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Master in Management

Electives

Beyond IQ: Emotional Intelligence and the Development of Leadership

MM 540
Winter 2007

Jennifer Joss Bradley, Ph.D.
621-2137 or 552-0289
jossbradley@charter.net

Course Overview

The goals of this course are:

1. To raise awareness about dimensions beyond intellect and technical expertise that are essential for management and leadership success (and for life, really). Specifically, we will be focusing on social and emotional intelligence and related competencies.
2. To introduce you to a process for assessing self/others and developing plans for acquiring management related competencies.
3. To catalyze new thinking and the development of new competencies in each participant.

The underlying philosophy of this course includes the following:

1. You are here because you want to learn and grow in your emotional intelligence and abilities related to success in work/school/life.
2. You learn best when you are an active participant in the teaching/learning process and can choose activities best suited to your situation and your learning style.
3. You have a lot to learn from harvesting your own and others’ experience from past as well as future (experimental) behavior.

Therefore, the methodology used in this course will include:

1. In-class discussion and sharing of experiences.
2. Self-reflection through writing, and facilitative peer interactions.
3. Traditional lecture and presentation of new concepts and material.
4. Role playing, behavioral experiments, and other forms of actively practicing new skills.
5. Online Blackboard discussion.
6. Accessing other expertise through research, interviewing, and presentations.

Given the above, this course will require:

1. Your open mind and commitment to self-reflection, learning and development.
2. Your active participation in class discussion, peer coaching, and experiential learning.
3. Your commitment to maintaining confidence where appropriate and helping other participants with the development process.
4. That you be in class weekly.
5. That you keep up with the reading, in and out-of-class activity, and online discussion.

What You Will Gain

• A broader understanding of the EI competencies required of effective leaders/managers.
• Understanding and experience of a process for assessment and development of self and others.
• Increased awareness of personal vision & goals as well as knowledge/abilities.
• A plan for ongoing self-development consistent with personal life/career goals.

Required Text/Materials

1. Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., and McKee, A. (2002). Primal Leadership: Realizing the power of emotional intelligence. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
2. Goleman, Daniel. (1998). Working with Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.
3. Lapid-Bogda, Ginger. (2004). Bringing Out the Best in Yourself at Work: How to Use the Enneagram System for Success. New York: McGraw Hill.
4. Course reader (available at the SOU Bookstore).

Course Work Assignments

Please note that, while we discuss these assignments in class, it is your responsibility to review the details below with regard to each assignment’s grading criteria.

Online Discussion/Blackboard

Because you will receive 4 credits for this course and we will generally have three hours of class time weekly, you will be required to participate weekly in an ongoing discussion through the SOU Blackboard intranet program. (If you are not set-up to use this yet, please contact the MiM office immediately.) This forum will allow us to share our insights and experiences as we endeavor to learn about and improve on various competencies from the EI framework. Each week a different course participant will begin and facilitate the discussion (along with me). As the facilitator-of-the-week, you will need to log-on and participate daily. Others will be asked to log-on, read the inputs, and add comments 2x per week. You will be graded on participation as well as the perceived effort and thoughtfulness that goes into your contribution to this forum. Please also be thoughtful about over doing your participation.

Vision/Values Articulation Paper

The purpose of this paper is to help you think out what you would like to achieve in your career/life in the not-too-distant future, as well as to begin to help you make the link between emotional competencies and the achievement of that future vision. The paper should be a summary vision of your life/career future (3-10 years out), as well as you might project at this moment. It should include: 1) vision of your future life/work (include discussion of any leadership style you’d like to develop further if relevant); 2) guiding values; 3) EI competencies you will need to achieve to move you closer to that vision; 4) understanding and the relevance of data from in-class exercises. It will be graded on the inclusion of the above four points and, like all assignments, on the degree of self-reflection and thoughtfulness that went into the work as well as, to a lesser extent, the quality of the writing (clarity, organization, spelling), and NOT generally on the presentation (I don’t care about cover pages, spacing, or other details, although typing is appreciated).

Live Withs

These are weekly assignments that challenge you to implement some of the practices of emotional intelligence in your daily life. These behavioral experiments are the cornerstone of the course in that they help you get a concrete sense of emotional intelligence, help you learn about your strengths and development needs, and help you (if you want to) make some adaptive changes in your life/work. These write-ups should include: 1) A brief account of what you did, with at least one concrete behavioral example and 2) what you learned (about EI, yourself, others). A positive experience with the LW is not essential to your grade. You need only try, observe, and learn something. These assignments will be graded on the inclusion of the above points and, primarily, on the degree with which you engaged with the material and thought about it/yourself. In contrast to the other assignments, however, it is acceptable to write these in a kind of free form or journal style without much thought to the organization. Need not be typed.

Learning from the Field

This paper can describe one of the following: 1) an interview with a local leader on the relevance of EI competencies at work; 2) a book or significant article on emotional intelligence or some aspect of the EI framework; or 3) website(s) related to measuring or developing emotional intelligence or any of the competencies. Most importantly, choose something that interests you or is related to your learning goals and indicate why the topic is of significance to you. You will need to link your study to the concepts and information we’ve explored in class. Please review your choice with the instructor prior to beginning the assignment. This paper will be graded on: 1) link to course concepts; 2) clarity and quality with which you describe the material; 3) link to your interests or learning goals - how is this meaningful to YOU? Depending on the size and make-up of the class, this paper could turn into a 10 minute presentation. Either way, please put it in a format that can be posted on Blackboard so the whole class can learn from your work.

Development Plan

This is a concrete action plan with specific developmental steps, linked to your long-term vision, that will move you toward greater social and emotional competency. The 2-3 EI-related change objectives around which the plan will be built will be chosen by you because they are competencies you want to develop to fulfill your life/career goals. An optional template will be provided in class. The important thing is to create specific, behaviorally concrete, time-bound action steps that will help you improve upon the competencies you have chosen. We will discuss this further in class, as well as do some practice development planning. The plan will be graded on 1) specificity – did you list exactly what you are going to do, how, and by when?; 2) comprehensiveness – did you include all the sections discussed in example plan?; 3) link to EI & related competencies; 4) extent to which you engaged with the material, thought about yourself, and expended effort toward a quality plan.

Student Assessment Criteria

In determining grades, assignments will be weighted as follows:

 

These percentages are meant to apply to performance within a “normal” range. Performance significantly outside the norm in either direction in any area can impact your grade materially, positively or negatively.

Flexible enough to work for you today, solid enough to work for you in the future.

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