Emotional Intelligence at Work Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends People Managers, Team Leaders and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-IS-021

Before you join: Participants should have at least one year of workplace experience and regular contact with colleagues, managers, customers, suppliers or stakeholders.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Technical expertise does not prevent misunderstandings, defensive reactions, damaged trust or poorly handled conflict. Managers and specialists are often required to deliver difficult messages, respond to criticism, influence stakeholders and sustain working relationships while under pressure. Emotional intelligence provides practical methods for recognising emotional cues, regulating reactions and choosing responses that support sound judgement and professional conduct.

This course develops the self-awareness, self-management, empathy and relationship-management skills needed for effective workplace performance. Participants identify personal triggers, separate facts from interpretations, use cognitive reappraisal to test assumptions and apply pause techniques before consequential responses. They practise active listening, feedback conversations, influence discussions, conflict de-escalation and emotionally intelligent leadership behaviours. The course also examines how power, culture, role expectations and psychological safety affect the way emotions are expressed and interpreted at work.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with realistic case work, facilitated group discussion, paired simulations and individual reflection. Cases include performance concerns, service failures, competing stakeholder demands, restructuring communications and difficult cross-functional relationships. Participants leave with a personal emotional-intelligence application plan, trigger map, feedback preparation template and practical conversation checklists. The course is delivered over five days in a classroom in more than 50 cities or live online, with approximately 6.5 contact hours each day. Participants who complete the course receive a certificate of completion.

The course suits professionals who already manage regular workplace interactions and need more deliberate methods for handling pressure, feedback, conflict and influence. It is particularly relevant to managers, team leaders, client-facing staff, project professionals and technical specialists whose results depend on trust and cooperation.

What you will be able to do

  • Identify personal emotional triggers using structured self-awareness and reflection methods
  • Apply cognitive reappraisal and pause techniques during emotionally charged workplace situations
  • Interpret verbal and nonverbal emotional cues without making unsupported assumptions
  • Conduct active-listening conversations that clarify concerns, needs and expectations
  • Deliver developmental feedback using the SBI Feedback Model and future-focused requests
  • De-escalate workplace conflict through neutral language, acknowledgement and interest-based dialogue
  • Plan emotionally intelligent responses to difficult stakeholder, team and performance conversations
  • Create a 90-day emotional-intelligence application plan with observable behaviour measures

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater composure when receiving criticism, challenge or unexpected bad news
  • Clearer recognition of personal triggers before reactions damage relationships
  • More credible feedback conversations with specific behavioural requests
  • Improved ability to read concerns behind colleagues' words and behaviour
  • A practical 90-day plan for changing recurring interpersonal habits

For your organisation

  • Fewer avoidable escalations caused by defensive communication and unchecked assumptions
  • Better manager conversations on performance, workload, conduct and change
  • Higher-quality cross-functional cooperation during competing priorities and pressure
  • More constructive handling of customer complaints, stakeholder challenge and service failures
  • Clearer behavioural expectations and follow-through after difficult workplace discussions

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can explain emotional intelligence and identify its effects on judgement, relationships and workplace results.

  • Emotional intelligence defined through perception, understanding, regulation and relationship management
  • Separate observable behaviour, emotion, mood, thought and physiological response
  • Map workplace consequences of unchecked emotion for judgement, trust and decisions
  • Mayer-Salovey-Caruso ability model: perceive, use, understand and manage emotions
  • Distinguish emotional intelligence from personality, optimism and technical expertise
  • Establish confidentiality agreements for emotionally sensitive classroom discussion

Participants can recognise their emotional patterns and identify assumptions shaping workplace reactions.

  • Trigger mapping connects situations, appraisals, body cues, impulses and actions
  • Use an emotion vocabulary wheel to label feelings precisely
  • Johari Window compares self-perception with feedback from trusted colleagues
  • Separate facts from interpretations using the Ladder of Inference
  • Identify recurring threat responses during pressure, ambiguity and status challenges
  • Track energy, mood and attention patterns through a daily log

Participants can regulate immediate reactions and select proportionate responses in demanding situations.

  • Cognitive reappraisal tests alternative explanations before responding to perceived threat
  • Name-and-tame labelling reduces emotional intensity before consequential conversations
  • STOP pause sequence creates space between stimulus, impulse and response
  • Match regulation choices to urgency, stakes, audience and available evidence
  • Prepare recovery routines after criticism, error, conflict or difficult news
  • Recognise escalation signs requiring a break, support or formal referral

Participants can listen for emotion and meaning while checking their interpretations with others.

