Business

Staff
Job Search Tips
November 26, 2018

Emotional Intelligence: The Key to Athletic and Business Success

A while back, NexGoal asked a simple question over our social media channels: What traits acquired from your athletic career have or will help you in your professional career? The most common answers were persistence, determination, time management, and teamwork. However, one of the most interesting answers we consistently saw through our various channels was the idea of emotional intelligence. Defined, emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions, and those of the people around you. EI is a term that has been around for a while but hasn’t always been associated with sports. Four-time Olympian Bo Hanson describes EI in sports as such,

“For years we have marveled at how the great athletes are able to “switch themselves on” to create amazing performances with incredible consistency. We would describe them as being composed, mentally tough, having the right psychology, a great sports mind, emotionally controlled or simply determined or focused. Today we recognize these athletes as having high levels of competency in the area of emotional intelligence.”

Perfecting the mental side of an athlete’s game starts with a thorough understanding of EI. With high EI, traits like persistence, determination, and teamwork become easier to display because the athlete has full control of their emotions and is able to turn those emotions into positive behavior.

So how does the emotional intelligence that you learned in sports transfer to a career outside of sports in the business world? To better understand how, we need to look at the components of EI. According to Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist who helped to popularize EI, there are five main components of emotional intelligence:

Self-awareness
Self-regulation
Motivation
Empathy
Social skills

In the following sections I will describe how the 5 components of EI make a difference for an athlete and how an athlete can translate those components to the business world.

Self-Awareness:

Self-Awareness is the ability of one to understand his or her strengths and weaknesses as well as recognize their emotional state. In sports, self-awareness is essential for success. Coaches always talk about playing within yourself, which essentially means playing to your strengths. To be able to do this an athlete needs to be aware of what they’re good at and recognize their role. By recognizing and accepting their role, an athlete is able to better contribute to a team and allow for another player to pick them up in their weaker areas. The concept of roles also applies in the business world. You should be aware of your role in a company and stick within that role. That doesn’t mean you can’t improve on your weaker areas, but it does mean that you should be the very best in the role you’re assigned. By being the best in your assigned role, you become a valuable asset to your company and put yourself in good position for success.

Recognizing your emotional state in the midst of competition is perhaps one of the hardest things to master in sports. Losing control of emotion can be catastrophic in the heat of competition as it can affect individual and team performance, as well as team morale. That is why it is important in competition to be aware of your feelings quickly. Playing with emotion is fine, but it has to be controlled. Some coaches refer to this as playing on the edge but not over it. Much is the same in the business world. Emotion can be a great motivator in company culture if it is positive. However, negative emotion can be extremely hurtful to employee morale and company culture. If an employee is constantly scared that they might get berated for not doing their job, they will be more cautious in their work which can lead to stagnant creativity as well a high turnover rate for the company. By learning to recognize your emotional state, you can begin to decide when it is appropriate to display certain emotions to get the most out of co-workers or employees.

Self-Regulation:

Once you are able to recognize your emotional states effectively, you have to be able to regulate those same emotions. As Hanson described, in athletics this is the ability of the athlete to stay composed and mentally tough no matter the circumstances. The ups and downs of competition cannot get to an athlete. They need to maintain an equilibrium of emotions that balances both highs and lows if they hope to develop consistency in their craft. This means not dwelling on both failures and successes. What’s important is what you do next. Your emotional state also rubs off on teammates which make your regulation of emotions even more important as it can affect the overall team’s performance.

This same mindset should be carried over into the working world. “Being able to stay composed and have the confidence to talk to high level executives and make presentations is essential to the success of any person in business, especially to those in sales,” says CEO of NexGoal and former NHL player Kevin Dahl. Just like in athletics, the moment should never be too big for you in the corporate world. It is essential to keep your composure in the most high pressure situations. By regulating your emotions, you can keep calm and focus on the task that needs to be accomplished.

Motivation:

If an athlete wants to be the best at their sport, they need to be able to motivate themselves. Self-motivation in sports involves persistence, determination, and focus. An athlete who can motivate himself or herself has clear goals that they want to achieve and will find any means necessary to overcome obstacles that stand in their way to meet these goals. It is their hope that while they drive to meet their goals, their teammates will recognize their efforts and follow their lead. The most motivated athlete is often the best athlete because their passion for their sport will not let them quit and force them to get better.

