DescriptionThis leadership course explores the meaning of various moods and emotions. We lay out effective ways to manage moods and emotions that can affect an organization. We establish the importance of a positive attitude in fostering a healthy work culture and investigate various theories of optimism. Show
The course then examines the ‘human capital’ theory of career engagement. We demonstrate the importance of laying out a career path within an organization to reduce turnover and increase employees’ involvement and investment. We compare career management and career engagement and explain how the ‘wheels’ of career engagement relate to individual employees. Finally, we analyze the concept of ‘adaptability’ as an important element in managing career paths within an organization. We establish the need for adaptability and describe the organizational processes that can promote or inhibit it. This management training course shows you how to develop your social skills and effectively manage an organization filled with emotionally intelligent employees. Emotions affect worker performance and this course lays out the leadership principles that can bring out the best in you and those around you. Start Course Now If you’ve been following our blog, you know that we’ve devoted considerable attention to emotional intelligence.This isn’t an accident—our focus on the subject reflects its importance in the positive psychology literature and the value of a culture of emotional intelligence (EI). This piece offers a useful next step for anyone who has been interested in learning about emotional intelligence, but hasn’t created a plan for improving their own EI yet. Before you read on, we thought you might like to download our 3 Emotional Intelligence Exercises for free. These science-based exercises will not only enhance your ability to understand and work with your emotions but will also give you the tools to foster the emotional intelligence of your clients, students or employees. This Article Contains:
What are Emotional Intelligence Activities and Exercises?As the name suggests, emotional intelligence activities and exercises are attempts to build, develop, and maintain one’s emotional intelligence, often called EI or EQ for Emotional Quotient. Many people are interested in improving their EI, for a variety of reasons. Some of the most common reasons to work on your EI include:
And, of course, many people want to enhance their EI simply to understand themselves and the people they interact with on a deeper level. There is no downside to becoming more emotionally intelligent and the benefits can be numerous. If you’re interested in enhancing your EI, rest assured that you are not alone in your goal! Read on to learn how to go about meeting your goal. Tips for Using Emotional Intelligence ToolsWhether you’re looking to build your own emotional intelligence, encourage its development in your children or students, or trying to boost your team’s or organization’s EQ, there are many activities, tools, and resources you can use. You can find a few of them below. Tips for Enhancing Your Own Emotional IntelligenceIf your goal is to boost your own emotional intelligence or help your clients boost their emotional intelligence (e.g., any EI work on an individual level), keep these seven tips in mind:
Learn more about these important tips. Tips for Enhancing the Emotional Intelligence of TeamsIf you’re looking to enhance your team’s emotional intelligence, keep these 7 tips in mind:
Read more about how to implement these tips. EQ experts Vanessa Urch Druskat and Steven B. Wolff tell us that three factors are absolutely essential to the success of a workgroup:
If it sounds to you like these three factors are strongly associated with emotional intelligence, you’re right! You can’t have an emotionally intelligent team with emotionally intelligent members, but it takes more than that—you need emotionally intelligent norms and values, the right team atmosphere, and willingness to build team EQ. To do that, you’ll need:
Make sure to keep these three levels in mind as you work on building your emotionally intelligent team; remember that it’s not all about the individuals on the team, but about how they interact with each other and with those outside the group (Druskat & Wolff, 2001). 7 Emotional Intelligence ActivitiesIt can be daunting to think about how to improve your emotional intelligence— where do you even begin? Not to worry! There are many activities and exercises that are designed to do just that. Some are intended for individuals and others for groups, but you’re sure to find something that will meet your needs. 3 Exercises for Developing and Improving EIThese three exercises are meant to help individuals build their emotional intelligence and they are particularly helpful for leaders who want to boost their EI/EQ. 1. Emotional Intelligence Assessment for LeadersLeaders have a big job to do in any organization: they need to shape, communicate, and contribute to the organizational vision. Naturally, emotional intelligence helps immensely in this role. This is an activity that leaders can do to assess their own emotional intelligence, which is the first step towards improving it. Find more emotional intelligence assessments here. This activity consists of 10 descriptions of vision-killing behaviors that a leader may engage in, and a scale upon which to rate your own engagement in each behavior from ‘very seldom’ to ‘very often.’ The vision-killing behaviors include:
If you find yourself frequently engaging in these behaviors, that’s a good indication that your leader EQ is low. Pay close attention to the three behaviors you engage in the most often and commit to working on reducing or removing those behaviors entirely. 2. Temperament AnalysisAnother good assessment activity is the temperament analysis. It was designed to help participants learn about temperament, understand their own temperament, and learn how to work with it. To get started, keep in mind that our temperament is made up of tendencies and feelings that are influenced by four factors or parameters:
