Suppose you have two groups with some members with high IQ in them. If the group members are similar as far as IQ is concerned, what will distinguish them from each other when they are competing over completing a task or a project? It turns out that EI is the most important differentiating factor. A group that is in harmony with itself can deliver a lot more.

If the members were skilled but there was an emotional charge present in the group, such as fear or anger, the members cannot express their full potential and as a result the group will not do well.

The following interesting research illustrates this beautifully. A comprehensive research was carried out in Bell Labs monitoring several engineers who were involved in making sophisticated electronics switch boards (Kelley and Hanson 1993). Their team sizes varied from 5 to 150 members involved in solving engineering problems. The engineers were skilled at what they did and had all the necessary academic qualifications. They were also high IQ people. The researchers wanted to know, who does better in the team and why? It turned out that 10 to 15% were star performers.

The researchers then wanted to know why they were better at what they did. Was it their skill? Was it their intelligence? Was it their age? Researchers found that what made all the difference was not in the academic qualifications or raw intelligence, but it was in their emotional intelligence. The star performers had a great ability to setup ad hoc networks over time that they could then rely on when they needed it. This ad hoc network was particularly useful in a moment of crisis which meant in these times the star performers could achieve a lot more in comparison with those who did not have their informal network of people.

In contrast, other members initiated contacts after a crisis occurred which inevitably took them longer to resolve than the star performers. Further research showed that in fact there are three types of webs present within a group of people:

• Communication Webs. This represents who talks to whom.
• Expertise Webs. This network represents who turns to whom for advice.
• Trust Webs. This network represents who places their trust in whom.

Consider what happens if someone is a main node in the Expertise Web. Other team members refer to this person for technical help. Presence on one web is not correlated with other webs. If someone wants to share their feelings, doubts, plans, or problems and needs someone to trust in, they will go to a main node in the Trust Web, which may not necessarily be the main node in the Expertise Web.

Imagine what happens if someone tried to dominate decisions by sheer technical will. If they are good technically, they may be able to convince and pull it off, it would be unlikely that anyone would trust them with their closest secrets or includes them strongly in their communication network. As a result, a dominating person may not function as well in managing the group, even though he or she may be the most technically talented person.

The star performers seem to be those who have strong nodes on every one of the three webs where they can provide their expertise as well as trust and also communicate well with others while staying in the loop.

What naturally follows is to see what it takes to become a star performer. The research showed that the star performers had the following characteristics:

• Ability to coordinate efforts in the team
• Leaders in building consensus
• Being able to see things from the other perspective such as customers or other team members
• Persuasiveness
• Promoting cooperation while avoiding conflicts
• Taking initiatives

It meant that they had to be self-motivated enough to take roles beyond what they were expected to do as part of their role. As you can see, these skills are all part of emotional skills which a team member who wants to become a star performer must master.