In the business world, these same traits of motivation can lead you and your company to the top. Setting clear goals for yourself or your company is essential to motivation. To be successful in the business world you need to know where you want to be and then have a plan to get there. Motivation is what will drive you to carry out your plan and allow you to reach your next goal! When looking at how to motivate yourself and others you have to ask yourself if you’re passionate about your job. Passion and dedication are key drivers of motivation and if neither exists, perhaps it’s time to explore a new career. Once you find your passion, it’s just a matter of keeping your eye on the prize and continually finding ways to meet the goals you have set for yourself and others.

Empathy:

An athlete is not always at the top of their game. All athletes have days where things just aren’t clicking. It is important for an athlete to understand this so that they are better able to show empathy to their teammates when they are struggling. To show empathy is to actually put themselves in the shoes of their teammate. A good teammate is one that has a complete understanding of each of his or her teammate’s personalities and is able to quickly diagnose the root of what is causing their poor play. It is then up to the athlete to pick up their teammate and find a solution so that the team can thrive.

Having the ability empathize in the working world is equally important as it is in athletics. You are not always going to be able to make everyone happy or achieve complete motivation no matter how hard you try. However, you do have the ability to understand why a person may not be happy or motivated by empathizing. Two of the best ways to effectively empathize with someone are active listening and reading body language. Active listening involves providing feedback to the speaker when they are speaking to you. By engaging the speaker with feedback, they are more likely to feel that you care about their problem which can lead to more openness and cooperation. Reading body language is also essential because a co-worker or employee might say one thing but their body language could very well be saying something different. By recognizing different intricacies of body language, you will be able to tell what a person’s emotional state really is and adjust how you speak with them so that you can better use empathy.

Social Skills:

Having good social skills is one of the most important traits an athlete possesses as a teammate. Social skills in an athlete are really a culmination of the first four aspects of EI. To possess effective social skills an athlete must be aware of their emotions and be able to regulate those emotions. An athlete must also be able to motivate his teammates through communication as well empathize when a teammate isn’t playing to their full potential. If an athlete has perfected the first four EI concepts, then they are well on their way of being a master in social skills.

Possessing good social skills in the business world also involves mastering the first four aspects of EI. Communication in the working world is key because saying or typing the wrong thing can have dire consequences. Self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, and empathy all play a role in helping avoid such costly mistakes. Social skills are also important to have when you are trying to convey an idea or persuade someone. Both situations involve strong interpersonal or presentation skills and also a complete understanding of your audience. Having an understanding for your audience is very similar to understanding your teammates. You have to realize each person is different and you should prepare to communicate with them as unique individuals.

Summary:

EI in athletics and the business world go hand in hand. The EI you learned playing a sport can be easily translated to your working profession. Go back and think what made you a good athlete and teammate, and take those same traits and use them in your career. More likely than not, the EI experience you gained in sports will put you far ahead of the competition in the business world.

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Staff
Culture, Job Search Tips, Leadership
March 15, 2016

NCAA Tournament Lessons: How to Ruin Your Team

A quick look at USA TODAY Sports’ 2015-16 Preseason College Basketball All-American Team shows that every player from first team through third team will be competing in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Well, that is everyone except Louisiana State University star, Ben Simmons.

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It seems like common sense that the very best players in the nation would all be competing in the game’s top tournament at the end of the season. At the college level an individual star is often all a team needs to make the dance (i.e. Steph Curry and Adam Morrison).

Simmons certainly fits the profile of an individual star. In his freshman season, Simmons averaged 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists per-game. He has been compared to Cleveland Cavaliers and NBA Superstar, LeBron James and it is widely believed he will be the first pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.

Hot Read: Need Some Motivation for Your Week? Check Out These 5 NCAA Motivational Quotes

Yet here we are a few days before tournament play, and Simmons and LSU are on the outside looking in. How is it that arguably the best player in college basketball isn’t in the tournament? Simply put, LSU just wasn’t a good team.

Simmons had very little support from his teammates this year. In fact, Simmons led the Tigers in almost every major statistical category. He was their best scorer, rebounder, passer, blocker and stealer. Yes, Simmons is a great player but even great basketball players can’t be expected to win when they are forced to shoulder the entire load.

Another former LSU star and great example of how individual performance does not necessarily define team success, “Pistol” Pete Maravich, to this day holds the record for points in a career at 3,667 (all without a three-point line). In one season he averaged 44.5 points per-game. However in three seasons, not one of Maravich’s teams made the NCAA tournament.

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In both Simmons’ and Maravich’s cases, they were two great players who took it upon themselves to become one-man teams. While this sort of attitude for both players was probably brought out of a necessity to make up for the lack of talent surrounding them, it certainly is not a recipe for team success.

