Motivation and emotion/Book/2023/Emotional intelligence training

Emotional intelligence training:
How can emotional intelligence be trained?

Overview

The business world has seen a great interest into adapting and providing emotional intelligence (EI) training into workplace culture with organisations now recognising EI as a factor for increased job performance, thus improving the performance of the enterprise (Gong et al., 2019). Emotional intelligence first saw it's rise in popularity in the business world by Goleman (1995), putting forward not only a way to manage one’s own emotions, but to understand others as well. It is now widely agreed that EI is a vital skill in enhancing one’s interpersonal skills as well as relations with others (Geßler et al., 2021). Recognising the need to improve EI the number of training methods and courses on offer have seen an increase over the years (Mattingly & Kraiger, 2019). With many professions from businesses to universities offering their own coaching or training courses aiming to improve EI, the question is raised as to whether these training programs can enhance EI , and the extent to which these methods can increase EI.

What kind of methods are used to train EI
Highlight the common similarities across EI training programs
How are the effects of EI training measured or quantified
Are the results of EI training stable for the short term or long term

Case Study:

Daisy is a recently hired manager and has been tasked by the company to lead a new project. A few days into the project her team is becoming more irritable and not responding well to her leadership style, but Daisy cannot fathom why her team is acting like this. The company decides to sign up Daisy and her team to an emotional intelligence training course for Daisy and her team to better understand and communicate with each other.

Focus questions:

What is emotional intelligence?
How can emotional intelligence be trained?
How can emotional intelligence be measured?

What is emotional intelligence training?

EI training aims to develop or enhance practical knowledge and skills relating to the perception, understanding, and regulation of emotions of ourselves and others (Köppe et al., 2019)
Due to the interest in the commercial and business industry there is no widely accepted standard for EI training (Mattingly & Kraiger, 2019)
EI Training programs can often be categorized as ability-based or mixed model method (Geßler et al., 2021)

Mixed model approach

Ability model approach

What are the needs for emotional intelligence training?

There are a large amount of use cases for administering EI training, which can benefit many different areas of life (Mattingly & Kraiger, 2019)
EI training programs can differ and be tailored depending on the need of the individual or group
There has been an increase of EI training program over the years to fit the needs of individuals and organisations

Personal growth

EI training can be used as a method to reduce stress (Slaski & Cartwright, 2003)
EI training to teach and improve mindfulness to reduce negative emotions (Ciarrochi & Blackledge, 2006)
To better regulate ones own emotions (Geßler et al., 2021)

Workplace applications

To prevent job burnout and increase job performance, leading to better financial performance of the organisation (Gong et al., 2019)
Improve teamwork in the workplace, see Figure 1 (Bagshaw, 2000)
Empathy and managing conflicts (Kannaiah & Shanthi, 2015)

The guidelines to training emotional intelligence

Ability based approach ideology, pros, and cons (Geßler et al., 2021)
Mixed method approach ideology, pros and cons (Mattingly & Kraiger, 2019)
Comparisons and similarities between ability and mixed method based approach

Conclusion

Analysis has shown a large amount of evidence pointing towards EI can be trained (Mattingly & Kraiger, 2019)
Recap the benefits of EI training
Recap the applications as to why EI training may be administered

Suggestions for this section:

What is the answer to the sub-title question based on psychological theory and research?
What are the answers to the focus questions?
What are the practical, take-home messages?

References

List cited references in APA style (7th ed.) or wiki style.

APA style example:

Bagshaw, M. (2000). Emotional intelligence - Training people to be affective so they can be effective. Industrial and Commercial Training, 32, 61-65. https://doi.org/10.1108/00197850010320699

Ciarrochi, J., & Blackledge, J. (2006). Mindfulness-based Emotional Intelligence: Research and training. In (pp. 21-52). https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203763896

Geßler, S., Nezlek, J. B., & Schütz, A. (2021). Training emotional intelligence: Does training in basic emotional abilities help people to improve higher emotional abilities? The Journal of Positive Psychology, 16(4), 455-464. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2020.1738537

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Bantam.

Gong, Z., Chen, Y., & Wang, Y. (2019). The Influence of Emotional Intelligence on Job Burnout and Job Performance: Mediating Effect of Psychological Capital. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02707

Kannaiah, D., & Shanthi, R. (2015). A study on emotional intelligence at work place. European Journal of Business and Management, 7, 147-154.

Köppe, C., Held, M. J., & Schütz, A. (2019). Improving Emotion Perception and Emotion Regulation through a Web-Based Emotional Intelligence Training (WEIT) Program for Future Leaders. International Journal of Emotional Education, 11(2), 17-32. https://ezproxy.canberra.edu.au/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1236233

Mattingly, V., & Kraiger, K. (2019). Can emotional intelligence be trained? A meta-analytical investigation. Human Resource Management Review, 29(2), 140-155. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2018.03.002

Slaski, M., & Cartwright, S. (2003). Emotional intelligence training and its implications for stress, health and performance. Stress and Health, 19(4), 233-239. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.979