By Sandy and Jamie MacIver, K.A. MacIver and Associates
“Manage your boss.” “BIF your co-worker.” “Leverage your strengths.” “Be a corporate athlete.” These types of phrases are becoming prevalent among associates as the made-for-Carter learning program, Carter EQ, hits its stride in its second full year. The focus of Carter EQ is to guide associates to live healthier and more fulfilling lives, provide them with skills and tools to enhance and energize their working relationships and create and reinforce a common Carter language.
The term, ‘EQ,” or Emotional Quotient, refers to one’s emotional intelligence, or the self-perceived ability to identify, assess and control the emotions of one's self, others and groups. Carter’s EQ program focuses on the relationships between our associates’ personal and professional lives, bringing new dimensions to the Carter vision of “creating value through relationships” through the application of principles from the book “Good to Great.”
Carter EQ began in spring 2009 with the Program Development Services and Marketing groups. Last week, 28 associates from these groups presented the results of long-term action learning projects that commenced in early 2010. The program has now started branching out into Accounting, Human Resources, IT, Investments and the Senior Leadership group, with more EQ programming being planned.
Carter EQ programming involves needs assessments and learning projects tailored to specific groups. Elements of Carter EQ include: profiles, books, articles, one-on-one coaching, facilitated group sessions, idea generation, personal development, team projects, movies, games, rewarding work, high energy activities and lots of fun.
We designed and customized this program for Carter with a focus on leading through relationships. We are a father-son team from Victoria, British Columbia, on the west coast of Canada. Sandy’s ties with Carter go back to the mid-90s when he worked closely with former CEO Billy Mitchell on a host of learning programs aimed at improving leadership and teamwork within Carter.
The current program has earned powerful feedback from participants. “I learned more through this program in the last year than I have through all other programs combined over the last 15 years,” said a relatively new Carter associate. “The people who report to me thank Carter for this program because I have become a much better boss,” admitted another participant. “(The program has provided) a great platform for getting to know each other, establish and improve relationships and lay the foundation for trust,” said a long-time Carter senior leader.
The program is expected to assist Carter in emerging from the current realignment of the economy with a competitive advantage with internal relationships and will catalyze Carter in its ongoing evolution as a true learning organization.
Sandy MacIver succeeds in teaching leadership, learning and interpersonal skills to people in all sectors; he does so because he has lived leadership, learning and personal change as an up-front leader and manager for more than thirty-five years. Starting in 1971 as Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, through his current involvement at the University or British Colombia (UBC), Sandy has had an extraordinary career of leadership in learning institutions, the public sector, political organizations and the non-profit sector. Sandy and Jaime are a father-son team from Victoria, British Columbia, on the west coast of Canada. Jamie’s first exposure to experiential (i.e. hands-on) learning came in 1995 as he assisted Sandy in specific exercises in week-long leadership sessions at a university. He incorporated learning from these sessions into his learning and work over the subsequent seven years as he traveled the world and pursued various group and team-based learning experiences. Following completion of his Bachelor of Commerce, in 2004, Jamie joined Sandy in facilitating, leading and adapting experiential exercises in two offerings of an eight month leadership program run out of Vancouver, Canada.
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