Unit 1: Personal Development

Emotional intelligence is very important for cognitive and skills development for someone who starts building their career or wants to progress further. Hard work and hard skills are not the only characteristics that matter in this kind of development. This unit aims at showing the importance of emotional intelligence at career development and provides some practices to implement if you wish to increase it. Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. Many argue that emotional intelligence is therefore not an actual construct, but a way of describing interpersonal skills that go by other names, such as Emotional Quotient (EQ), Emotional Consciousness, Awareness, Emotional Empathy etc.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this unit learners will:

• Learn about emotional intelligence and its importance.
• Understand their level of emotional intelligence.
• Explore new ways of improving their emotional intelligence.
• Learn about the connection between emotional intelligence and a professional environment.
• Learn some tips to enhance their emotional intelligence at work.
• Practise their emotional intelligence.

Teaching Methods

Theoretical methods (90 minutes): a PowerPoint presentation with information about emotional intelligence generally (elements, components, levels) and ways (practices, techniques, ideas) to develop and enhance emotional intelligence both personally and professionally. Practical methods (90 minutes):

• 1 group activity (30 minutes), targeting strengthening emotional intelligence in teams.
• 1 individual activity (30 minutes), whose objective is for learners to discover their own possibilities and enhance the components of their emotional intelligence.
• 1 test (30 minutes), through which the learners will be able to evaluate themselves and make decisions according to their results