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Friday 8 February 2013

Newsletter Issue 230, February 2013



Sam Young Newsletter

Issue 230, February 2013
Hi guys,
Have you used an EQ test? What did you think about it? Did you rely on some EQ results to hire someone? Well, you might want to re-examine the results for accuracy. Check out A bit of a 'hmm' for Emotional Intelligence below.
Have you accidentally Shared Your Contacts with Facebook? Read on if you would like to know how to unshare them. 
Don't forget, if you want to be taken off my mailing list, click here to send me a reply e-mail and I will remove your name.

A bit of a 'hmm' for Emotional Intelligence

I am sure all of you know what IQ is: hopefully you have all also heard of EQ. This is our measure of emotional intelligence - EI - capacity (potential) which, along with our current levels of skill (competence) is what gets measured in an EI test, and gives us an EQ score. EI is "the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions" (Mayer, Salovey & Brackett, 2004, p. 1961).
The most popular forms of EI assessments are Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), Goleman's Model and the Bar-On model.
However, a number of researchers think that EQ results are not reliable enough for workplace use yet, so we shouldn't be using EQ as a selection or professional development tool or relying on the results of such tests. Among those raising concerns is Professor Wildermuth from the US Centre for Applied Cognitive Studies, who says that she has "not seen a consensus on the validity of the instruments" or agreement on what EQ is defined as. Because of that, she thinks that EI test results can be "somewhat dangerous" (HR Daily, 2012).
Instead, Professor Wildermuth suggests HR professionals focus on candidate EI ability not traits, saying "traits are unlikely to be changed in adult years [and] Trying to transform somebody who is more challenging [into] a person who is more agreeable is probably an exercise in futility" (HR Daily, 2012). Haven't we all run into our own traits resurfacing at the least convenient and most telling moments!
Professor Wildermuth feels EQ testing can be too subjective, rely on the context of culture and belief, and, because most of the tests are self-reported, suspects that results are easy to fake; that we wear our 'best' persona when answering.
Some academics believe that competencies should be measured by others, avoiding self-report tests altogether. Professor Wildermuth says "One argument for that is that we are terrible at assessing our own competencies, [and] that our assessments... correlate weakly with assessments made by others", citing research where 94% of US college professors think their work is "above average" and the bottom quartile of college students think they are actually above average. "So if we're measuring emotional intelligence specifically, is it reasonable for us to expect somebody who is low in emotional intelligence to be emotionally aware [of their] weakness? The person who is the lowest in emotional intelligence is unlikely to be accurate in the test and therefore the results are not going to be right" (HR Daily, 2012).
References:

Sharing Contacts with Facebook

If you have been plagued by someone constantly emailing you, asking to join them on Facebook, chances are, that person innocently ticked a box, asking them if they would like to 'share their contacts'.
Facebook then sucks up all the contacts, and for all of those who aren't yet your friends, bombards them with invitations. Your clients, acquaintances, friends and even your dentist are likely to get a bit miffed.
The difficulty is that this function is incredibly well hidden, so disabling it becomes one of those circular "Argh!" chores. However, I have a fix for you. Go to https://www.facebook.com/contact_importer/remove_uploads.php and click the remove button.
And go out of your way to NOT share your contacts on any other social media platforms.


Two TechRepublic Tips

TechRepublic's Susan Harkins recently posted 'a year in review' article which contained two rather good tips sent in by readers:
  • Quickly remove Word table borders Users learned how to change Word’s table defaults in Change Word’s default table properties to suit the way you work. By changing the defaults borders and other properties, you can reduce a lot of tweaking when you create new tables. Cal Wilson shared a shortcut for removing table borders: press [Ctrl]+[Alt]+u.
  • A quicker way to select an Excel data range In A quick way to select an Excel data range, I reviewed using [Ctrl]+[Shift]+8 to select the current data range. Mvdarend suggested using [Ctrl]+a, instead and it does work, sometimes. If you click a cell inside the data range or adjacent to the data range, [Ctrl]+a selects the data range instead of everything. When selecting an adjacent cell, [Ctrl]+a adds the adjacent row and/or column to the selection.
They are both just great, and save so much time!
 
Reference: Harkins, Susan (7 January 2013). Four things I learned from readers in 2012. USA: TechRepublic. Retrieved 10 January 2013 from http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/four-things-i-learned-from-readers-in-2012/7085?tag=nl.e064&s_cid=e064

TLAs for SMEs

Here are this newsletter's TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) for you:
  • EI, Emotional Intelligence. The ability to identify, assess and control one's emotions, and to understand the emotions of others and of groups.
  • EQ, Emotional Intelligence Quotient. An index or measurement of the amount of emotional intelligence the test subject possesses at the time of the test
  • IQ, Intelligence Quotient. A score derived from a standardised tests designed to assess intelligence that a test subject possesses at the time of the test.
Please feel free to email me with any TLAs that you want to get the bottom (meaning!) of.

Tips, Short+Hot Keys
In this newsletter, we look at Save shortcuts:
  • Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word "Save" Shift & F12
  • Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word "Display Save As dialogue box" F12
  • Access, Excel, Frontpage, IE, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, Word "Save the active file" Ctrl & S
  • Windows "Open the Save dialog box (You also can choose the Save command from the File menu)" Ctrl & S
  • Access, Excel, PowerPoint "Display Save As dialog box" Alt & F2
  • Outlook "Save, close and Send when in an email message, or go to Sent Mail" Alt & S

Hot Linx
Some sociologists are predicting that our population will continue to age, and it will become a global phenomenon. Check out the US taskforce's intro to this issue at https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZOA1v4-2Fos
For sports people looking for that first elusive position after their degree, check out some great advice from an expert, Howard Gauthier, at http://sportscareersinstitute.wordpress.com
Check out the consumer predictions of Dutch marketing gurus, Trendwatching, for the coming year at http://www.trendwatching.com/trends/10trends2013/

                                Catch you again soon!! E-mail your suggestions to me here

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