Robin Hills: Navigating Four Decades of Business with Emotional Intelligence and Resilience
In the world of business, the role of emotional intelligence and resilience has become increasingly crucial. Robin Hills, Director at Ei4Change, brings a wealth of experience spanning over four decades, collaborating with a spectrum of enterprises, from small startups to expansive multinationals. His expertise extends across commercial areas, project management, and line management.
Notably, Robin’s impact is felt globally through educational programs on resilience and emotional intelligence. These programs have left an indelible mark in educational institutions in Africa, the Middle East and SE Asia, reaching over 400,000 learners in 195+ countries through online platforms.
As a published author in The Authority Guide Series with works such as “The Authority Guide to Emotional Resilience in Business,” Robin delves into the intricacies of navigating emotional challenges in the corporate landscape. His commitment to understanding human behavior is evident in the personality and behavioral assessments he utilizes, including the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, DISC, and Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i 2.0), among others.
Certified as a TetraMap facilitator and equipped with credentials from the British Psychological Society, Robin Hills’ expertise allows him to employ scientifically valid and reliable assessments. These assessments provide individuals and organizations with invaluable insights into personality traits and emotional intelligence, fostering improved self-awareness and enhancing interpersonal relationships.
From Sales to Self-Paced Learning
Throughout his career, Robin has dedicated himself to developing individuals and cultivating relationships to guide them in making informed decisions. Starting in sales within the pharmaceutical industry, he progressed to leading and managing teams before establishing a business centered around people development.
Recognizing the pivotal role of emotional intelligence in individuals’ performance at work, in social settings, and at home, Robin emphasizes its importance in fostering good communication skills, teamwork, collaboration, leadership, and stress reduction.
Over the past decade, Robin has concentrated on crafting self-paced online courses centered on emotional intelligence. This critical skill involves the integration of thinking and feelings to make high-quality decisions and establish authentic relationships for effective action. Despite being classified as a soft skill, emotional intelligence is among the most challenging to train, especially in an online setting. Robin’s courses focus on everyday business topics, including team collaboration, communication, conflict management, and leadership, offering valuable insights into the practical application of emotional intelligence in various professional scenarios.
Role of People, Leadership, and Emotional Intelligence in Organizations
According to Robin, regardless of whether a company is a small startup or a large multinational, success hinges entirely on its people. Robin believes that these individuals must be well-supported and motivated to deliver their best work, fostering a sense of positive contribution to the overall success of the company. In Robin’s perspective, effective leadership is crucial for driving success within an organization. This involves people networking, collaborative teamwork, and the cultivation of relationships both inside and outside the company, spanning short-term, medium-term, and long-term objectives. Robin places significant emphasis on emotional intelligence as a major contributor to individuals’ success. He sees it as a key element in helping leaders navigate day-to-day challenges and enhance their overall well-being.
Advocacy for Integrating Emotional Intelligence into Education
Robin emphasizes the importance of teaching emotional intelligence in educational establishments to cultivate well-rounded individuals capable of navigating social interactions effectively. According to him, beyond imparting academic knowledge, incorporating emotional intelligence skills into education fosters empathy, communication, and conflict resolution. This, in turn, contributes to creating a positive and inclusive learning environment.
Robin believes that equipping students with emotional intelligence skills goes beyond academic preparation, extending to their personal and professional lives. These skills enhance interpersonal communication, adaptability, and overall mental health, preparing students for success in various aspects of their lives.
Skill Development and Online Courses
Robin observes that many individuals believe taking a course on emotional intelligence will instantly make them more emotionally intelligent. However, he stresses that emotional intelligence is a set of skills that can only be honed over time and through real interactions with others. These skills are inherently challenging to train, even in live workshops and particularly online.
While any course can enhance knowledge about emotional intelligence, Robin asserts that true skill development requires sustained effort and application of what has been learned. It involves individuals being motivated to bring about changes in themselves, experimenting with new approaches, and learning from mistakes, even if it may upset others. Despite the ease of maintaining the status quo, Robin emphasizes that this won’t help individuals develop their emotional intelligence.
Robin’s online emotional intelligence courses offer comprehensive resources for individuals to become more emotionally intelligent. However, he highlights the importance of committing to the entire course, not just passively watching videos and taking quizzes. Success in training emotional intelligence online necessitates reflection, action, and seeking feedback and support for meaningful development.
Workshops as Catalysts for Insightful Experiences
In Robin’s live workshops, he engages participants in discussions about their experiences and understanding of emotional intelligence. These interactive sessions incorporate various activities like showcards, toolkits, and floor models, ensuring that each session is unique. People frequently comment on the insights gained and describe the experience as memorable. Robin finds these sessions personally enriching, consistently discovering new insights and learning from the diverse experiences shared by participants.
Fostering Common Humanity and Self-Discovery
Robin underscores the common humanity shared by people, emphasizing that each individual possesses unique emotions, memories, and experiences. Regardless of their background, upbringing, or cultural origin, everyone contributes to each other’s understanding and application of emotional intelligence.
Robin’s central messages revolve around encouraging individuals to gain a better understanding of themselves. He emphasizes the importance of leveraging knowledge about how their brains and bodies function, not overlooking basic biology but utilizing it to become more effective human beings. By fostering self-awareness through a holistic understanding of one’s mental and physical processes, individuals can enhance their emotional intelligence and overall effectiveness in navigating human interactions.
Exploring Emotional Intelligence
Recently, through his company Ei4Change, Robin and his team launched a webzine – ei-matters (https://ei-matters.com). This digital magazine is dedicated to emotional intelligence, offering news, views, articles, quizzes, podcasts, and more. With a global reach, readers can access it from any device, anywhere, at any time, garnering significant attention.
ei-matters aims to provide readers with profound insights into the power of emotional intelligence. The webzine features a range of free podcasts that delve into various topics associated with emotional intelligence, making them ideal for those seeking in-depth information. Notably, the podcasts featured rank in the top 2% globally in the business category.
As ei-matters continues to grow and establish itself, the hope is that it becomes a valuable resource for individuals seeking to expand their knowledge about emotional intelligence.
