On 19th May, our CEO John Martinez interviewed Elie Dagher, founder of Lead from Within, live on our Youtube channel.
Elie is a professional certified coach and the founder of Lead from Within, a self and collective leadership practice, coaching professionals on developing emotional intelligence, leadership, and communication skills.
John, together with many of our team members attended the Lead from Within workshops which helped us develop both self-management and leadership skills. At Shocklogic, we are big advocates of leadership and terms such as awareness, vulnerability, compassion and kindness are deeply rooted in our culture.
The interview focused on three pillars: emotional intelligence, team dynamics and optimal engagement. Some of the best bits from the interview are below.
JOHN: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and where does Lead from Within come from?
ELIE: I am the founder of Lead from Within which is a leadership and coaching development organisation. At the core, I am dedicated to the development of human potential. I have found ways through my education, experience and interests to be able to support individuals and teams. Some of these ways are deep coach processes, emotional intelligence and team dynamics.
JOHN: How would you explain emotional intelligence?
ELIE: There are five most important skills that describe emotional intelligence, as we develop them, it’s going to serve specific intellectual topics: the awareness of self (mindfulness), the ability to manage oneself, social (surrounding awareness), managing the relationship with the environment and empathy.
JOHN: Why do you think emotional intelligence is important in leadership? How would you define leadership?
ELIE: I’d like to make the distinction between management and leadership. Management are the individuals that have the responsibilities to manage an environment, to create a culture. What I call self-leadership is the leadership from within, the concept that we are all leaders at heart, leaders of our own lives. With more emotional intelligence, there’s more wellbeing.
JOHN: What can we do to improve our emotional intelligence as leaders?
ELIE: I think it’s important to realise that working on emotional intelligence is like working on any other muscle from our bodies. There needs to be a clear commitment to want to improve our emotional intelligence. First of all, It’s important to know your goals and what you are aiming for. For example, do you want to be better at communicating? Or have more self-management in times of crisis? It has to start small and by practicing it day by day, we can become masters.
JOHN: Can you give some examples of techniques on how to improve our emotional intelligence?
ELIE: First of all, we have to learn how to pause and how to be aware of the present moment. Also, self-awareness is not all about being present, but also the awareness of who we are. What are our triggers? Our values? What are the things that satisfy us? One method that we can practice is just to sit down and answer those questions.
JOHN: Can you tell us a little bit about the framework of the 5 dysfunctions of a team?
ELIE: The framework was created by Patrick Lencioni whose premise is very simple: the concept is to bring to life things that are intangible when it comes to team dynamics. The main pillar is the absence of trust which can affect team effectiveness. If there’s no trust, conflict cannot be approached and can affect the commitment of every team member. In the end, this translates into the absence of accountability, and the results can be affected.
If you missed the live interview, you can watch it here.
Written by Lorena Fasui, Digital Marketing Associate.