February EQ Tool Share: stages of change

The EQ tool of the month is the EITC Stages of Change document which reviews the Stages of Change Model created by James Prochaska and his colleagues in the book, “Changing for Good.” I first learned about the model from a handout that my wife, Jill, picked up at BC Women’s Hospital where she works. I thought the handout was brilliant and it dawned on me that anyone wanting to develop their emotional intelligence skills would go through the same process. I took the idea and re-wrote the whole thing in relation to EQ development. My thinking was that just like a smoker goes through the stages while quitting smoking, a manager goes through the same stages when developing their EQ. We’re really talking about people who choose to develop their EQ skills as choosing to change their lives. Even though we don’t always think about it that way.

Download the Stages of Change handout (PDF).

What do you think? Do you think this model might be useful for you as you help your clients change and for your clients to understand what they must go through if they are to be successful in making the changes they want to make? Let me know.