FIX THE GOVERNMENT

These are our governemnt leaders and they cannot work together.  We need for the government to get things done.  What the House and Senate are showing the world is that our system of government does not work. Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee (2002) list social competence containing two of the four key fundamentals of emotional intelligence. Social awareness and relationship management define the capabilities needed to manage relationships. Among the abilities of social awareness are empathy, organizational awareness, and service. The capabilities necessary to ensure relationship management are inspirational leadership, influence, developing others, being a change catalyst, managing conflict, building bonds, being able to work with teams, and collaborate with others on projects and ideas.

The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives come to mind when I reflect on the importance of managing relationships. While two main parties make up of the majority of the Senate and House, the ability to manage relationships in the two governmental bodies is lacking. The ability to work with teams and collaborate has failed in the case of the Super Committee appointed to circumvent the fiscal cliff and avoid sequestration. Weber argues that leaders cultivate leadership throughout a system to create endurance. I propose that a way to solve the problem of collaboration in the House and Senate is to appoint all new members of the House and Senate with a mentor from the opposite party to allow new leaders to grow by being exposed to different ideas than those espoused by the perspective parties. An exchange of ideas at a one-to-one level builds core leadership strength and allows the more experienced Senator or Representative to become a coach. A coach understands the dilemmas of the organization and its culture along with personal strengths and challenges Goleman, et al., 2002). Perhaps more empathy will be seen if this strategy is enacted in both houses in Washington, D.C. I doubt this will happen, but may be what the government needs to create needed change through collaboration. What is obvious is that the current system is not working.

References:

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. & McKee, A. (2002). Primal leadership: Learning to lead with emotional intelligence. Boston, MA: Harvard Business review Press