As the saying goes, a team is only as good as the sum of its parts. Great teams are those whose parts understand their roles and are able to see how their role plays into the big picture. This concept is equally important in the sports and business world.

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How to Make Sure Your Team Doesn’t Fail

To get all parts working toward a common goal takes leadership and a vision. A strong leader can influence both culture and expectation. A leader should be able to look at all the parts of his team and see a realistic goal. Whether the goal is to hit a certain sales number or a certain number of wins, a vision for what needs to happen should be created.

In college basketball, we see this all the time with elite programs like Kentucky and Duke. Every player enters those respective programs expecting to win a championship. That expectation has been created after years of proven success by both the previous players and their coaches (John Calipari for Kentucky and Mike Krzyzewski for Duke). Without that kind of successful precedent it can be hard to convince a team to buy into a championship.

Success doesn’t have to be defined by a championship or profit margins. Success can simply mean improving upon a previous result. The point is having the entire team work toward this defined success point which can only happen after an expectation and vision has been set.

Once expectations are set, how is it then that teams meet them? The answer can be found in assigning roles.

Chances are “Joe from accounting” isn’t going to handle marketing, HR and supply chain along with his accounting duties for a Fortune 500 company. Even if he was the best worker on the planet who wanted to handle all of these areas, it is reasonable to expect overall business production would suffer because of time and the inevitable drop in quality of the work he produced.

Want to Learn More About NexGoal’s Athlete-Candidate Placement? Click Here

It is best for the sake of the team that Joe sticks to his accounting duties. If he clearly understands his role and its purpose in the company’s overall vision, he can put all of his valuable time into improving in that capacity. Multiply that same logic across every employee and you have a cohesive team clear on their roles and how those roles play into team success.

This is where LSU has failed in both Simmons’ and Maravich’s cases. Both players were asked to handle the roles of an entire team. Their respective coaches should have focused more on fitting the two stars into roles for the team’s overall vision instead of making them the center of that vision.

The moral of the story is, it doesn’t matter whether it is your business or an NCAA basketball team, teams need strong leadership that sets clear visions and roles. Without doing this, teams can expect to come up short of success and miss the big dance.

Before You Go

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Staff
Job Search Tips
February 1, 2016

Month in Review: January 2016

In our Month in Review, catch up and relive January 2016’s biggest highlights in sports, business, and at NexGoal.

NexGoal

The Athlete Advantage

What makes you special as a former athlete? What you may lack in relevant job experience you make up for in rare traits that are found specifically in athletes.

The 3 C’s of Personal Branding

Change the conversation and get noticed by employers through our 3 C’s of Personal Branding. This article will teach you how to create, customize, and connect your personal brand and bring you one step closer to landing your dream job.

Sports

CFP National Championship Game

The nation’s top two teams squared off in a game to remember at University of Phoenix Stadium. Alabama however would defeat Clemson 45-40 and become the second champion in the playoff era. Relive the game’s highlights or watch and complain about how your team would have totally won had it not been for the playoff committee and key injuries.

Super Bowl 50 Matchup is Set

As usual, the talk of this matchup will dominate sports for the next week. In this matchup’s case, the hype is well deserved. Carolina vs. Denver will see two first overall picks, one a burgeoning superstar and the other at the very end of his Hall of Fame career, in a battle of the past and present. Our prediction? Levi Stadium’s grass has a say in the game’s outcome.

The John Scott Saga

Good grief…where do we even begin with this one? At first he’s voted an NHL All-Star captain by fans and then he is sent down to the minors, traded out of the division, and thus becomes ineligible to be the Pacific Division captain. However, the NHL bowed to popular demand and eventually allowed Scott to be the Pacific Division captain. To cap things off, Scott ended up being named the MVP of the All-Star Game after scoring 2 goals. You can’t make this stuff up folks.

From the Football Field into the Business World

Mike Kudla was a former Ohio State football standout who has taken his talent and mindset on the field into the office. He is currently the COO at Hplex Solutions and attributes his days playing football to his business success.

How Jocks Rock the Job Hunt

Here’s more advice on how to leverage your background as an athlete as you transition to the business world. We cannot stress enough how important it is to know how to use your athletic background to your advantage!

What Your Resume Should Look Like in 2016

Is your resume soooo 2015? Give it a quick update (or overhaul) and follow this articles advice to giving yourself an edge in the job hunt.

Don’t forget to follow NexGoal on social media or contact us for more information on who we are, what we do, or if you have any clue where Billy Manziel is. (Sorry couldn’t leave that January gem out).

