Strengthening Emotional Intelligence
Facilitator: David H. Robey, PhD
Overview of class
Understanding and using emotional intelligence (EI) increases self-esteem, self-control and influence on others. To be effective and successful on the job, employees cannot rely solely on intellectual skills and technical competence. Success with people is essential to success on the job. Cultivating EI skills helps people see emotions as useful information by which to make sense of and navigate the social environment of work. Emotional intelligence training involves learning human skills that include 1. self-awareness, 2. managing personal emotions (or €œself-regulation) 3. empathy for others€™ emotions and 4. marshaling positive emotions and passions for a full life. This class provides training in:
- Perceiving emotions €“ the ability to detect and decipher emotions in faces, gestures, and situations€”including the ability to identify personal emotions. Perceiving emotions represents a basic aspect of emotional intelligence that makes possible all other processing of emotional information.
- Using emotions €“ the ability to harness emotions to facilitate various cognitive activities, such as thinking and problem solving. The emotionally intelligent person capitalizes fully upon changing moods to best meet the task at hand.
- Understanding emotions €“ the ability to comprehend emotional language and to appreciate complicated relationships among emotions. For example, understanding emotions encompasses the ability to be sensitive to slight variations between emotions, and the ability to recognize and describe how emotions evolve over time.
- Managing emotions €“ the ability to regulate emotions in ourselves and others. The emotionally intelligent person can harness emotions, even negative ones, and manage them to achieve intended goals.
Learning Objectives
- Understand emotional intelligence competencies
- Understand the difference between IQ and EIQ
- Increase EQ skills in the four cornerstones of emotional intelligence
- Manage disruptive emotions that hijack behavior
- Strengthen working relationships to increase productivity
Mentoring
Facilitator: David H. Robey, PhD
Effective mentoring maximizes professional and personal potential. Mentoring is not a replacement for coaching or training; it is unique in the process of building team members. The term €œmentor€ comes from the classic Greek story by Homer, The Odyssey. In the legend, the warrior king Telemachus went on a long journey not knowing when, or if, he would return. Because of his love for his son, Telemachus, before he left he employed Mentor to provide €œcare and education€ for Telemachus. Mentoring, therefore, is a relationship where a person with greater experience and wisdom guides, influences, and motivates another person with lesser experience both professionally and personally.
Organizational Benefits of Effective Mentoring
- Builds in-house talent
- Improves productivity and initiative
- Builds leadership skills
- Provides a clearer understanding of the €œbig picture€ for the work team or the entire organization
- Sharpens view of the fit between personal goals and organizational needs
- Strengthens succession planning
Benefits to the Mentee
- Professional growth
- Technical growth
- Guidance through organizational challenges
- Organizational access
- Personal support
- A €œsafe zone€ for confidential discussions
Benefits to the Mentor
- Sharpen leadership skills
- Source of professional value
- Source of personal value
- Career enhancement
- Gain new perspective on people
- Invest in future leadership for the organization
- Always come to a new understanding of themselves
Learning objectives:
- Establishing the purpose of the individual mentoring relationship
- Setting goals for mentor and mentee
- Structuring productive mentoring sessions
- Developing key mentoring tools: active listening, goal setting, using effective questions, and strengthening emotional support
- Defining/creating events or projects that demonstrate goal success