Debra was not in a good mood as she entered Johann’s office for their third meeting. One of her colleagues had just been promoted and, although the guy who got it was good, she didn’t think he was any better than her. Well, except at one thing, he was always playing politics - sucking up to the more senior guys and volunteering to be on any committee going.

Debra knew the type - went to the same school, belonged to the same club - she didn’t have a hope against the kind of connections he had so she might as well give up. It seemed doing a good job just wasn’t enough around here.

Debra and Johann work in an environment with multiple and complex reporting lines – in other words, a matrix. There’s room to “slip between the cracks” – if a person wants to take advantage of confusion over who is managing performance; or if they can’t make the necessary transition to self-management. Communication can be difficult even when there is an apparently shared language.

Read how Johann and Debra work together to identify the skills needed to succeed in a matrix, and how using Emotional Intelligence (EI) can develop specific behaviours you can incorporate in your daily job.  The result will help reduce stress and increase your chances of success.

Dawn Metcalfe, Managing Director of PDS, based in Dubai, uses her experience as a coach and trainer to give us a behind the curtain look at how mentoring can help an individual develop the skills they need to survive and thrive in today’s complex work environments.

Introduction 6

1 The Challenge is Set 7

2 Laying the cards on the table 10

3 Preparing for change 15

4 Working on objectives 17

5 How quickly we forget 22

6 The matrix – the good, the bad and the ugly 23

7 What do the successes in the matrix do? 28

8 Defining EI 31

9 A short and (emotionally) intelligent review 39

10 Working out how EI can help 40

11 Why IQ isn’t enough 46

12 Learning EI 50

13 Fake it until you make it 53

14 How managers can help improve EI 63

15 Understanding the importance of culture and strong leadership in the matrix 63

Epilogue 67

Acknowledgements

About the author

Useful resources