January 22, 2011

• Relational Intelligence

  I’m in a group called “Signet”.  We want to be challenged in our leadership roles.  The first book we’re studying is Relational Intelligence.  Here is the 1st Chapter:

  I chuckled as the author told of a dating story and his deep desire to connect with her, but didn’t know how.  He said the wrong thing at the wrong time and blew it.  The relationship ended.  I suspect we all can relate and tell our own stories, at least I could. 
       The author spent the 1^st chapter advertising the need to have Relational Intelligence.  He posed this question:  “What if cultivating smarter relationships became a more integral part of how we approach leading others?”   “Relationships have a direct correlation to the quality of our lives,” a statement from the author.
       Although I didn’t completely agree with the author in an illustration he gave, I do see the need to be smarter with relationships.  Here’s his illustration:  When he got out of college he searched for a job that he could established a relational connection with his boss.  He gave up his first opportunity for a different position, in which he did relationally connect with his boss.  I suppose that is idealistic but I’m not sure it’s realistic.  I looked back on my life and there were bosses I couldn’t connect to but I felt God wanted me in that place for my spiritual development. 
       Relationships are the virus of influence.  I like how the author used the word virus in a good spread of influence.  I have the potential to infect people, either in a positive or negative way.  I was challenged to have good spiritual health because viruses spread out. 
       I appreciated the last part of this chapter.  The author introduced a tool to measure relational quotient or as he refers to it: RQ   
  Web site to measure RQ:  http://relationalintelligence.info/
  My Score:
  RQ Score: 76

  Your Normalized RQ Score represents your relational intelligence measured on a scale from 1 to 100. This number is an absolute rating and has no correlation to the general population.

  What does my score mean?

  •  0 to 60 – Below Average
  • 60 to 75 – Average
  • 75 to 100 – Above Average

  My greatest area was self awareness

  After going through this book I will take this again and find out if and how much I’ve improved.

  • 1:33 pm
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