Staff
Interviews, Job Search Tips
August 25, 2015

7 Bad Interview Habits You Need to Stop

“I’m coming off as stupid? You’re wearing tuxedos to a job that requires you to clean bathrooms!” This is just one of the many interview fails that Brennan and Dale encounter in the movie Step Brothers as the interviewer draws attention to their inappropriate attire. Unlike Brennan and Dale, you don’t want to come off as “stupid” or unappealing when you are in your interview. If you display any of the following 7 bad interview habits, take our advice and change your ways!

Inappropriate Attire:

FYI: Wearing a tuxedo to an interview is never appropriate. At NexGoal we may not be fashion experts, but we are common sense experts. What the interviewer see’s visually is what is going to make a lasting impression on them. Don’t make that lasting impression one of you wearing shorts, knee high socks, and sandals. Our advice to both men and women is to be professional and conservative in your approach. Figure out what the professional attire for that industry is and wear the most basic colors and accessories. You want to draw attention to your personal qualities not your $5000 Tiffany diamond necklace.

Weak Handshake:

Bad news for those who prefer to “rock” or “dap”: the traditional handshake is going nowhere in the professional world. Nothing screams lack of confidence more than a weak handshake. For a proper handshake:

Look other party directly in the eye
Hold out right hand
Grip his or her hand firmly (not crushingly)
Shake (use your judgement on how many shakes)

Lack of Eye Contact:

Remember you’re not interviewing in a room by yourself! Engage all participants with eye contact both when you speak and when you are listening. Failing to do that can send the message that you are uncomfortable and lack confidence.

Bad Posture:

Discovering that you have bad posture might actually be harder to pick up on. You may have developed bad posture habits over years of doing the same thing and not even realized it! No worries though! Just make a conscious effort to display positive body posture during the interview. This means:

Sit up straight
Keep shoulders relaxed
Keep both feet on the ground
Do not hunch over or lean in
Do not cross arms or legs

Overall you want to display body language that is open and makes you approachable.

Filler Words:

So like, this habit can like, be super like, annoying for like, the listener. The dreaded filler words have ruined many an interview over the years. A good rule of thumb: if the word is out of place in writing, don’t use it when you talk. You would NEVER use “um” in writing! So don’t say it when you talk! Lose it from your vocabulary! Here are some other words/phrases we suggest you ditch:

Whatever (shows disinterest)
Ya know (No I don’t know! That’s why I asked!!)
Uh (See “um”)
So (Gets old real fast)

The best way to rid yourself of filler words is to just slow your rate of speech. Allow your mind time to catch up with your dialogue. More thoughtful speech will let you clearly articulate your message and not leave you grasping for words.

Fast Speech Pace & Negative Tone:

It’s not an auction. It’s an interview. There is no rush to finish the interview and you don’t want the interviewer to miss anything that you said. This means that you must deliver answers at a smooth pace and with composure and clarity. Also make sure to keep an upbeat tone in your voice. You should be excited for the opportunity to interview! Interviewers want to see you display that excitement and passion!

Poor Manners:

We hate that we even have to talk about this because it is such common sense! Yet we see time and time again interviewees who seem to throw all manners out the door in the interview. If you’re offered a drink your response should be “yes please” or “no thank you”, not “yeah” or “no”. Always address the interviewer by the name they introduced themselves as not “bro” or “lady”. Most importantly, thank them for their time after the interview is over. They didn’t have to take your interview so be appreciative of their time.

Staff
Job Search Tips
July 23, 2015

Higher Education vs. Business: How Can We Bridge the Gap?

Tell me if you have ever asked yourself these questions while you were in school: Why do I need to know this? When am I ever going to use this in real life? Can’t [enter computer software/Google here] do this for me? Chances are you’ve asked these questions numerous times over your academic career. I mean seriously, why did you spend all of your time in statistics memorizing and writing out formulas when in real life Microsoft Excel or SAS will just do it for you?

The theory behind the current method of learning is that in order to become a master of a topic, you need to have profound insight and understanding of the topic being taught from the bottom up. While this method may provide students with a more comprehensive grasp of the subject matter, it doesn’t prepare them for the application of the subject matter in their job fields.

For businesses, this is a giant problem as they hire recent college graduates. According to a study done by Bentley University, “58 percent of business decision makers, students, and job recruiters gave recent college graduates an overall grade of “C” or worse on their level of preparedness for their first full-time jobs. A hefty 64 percent of corporate survey respondents claimed that the lack of preparation actually harms the day-to-day business operations of businesses.” Not only are college graduates unprepared but they are also hurting their company’s ability to make a profit as extra time is spent with onboarding, training, and mistakes attributable to inexperience.

