Svetlana Dragaeva biography

At work, we all experience absolutely the same feelings as in ordinary life - joy, jealousy, aggression, thirst for power, tenderness. The roles that we play in the family or society, we transfer to working life. The well -known researcher of emotional intelligence Manfred Kets de Vris in the book “Mysticism of Leadership” claims that the effectiveness of the leader increases significantly if a person not only understands what feelings he himself or other people feel, but also knows how to control his emotions.

I’ll tell you what I understood about the importance of emotional intelligence in the work of the entrepreneur. Gender stereotypes - a brake for business Paradox is that in Russia it is not customary to listen to emotions and openly show them. And the leader is completely perceived as a person who cannot have emotions. When I was just starting to build a career, I, like many leaders, was shy about my excessive emotionality.

And subconsciously she thought, hiring one of the first employees that working with men is more reliable. In fact, this is a prejudice that women in business are more emotional than men, quite popular. This is also evidenced by such a study: if you put a man and a woman nearby and ask them to pronounce the same text, the woman will be perceived as more emotional observers, and the man as more authoritative.

So, I consciously hired a man over 55 years old, who had vast experience, many connections and a rather authoritarian leadership style. We could not work, the case ended with the court. But I learned the lesson: neither age nor sex have anything to do with emotional maturity. The man had a neurotic character warehouse, and we simply could not find a common language. Now in our company women hold all senior positions except CTO, but they are commanded by Head of Product - also a woman.

The meta -analytical study conducted in the year has proved that men are more effective if it comes to management management, but women are better dealing with people management, which includes manifestation of attention to the values ​​and motivation of employees. Working with friends is a great one more stereotype that was destroyed at the very beginning of my work as a leader - “You can’t work with friends”.

This is a popular topic in the media, many describe the conflicts that arise among partners and founders, give advice on how to reduce risks. And I tried to work with strangers with whom I was associated only by professional relations with whom I was not friends. A few months later I realized that it was hell. And not only for me. Large companies have long realized that work in a friendly atmosphere increases productivity.

The basic principles of this approach Tony Shei reflected in his book “Bringing Happiness”. For example, when the working computer is turned on, the ZAPPOS employee needs not only to enter the login and password, but also to recall the name of the colleague whose photography will appear on the monitor. So the company encourages all employees to know each other by name.

As a result, sooner or later I called out to work all friends. The fears about the difficulties and conflicts in the work were not confirmed: we are all people and can upset others for various reasons, but it is much easier to apologize to a friend than to an outsider. It is important to listen to intuition when hiring, of course, it is impossible to surround yourself only by friends, and the issue of hiring continued to bother me.

First, I hired employees exclusively guided by generally accepted criteria and completely trusted modern selection methods. One of the important trends in Western recruiting is a blindfold interview. This method eliminates any factors that can interfere with the assessment of the professionalism of the candidate: photography, name, gender, level of education and hobbies. Thus, the recruiter can only focus on assessing experience, motivation and competencies.

As a result, I received three employees and two advisers and spent a lot of money. Headhaners convinced me that it was these people that I needed and their profile is perfect for me. I succumbed to persuasion, but we did not work out, and after a few months I fired newcomers. I found out the method of trial and error that as a result of such a standard selection, a good, but not “my” person joined the team.

Three years later, I finally developed a rule for finding a “my” person. Imagine that you arrived on a business trip to another city and found a mistake in the armor - you have one number. There are no more free ones, and in other hotels too. Can you spend the night in one room? Without sexual subtext, of course. Similarly, you can imagine a long journey in the same train compartment or a situation when you are stuck together for a long time at the airport.

Now, when hiring a new employee, of course, I study the resume, but during the first meeting I always listen to intuition. And my instinct has never failed me.To realize my emotions - I once sobbed a very useful skill when an employee who was my right hand said that he was leaving because he wants to do his own business. I wanted to shout: “Well, how so?

You can't leave me! This is your project, I can’t live without you. ” Emotions went through, I felt a huge confusion. I realized that in the fight against emotions the main thing is to take a conscious break in time, to be alone with you. It helps to find a balance meditation, especially in nature. After I calmed down, the realization came that I myself lived in the world of illusions.

The leader, and the more, the founder of the company, is always lonely, and the faster he will learn to appreciate every day that the employee gave him, the faster he will be able to correctly prioritize. You need to independently delve into all processes of business not to build on one awareness of your emotions, and now I always have a plan. Every day I delve into all work processes in the company.

In this regard, the approach of Japanese management is close to me. The Japanese term “Gemba” in translation means “place where events take place”, but in a figurative sense this place where the main value is created for the client. The manager needs to know what his company and the team lives, he should not be torn off from reality. I am not a developer, not an accountant, not a designer, not a marketer - and still different "not." But I am very scrupulous about all processes that create the main value of our product.

Life taught at least at least at a basic level to understand all processes. Emotions are contagious. You will be bent in the negative yourself - negative thinking will be transmitted to all your employees.

Learn to manage emotions - everything will fall into place. Now I often listen to myself and throw all the prejudices into the stove. Read also.