Emotional intelligence and agility
Our courses and workshops help individuals and teams:
- handle stress
- collaborate better
- manage people
- communicate clearly
- be effective
- be creative
- develop leadership capabilities
We offer half and one-day workshops, longer programs spanning a whole year and one-to-one coaching.
We also use the Mayers Salovey Caruso abilities test of emotional intelligence called (MSCEIT). This model gives invaluable feedback on your ability to recognise, understand, use and manage emotions to optimise your decision making.
Find out how we can help you grow your business by using emotional intelligence techniques contact andy@breathe-australia.com or book your MSCEIT emotional intelligence test and feedback coaching session
What is emotional intelligence (EQ), and why should we develop it?
EQ is the ability to recognise, understand, use and manage our own emotions, and those of the people around us to optimise our decision-making.
People with heightened emotional intelligence skills tend to be more resilient, happier and healthier, have good work and home life balance, are more financially successful and enjoy rewarding careers.
Peter Salovey and John Mayer were the first major researchers in this area, and they defined EQ as:
"the ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth."
When it comes to the workplace, we understand that emotions arise in others and ourselves for many reasons. It may be that someone or something is getting in the way of us achieving our goals or our values are not aligned. When this happens, we may choose to lash out or learn techniques to help us pause and observe the emotions as they arise. In this moment of self-reflection, we become empowered. This moment's pause gives us choices:
- In that brief pause we may be able to see the bigger picture and appreciate that the person in front of us is not the cause of our problems but part of the solution;
- We may realise that we still feel aggrieved by the person's actions, but in that brief pause we can regulate our emotions and explain clearly and calmly why we feel aggrieved;
- We may also realise that this is not the time for confrontation but that a clear conversation will need to be had with the person when the time is right for both of you when you are both open to each other's perspectives.
The brief pause also enables us to be less reactive and access wisdom from our professional training, personal experiences, procedural experiences, personality, and intuition. People with heightened EQ levels can integrate important information from emotional signals with other areas of stored knowledge.
Developing your EQ abilities
The ability to recognise, use, understand and manage emotions is key to success in all walks of life. The good news is that EQ is an ability, which can be developed through evidenced-based neuroscience coaching. The Mayer, Salovey, Caruso test (MSCEIT) measures EQ and gives a tailored report on a person's ability in each of these four areas:
- Recognising Emotions - The ability to perceive emotions in oneself and others as well as in objects, art, stories, music, and other stimuli
- Facilitating Thought - The ability to generate, use, and feel an emotion as necessary to communicate feelings or employ them in other cognitive processes
- Understanding Emotions - The ability to understand emotional information, to understand how emotions combine and progress through relationship transitions, and to appreciate such emotional meanings
- Managing Emotions - The ability to be open to feelings, and to modulate them in oneself and others to promote personal understanding and growth
What is the value add for developing EQ at work?
In a fast-paced working environment, people need to excel in the following four areas:
- Recognise emotions - anticipate social signals sent by clients and colleagues. This helps us share information effectively, satisfy expectations, become aware of each other's triggers, become more aware of goals and values and add value to customers.
- Use emotions – be able to generate new feelings, which are relevant to the task at hand. This is an essential skill when handling heightened workloads or dealing with challenging customers, stakeholders, suppliers or colleagues.
- Understand emotions – if we know why emotions arise and what actions people are most likely to take, we are well placed to manage teams and anticipate customer requirements and timelines.
- Manage emotions – emotions provide information about whether our own goals or other people's goals have been obstructed or satisfied. Knowing how to use this information and apply useful strategies to embed learning helps us grow and develop resilience.
Each of us has a different ability in each of these areas. Knowledge of our unique profile enables us to introduce evidenced-based techniques, which, with practice, will improve our ability in each area. It helps us communicate effectively and improves our ability to understand each other's goals, values and triggers.
Why develop EQ?
Develop Resilience - Improve the speed at which you recover from adversity and learn practical tools to help develop resilience
Develop a more Positive Outlook - Consider goal setting and aligning personal values and goals with the team and organisation. Hope and meaning at work is developed when there is clarity around goals and values.
Develop greater Social Intuition - Improve your ability to pick up information from other people and your environment
Develop a greater understanding of Context - Develop your ability to fit in with your surroundings. The most emotionally intelligent people are aware that they need to adapt their strategies to their environment.
Develop greater Self-Awareness - Learn to observe the physical and emotional signals that your own body is telling you and incorporate them effectively into your decision-making process.
What our clients say
3-month emotional intelligence program with South 32 Canninton mine
"Andy doesn't bring a predeveloped package to sell to you, what he brings is expertise and experience that he can apply to your problem. The more we spoke about the challenges I wanted to address, and how they could be tackled; the more confident I was that Andy was the right person to develop a program and deliver it to my team. The other difference with Andy is you don't get a relationship based on the next purchase order. You get ongoing feedback, enhancements to the program, learnings you can apply, and continued support consistent with someone truly passionate about what they do." Tony Eckert, Head of asset management, Cannington Mine, South 32
Emotional intelligence programs with the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences
"Andy has a rare gift of mixing in depth scientific knowledge and ancient wisdom to deliver a suite of wellbeing tools that resonate with people leading modern and busy lives . Andy has worked with staff at the Australian Institute of Marine Science for three years and his emotional intelligence programs course have delivered new tools for communication and (inter)personal understanding that have improved day-to-day interactions amongst many of us. Because of Andy's engaging style I undertook two meditation courses in my own time which provided new inspiration on how to manage self and others. I can't wait for the next instalment of Andy's excellent courses - his knowledge and positivity has long-lasting benefits for those lucky enough to have the experience. Dr Line Bay , Principal Research Scientist and Team Leader. Australian Institute of Marine Science.
Bank of Queensland one to one emotional intelligence development programs
"Andy recently delivered a workshop to the team on Emotional Intelligence, which was both informative and engaging. His insight has assisted our staff and business with resilience skills, which will enable us to grow in an industry of rapid disruption. Andy brings to the table extensive knowledge in this area with warmth and humour and combined with his current and past experiences in the corporate world helps makes it very relatable. We very much enjoyed working with Andy and look forward to incorporating more workshops into our team development sessions." Lisa Leonardi, Bank of Queensland
Australian leaders program
"As senior leaders from a variety of industries and organisations, we asked Andy to develop and deliver a workshop that would suit our needs both individually and also help develop skills in leading our teams. Andy designed one that exactly met the brief and we had a fabulous day learning, due to his: knowledge and passion for the topic; engaging style; and ability to tune into the individual and group dynamics. I would thoroughly recommend Andy" Kari Arbouin Associate Vice Chancellor at CQ University Australia
"We invited Andy to join our voluntary and professionally diverse group of leaders when we had already been immersed in parts of mindfulness and self-development for three years. Andy's comfort within his own skin, clear passion for and extensive knowledge of the topic, together with engaging delivery, kept the whole group engrossed for the day. We focused on emotional intelligence as our entry point and Andy helped us leave with specific actions to try. I'm definitely going to introduce Andy to the rest of the Exec Team at Australian Pork." Peter Haydon Marketing Director Australian Pork Association