Another survey done by Gallup had even more shocking results. According to the survey which asked the American public’s view on the state and value of higher education, just 14 percent of Americans—and only 11 percent of business leaders—strongly agreed that graduates have the necessary skills and competencies to succeed in the workplace. The results of this survey only further demonstrate the mistrust that American businesses have in the ability of higher education to prepare students for the business world.

So why are students so unprepared when they enter the workforce? The answer can be found in their lack of development in key business world skills like critical thinking, analytical reasoning, writing, and communication. Businesses today are starting to put more and more value into students who are able to effectively demonstrate these traits rather than their mastery of subject matter learned in school. As Debra Humphreys, vice president for policy and public engagement at AAC&U, states, “Employers are saying I don’t care about all the knowledge you learned because it’s going to be out of date two minutes after you graduate … I care about whether you can continue to learn over time and solve complex problems.” Being able to continue to learn over time and solve complex problems is a dynamic process that demonstrates more than the ability to memorize. Having skills like analytical reasoning and critical thinking can help employees navigate through gaps of knowledge which can be essential to innovation and productivity.

NexGoal can also attest to the importance of candidates being able to display what we call “soft skills” which include the ability to communicate and work as a team. We find that the candidates that have the most advanced soft skills are the ones that land job offers. This is why when we screen candidates we put just as much emphasis on measuring their soft skills as we do their professional qualifications.

The question remains though: is it possible for colleges to balance the range of knowledge taught through their curriculum and the skills and competencies necessary for success in the business world? The answer to this question is a resounding yes and both companies and higher education are beginning to work hand in hand with one another to solve this issue. One of the biggest attempts to bridge higher education and business together is Enactus.

Enactus is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring students to improve the world through entrepreneurial action. Students who sign up become a part of team that works to solve a real world problem related to the triple bottom line (people, planet, profit), which is usually in collaboration with a business partner or non-profit organization. At the end of each spring semester, the projects that these students work on are then presented in front of panels of judges (who are business professionals) in a competition against other Enactus teams.

The true value of Enactus however can be found in how it teaches students to apply and build upon theories and skills that they learn in the classroom to a real life setting. “Enactus provides students with opportunities to apply what they have learned in the classroom to help solve real world problems in their communities and worldwide,” says Enactus Regional Program Manager Chloe Shauck. “This experiential learning provides students with necessary skills like leadership, teamwork and project management to help them stand out to recruiters after graduation.” Students involved in Enactus are challenged to use critical thinking skills, communication skills, and teamwork to create solutions to these problems while being exposed to the inner workings of the business world. They also have a chance to audition these traits in front of recruiters, which as we mentioned above greatly help their prospects of landing a job offer.

Though Enactus is offered as a class at some colleges, most colleges have it as an extra-curricular group. There are however some universities that have decided to build collaboration between higher education and business into their curriculum. One such example of this is Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. Their College of Business Administration requires all students that are seeking a Bachelors of Business Administration to complete a course called “Business Consulting Practicum”. In this course students are broken into teams and partnered with a local business or non-profit organization. They are then tasked with helping them improve some aspect of their operation whether it is marketing, human resources, project management, etc. At the end of the semester, the teams present their projects and describe what it was they accomplished for the community partner.

Just like Enactus, this course allows students to directly apply what they have learned in a classroom setting into the real world. Kent State graduate and NexGoal employee Brandon Harris experienced the practicum class first hand and agrees that it is a unique opportunity to gain real world experience. “The consulting practicum class is like an internship on steroids. In a traditional internship you are eased into their everyday operations, but in the consulting practicum class you are partnered with a local partner who is in need of your immediate expertise to solve a problem they are faced with. Students are expected to lead the way when finding solutions instead of vice versa.”

Rather than having students sit back and learn from their local partners, the Consulting Practicum class thrusts students into leadership roles where the local partners are actually taking direction from the students. Students are thus given an excellent chance to be put in a position of leadership in a real world environment. This is especially valuable for the younger students who have never been put into a role like that before.

As both Enactus and the Kent State Business Consulting Practicum class demonstrate, opportunities are there for direct collaboration between business and education. By striking a balance between academic theory and real world experience, today’s students are put in a better position to be immediate assets to their places of employment. Most importantly, collaboration may help answer the student’s questions of “Why do I need to know this?” and “When am I ever going to use this in real life?” and save them the hassle of searching for the answer on Google.