If IQ Wasn’t the Determining Factor

Posted on 15. Feb, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.

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Here is the question for today – If IQ is the determining factor to success as governments around the world keep telling us with their standardised tests, then why are the senior corporate ranks around the world dominated by men?

Study after study of education systems show us that girls perform better than boys.  The recent PISA 2006 study shows that girls are outperforming boys on almost every academic trait measured in that year.  Anecdotal evidence from the teachers that I meet around the world tells me that boys are not as engaged as girls.

I personally know that EQ and SQ are essential to success.  I don’t have the empirical research, but my gut tells me that girls have stronger EQ and SQ skills than boys whilst at school.

So what happens to the brightest, most talented cohort between the ages of 15 years and 35 years that ends up with so few less women in senior corporate ranks than men?

Maybe I am using the wrong measure.  Maybe I should be comparing the brightest 15 year olds to the happiest 35 year olds, or the 40 year old with the most friends…

Just maybe I have the measure wrong, just maybe the Governments that are testing and testing and testing students IQ’s have the wrong measure.  Maybe we need to measure the balance of a student across IQ, EQ, SQ.

Maybe the success, satisfaction and happiness of anyone individual is not based on their personal IQ, EQ, SQ but that of their family, their teacher, their principal and their school community.

It is hard to add all three domains into the picture of school success.  But are the measures of school success without them really relevant?

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Transforming Education

Posted on 09. Feb, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.

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Tom Peters wrote a post that led to an article in the New York Times on making college more relevant.  The article details 10 new degrees that are being offered at University level, none of which existed three or even two years ago.

Some of these new degrees were:

  1. Learning to Listen – Narrative medicine
  2. Safety First – Homeland Security
  3. Education Leadership – Learning to Fix Failing Schools
  4. Sustainable Cultures – A Step Beyond Anthropology
  5. Cars of the Future – Start Your Engine Programs

The post and article got me thinking about the reasons why I have returned to the classrooms of the world and the things I spend time thinking about:

  • How do we make our schools more relevant NOW?
  • What can we do NOW to transform students’ experience of learning relevance?
  • What should the NOW classroom look and feel like?

I guess it is very hard to determine what the future requirements for students entering the workforce might be.  Seeing that university courses are being developed all the time and the jobs that they might do don’t even exist yet.  How do we as educator try and predict the potential skill sets that they need?

I think the answer is that we don’t predict, but instead we lay the foundations with great development for NOW.

Those foundations must include a focus on Emotional Literacy and Social Literacy.  Because the need for EQ and SQ skills alongside the IQ is a fundamental that has not changed for many many years.  These skills will always ensure that a student can adapt to the things that are presented to them.  The challenges that our students will face are unknown, but I am certain that a robust balance across Intellect, Emotions and Social skills will always be necessary for success, happiness and satisfaction.

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When Fast is Slow

Posted on 03. Feb, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.

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Leadership is about using your head, feeling with your heart and connecting with your team. If you want to build a sustainable organization resilient enough to meet the challenges of change in a timely manner, you have to develop your SQ competencies.

Fast is slow when:

  1. A team member has an idea and you’re in too much of a hurry to listen.
  2. You make all of the improvement decisions.
  3. You pass someone in the hall (anyone) and don’t say hello or at least acknowledge them with a smile.
  4. You give a short answer when a longer one is needed or vice versa – you give a long answer when a short answer would do. (Know your audience!)
  5. You engage in the Kaizen process alone.

Why is fast slow in these cases? Because each situation requires damage control which takes time. People want to feel that they make a difference and in each of these cases they went away wondering.

Don’t ever leave a person wondering. Remember, the human brain is hardwired to connect with others. Relationship is everything. Students, teachers, principals and business leaders can develop their Social Intelligence or SQ competencies. SQ saves time and energy in all human relationship connections and in our professional lives.

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Theory to Reality

Posted on 01. Feb, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.

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I have advocated for a long time that we can teach students Emotional and Social Literacy skills.  At Farrington High School on Hawaii I actually did an activity with some students teaching them about perseverance when working towards long term goals.

The Grid is my classroom activity to have students experience the challenges inherent in trying to achieve a goal and to break through the barriers that might keep them from succeeding.  The Grid is meant to replace theory with practice, students should feel directly the frustration and barriers during this activity.

This is an EQ activity because students will feel the frustration, boredom, angst, and wanting to give up that they feel in real life when the blocks and barriers arise.  It is also an SQ activity because students must work together to accomplish the task and no team member can be left out. One wins when all win.

The grid is best used in conjunction with a goal setting activity as part of a process:

  1. Draw the comfort zone and show students how leaving their comfort zone can create a state of angst, frustration, fear etc
  2. Draw a star way outside of their comfort zone to represent their goals anddreams
  3. Explain that when they leave their comfort zone to achieve their goals, feelings of fear, boredom, frustration and wanting to quit may come up – Use examples – How many of you quit guitar lessons, piano lessons, etc.  What are some other goals you have given up on?
  4. Have students set short-term goals (1-6 month goals)
  5. Finally, students do the Grid

The Grid will bring feelings of frustration, wanting to give up, anger, boredom, blaming teammates for a mistake to the surface so that students can experience them.  This gives you an opportunity to coach students about how to deal with negative emotions that arise on the way to the goal.  It makes theory palpable and real so that students walk away with a real experience rather than a theoretical lesson.

One of the students at Farrington High, Mel, said to her Principal at the end of the day after doing the grid, “I will never be the same.  I now know what it will take to achieve my goals.  This was a life-changing experience for me.”

The lesson plan is here for you to download and use in your classroom

The Grid

You can share this classroom activity with your colleagues, but please ask them to come download it from my site.

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What is SQ?

Posted on 27. Jan, 2010 by Trinidad Hunt.

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Given the latest research on the affect that human beings have on each other, SQ may be one of the most important components of student as well as leadership success. SQ is really the quality of our social intelligence. It is how we connect with and relate to others. It is how we invest in, build and nurture relationships over a lifetime.

Here’s 2 pieces of information that really hit the SQ mark and may help clarify the role of relationships in our lives.

  1. Neuro-plasticity – Your brain is like plastic. It is moldable. It changes throughout your life based on your experience, who you hang with, and your intention to change yourself. Human beings can learn and change at any stage in life.
  2. Our brain is wired to connect with others. Even our immune system is linked to respond to our relationships. Positive nourishing relationships nourish us while negative relationships are toxic to the system, especially over time.

The more scientists study the human brain, the more they realize how important our SQ really is. Our social relationships and interactions influence both our brain and our biology.

Every school, every teacher and every principal needs to understand the importance of SQ education. It lowers the bullying incidents, upsets in the classroom and referrals to the principal’s office in the school.

And how important is SQ in leadership? A policeman friend put it simply when he said that a new police chief had just been hired from the ranks. “I judge a leader by whether I would go in before him on a raid or let him go in before me,” he said. “I would go in first to protect this man. That’s how much I trust him,” he said quietly. ”And from what I’ve heard, I believe anyone on the force would do the same.” The trust that my friend spoke of here only happens out of SQ!


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