. Team Emotional and Social Intelligence helped me develop a systematic approach to evaluate teams and develop actions plans to help them overcome factors that prevent them from being successful. The book begins by identifying 7 qualities that contribute to a team's identity. They then explain what motivates teams and how EI impacts teams. In the end, they also tie improved Emotional Intelligence to team results, giving plenty of examples to make their point. Anyone certified in EI or even interested in it, and anyone who works with teams, is going to find this book to be very helpful.

The Emotionally Intelligent Team is a tremendous tool for your team, whether large or small. This resource helps to engage both right and left brained team members to ultimately increase understanding and team cohesion. Marcia Hughes and James Terrell have developed something great here!

The book was very informative. The examples used to illustrate her points were very applicable to any work environment.