To give this activity a try, get started with the temperament questionnaire:
Think about each of the questions in detail and try discussing with a friend to maximize the learning opportunity. See this exercise in more detail. 3. Be the Fog (Regulate Your Emotions)It can be very difficult for many of us to accept criticism, especially if receiving criticism provokes strong emotions. This simple exercise will help you “be the fog” and learn how to regulate and modulate your emotions in a difficult situation. Here’s what to do:
(Skills Converged website) For example, if someone tells you something like:
Respond with:
When you accept the criticism that is thrown your way (without actually taking it to heart), you will find that you disarm the person criticizing you. To practice, ask someone you know well to criticize you at rapid speed, one after the other, and employ the fogging technique to counter it. Read more about this exercise. Emotional Intelligence Group ActivitiesIf you’d like to help a group work on building their EQ or work on your own EQ in a group setting, you’re in luck!There are tons of group activities focused on developing, enhancing, and maintaining your emotional intelligence. Check out the four examples below. 4. Accepting Your EmotionsThis exercise can help you work on one of the most fundamental skills related to emotional intelligence: understanding and accepting your own emotions. You’ll need a group of people for this activity, but you could also modify it to work with just one pair. Here’s how to do it:
Read about this activity at the source. 5. Making Eye ContactAs the name of this exercise suggests, it involves using eye contact to better understand our own emotions and how we connect emotionally with others. Gather some index cards and distribute them to your participants, then ask them to spread out within the room. Tell them to imagine themselves in an art gallery or a museum. Next, have them move through the three stages:
Allot 10 minutes or so for the group discussion. Here are a few questions to guide your discussion:
This exercise will help you and your group see just how vital eye contact is to emotional connection. Here is a full description of this exercise. 6. If You Knew…This activity is an excellent choice for new teams or as an icebreaker at small events. It will encourage participants to share information about themselves with others in a way that encourages intimacy and group cohesion. Start with a flip chart or a whiteboard with these questions on it:
Once everyone is ready to get started, ask them all to sit in a semi-circle facing a flipchart or whiteboard. Randomly select one participant to answer the questions on the board, and tell them they have 10 minutes to go into as much detail as possible. Instruct the other participants not to ask questions or interrupt during those 10 minutes, then move on to the next participant. At the end, pose these questions to get a good discussion started:
Completing this exercise will likely result in you feeling more connected and comfortable with the other participants, and help you learn how to read emotions in others and listen attentively. You can find this activity at its source and find more EQ framework, charts and diagrams here. What would it actually look like, to live in a culture where empathy and EQ were part of our vision? Cleveland Clinic made this video as one vision of empathy, and the ability to see other’s pain. If you watched the video, what parts did you find most insightful? We would love to hear from you in our comments section below. 7. Exercise to Increase Your Self-AwarenessAll you need to start improving your self-awareness in a group setting is a stack of 3 x 5 index cards. Oh, and a group of people! Here are the instructions: Part One:
Part Two:
Part Three:
If any of these activities interests you, be sure to check out this post on the Emotion Wheel. 5 EQ WorksheetsIf you like circling, underlining, and filling in the blanks to work on improving your emotional intelligence, you might find these 6 EQ worksheets helpful. 1. Giving Feedback: Improving Your Self-AwarenessWith this worksheet, you’ll boost your self-awareness and, in turn, your emotional intelligence. Here are all the questions it poses:
If you complete this worksheet and want to continue the self-exploration and EQ-boosting, go through these discussion questions:
If you completed this worksheet in a group setting, you can also use these two questions to spark a useful discussion:
2. Self-Awareness ActivityAnother good worksheet for enhancing your self-awareness comes from Florida State University. It begins with a great point: it’s hard to make changes to yourself when you aren’t sure where to start! Enhancing your self-awareness will help you figure out what your strengths are, where your EQ competency levels lie, and where you should focus your self-improvement efforts. The worksheet lists 30 strengths or character traits that you might feel are strengths or areas for you to improve. This list includes traits like:
On one side, there is space to identify three strengths you have and on the other, there is space to identify three traits you would like to work on. If you think of any strength or an area you’d like to improve that is not included on the list, add it in any way. Your list should be personalized to you, so add and edit what you need! 3. Social Awareness ActivityIf you feel comfortable with your self-awareness but are less comfortable with your social awareness, this worksheet is the one for you! Social awareness is all about how well we understand others, how we recognize and identify emotions in others, and how we manage emotions in social situations. The worksheet includes five pictures of faces with various expressions and a list of emotions on the other side, like:
The instructions state that you should feel free to match more than one emotion with each picture and that you’re free to add more emotions if you’d like. The point of the worksheet is not to create a one-to-one match or to get them “right.” Instead, the point is to be more aware of the emotions of those around you and to be more attentive and responsive in your interactions with others. 4. Self-Management ActivityIf you’re more interested in improving your self-management skills than your relationship management skills, this worksheet can help! It opens with this description:
The worksheet lists some positive and negative emotions for reference. Positive emotions include:
The negative emotions include:
This activity can be focused on any emotion, but the worksheet targets anger. Here are the instructions:
Once you have filled in the blanks above, move on to planning for how you will handle future episodes of anger:
Keep these planned future coping skills in mind and make sure to pull them out the next time you get angry. 5. Name GameThis worksheet is a great choice for teens and pre-teens who are just beginning to learn about emotional intelligence and working on building valuable social skills.The worksheet includes two spaces to write out two names: the teen or pre-teen’s own name, and the name of a friend or family member who has influenced their life. In the first space, the user should write out each letter of their name in a vertical format. Next, they will note an adjective that describes one of their positive traits for each letter of their name. For example, if your name is Jane Doe, you might write: J – Joyful The user should complete their own name, then do the same for the person who has influenced their lives. Completing this worksheet will help the user to start thinking about themselves, their personality, and the traits and characteristics of others. This will help them stay open-minded and attentive to emotions – both their own emotions and the emotions of others. Emotional Intelligence Workbooks (PDFs)If you’re looking for a workbook to guide you through improving your emotional intelligence, you have several options. Here are just a few of the workbooks available (some paid, some free):
PowerPoint Presentations on EI (PPTs and Images)Workbooks aren’t your style? Are you more of a visual learner? No problem! For more information on emotional intelligence, check out these slideshows and presentations on the subject:
5 Emotional Intelligence Programs, Workshops, and WebinarsTo get more involved with what’s happening in EI/EQ research and boost your own understanding of how to apply it, you might want to check out a training program, workshop, or webinar. These are just a few of your many options:
5 Online Courses for EITo get even deeper into understanding the concept of emotional intelligence and learning how to build and continue to develop your own EI, there are several courses that you might find useful:
Here is a master list of some of the best and most popular emotional intelligence training opportunities. Useful Emotional Intelligence Movies, TEDx Talks, and YouTube VideosFor those who want a less intensive crash course in emotional intelligence, there are some excellent videos and Emotional Intelligence TED Talks you can check out, like: The Power of Emotional Intelligence TEDTalk by Travis Bradberry6 Steps to Improve Your Emotional Intelligence TEDTalk by Ramona HackerThe People Currency: Practicing Emotional Intelligence TEDTalk by Jason BridgesWhat is Emotional Intelligence from The School of LifeDaniel Goleman Introduces Emotional Intelligence from Big ThinkEmotional Intelligence – Understanding EQ with Daniel Goleman – Animated Book Review from Practical PsychologyRachel Lyons, from Fitch Learning, lists these award-winning movies where you can see emotional intelligence on display:
Read more about the EQ skills here. Building an EQ Toolkit – Discussion Questions and NotesIf you’re serious about improving your EQ (or your clients’ EQ), you might want to use some of the resources in this piece to build your own EQ toolkit.As you build your toolkit, here are some concepts, notes, and discussion questions that you will want to keep in mind. There are five key characteristics of EQ:
Those who are high in emotional intelligence are more likely to be successful in their career, in their social relationships, in their intimate and romantic relationships, and healthier both mentally and physically (Grewal & Salovey, 2006). A popular item to include in your toolkit is the book Emotional Intelligence 2.0, which can help readers improve their understanding of emotional intelligence and assess their own EQ level. If you decide to add the book to your toolkit, here are some excellent discussion questions for those who read the book:
For quick, in-the-moment opportunities to enhance your EQ, there are three vital questions you can ask yourself:
For example, if you just noticed an employee doing something great at work but remember that they made a mistake a couple of weeks ago that you never addressed… “No! Stop! Ask yourself: If you follow through with these three questions in this situation, you will likely find yourself making one of these conclusions:
Relevant: How to Improve Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace A Take-Home MessageI hope this piece has provided you with some excellent resources for building and enhancing your emotional intelligence or that of your children, students, employees, or clients. Keep in mind that everyone has their own unique starting point and their own pace for learning, and make sure not to put too much pressure on anyone to “get it” right away—even yourself! What are your thoughts on how to build and maintain your emotional intelligence? Do these tools seem helpful? What other tools and exercises have you found that can help boost EQ? Let us know in the comments! We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our 3 Emotional Intelligence Exercises for free.
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