  • Active listening separates content, emotion, need and underlying concern
  • Use open, probing and checking questions without turning dialogue into interrogation
  • Reflect feelings accurately without assuming motives or offering premature solutions
  • Perspective-taking distinguishes empathy from agreement, rescue and emotional contagion
  • Read vocal pace, tone, pauses and nonverbal congruence carefully
  • Adapt listening responses for cultural, hierarchy and communication-style differences

Participants can build trust through reliable behaviour, clear boundaries and respectful communication.

  • Build trust through reliable commitments, transparent reasoning and respectful boundaries
  • Psychological safety behaviours invite questions, dissent, error reporting and learning
  • Clarify expectations using explicit agreements on roles, decisions and response times
  • Repair minor trust breaches through acknowledgement, explanation and changed behaviour
  • Recognise power differences affecting candour, emotion display and participation
  • Set boundaries using clear requests, consequences and respectful follow-through

Participants can give and receive feedback without avoidable defensiveness or ambiguity.

  • SBI feedback structures observations, behavioural impact and specific future requests
  • Separate intent from impact when responding to difficult feedback
  • Feedforward converts recurring friction into observable future behaviours
  • Use inquiry before advocacy when accounts of events differ
  • Receive feedback with clarification, reflection and proportionate accountability
  • Document behavioural agreements, owners, review dates and support needed

Participants can prepare influence conversations that address stakeholders' concerns and emotional responses.

  • Prepare stakeholder conversations around interests, concerns, emotions and decision criteria
  • Frame messages for task focus, relationship needs and perceived fairness
  • Make requests using observations, needs, options and clear commitments
  • Manage upward conversations without defensiveness, deference or emotional suppression
  • Handle disappointing decisions while preserving credibility and working relationships
  • Choose channel, timing and audience for emotionally charged messages

Participants can reduce conflict intensity and guide difficult conversations towards workable agreements.

  • Diagnose conflict sources: data, goals, roles, values, process and relationships
  • Distinguish productive disagreement from personal attack, avoidance and retaliation
  • De-escalate with slower pace, neutral language and acknowledgement of concerns
  • Use interest-based negotiation to generate options before positional bargaining
  • Set ground rules for contested meetings and difficult conversations
  • Escalate appropriately when conduct, safety or policy breaches arise

Participants can demonstrate emotionally intelligent leadership during performance pressure, change and uncertainty.

  • Leaders model emotional steadiness during change, incidents and performance pressure
  • Conduct emotionally intelligent one-to-ones using preparation, curiosity and agreed actions
  • Recognise burnout indicators, workload strain and withdrawal without diagnosing colleagues
  • Address poor performance with dignity, evidence, support and clear standards
  • Respond to team emotion after restructures, service failures or critical events
  • Balance compassion with accountability in decisions affecting people

Participants can convert course methods into measurable behavioural commitments for current workplace priorities.

  • Interpret a workplace emotional-intelligence case using triggers, needs and behavioural choices
  • Select regulation, listening, feedback or conflict methods for priority situations
  • Create if-then implementation intentions for predictable emotionally charged moments
  • Define observable behaviour measures and feedback sources for progress reviews
  • Schedule peer accountability conversations at 30, 60 and 90 days
  • Draft a personal emotional-intelligence application plan tied to current responsibilities

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Personal trigger and response map
  2. Emotional regulation technique checklist
  3. Active listening question bank
  4. SBI feedback preparation template
  5. Difficult conversation planning worksheet
  6. 90-day emotional-intelligence application plan

Who should attend

  • People Managers — need consistent methods for feedback, performance and team conversations
  • Team Leaders — need to maintain trust and composure during operational pressure
  • Project Managers — need to manage competing interests, conflict and stakeholder expectations
  • Client Relationship Managers — need to respond constructively to dissatisfaction and demanding interactions
  • Technical Specialists — need greater influence across teams without relying solely on expertise
  • HR and Learning Professionals — need stronger skills for sensitive employee and manager discussions

Skills and tools covered

Emotional self-awarenessImpulse regulationActive listeningConstructive feedbackConflict de-escalationStakeholder influence

Tools and standards

Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Ability Model, Johari Window, Ladder of Inference, SBI Feedback Model

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, followed by case analysis, group exercises, paired simulations and structured reflection. Participants work with realistic situations involving feedback, conflict, stakeholder pressure, poor performance and change. Facilitators provide observation criteria and practical coaching on language, listening and emotional regulation. Individual application planning connects course methods to current responsibilities, recurring triggers and priority workplace relationships. Delivery can be adapted for classroom or live online cohorts while retaining discussion, simulation and peer feedback.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have at least one year of workplace experience and regular contact with colleagues, managers, customers, suppliers or stakeholders. They should be able to reflect honestly on their own behaviour and discuss workplace situations professionally. No prior study of psychology, counselling, neuroscience or emotional-intelligence theory is required. This is not a clinical mental-health course and does not train participants to diagnose emotional conditions. Participants do not need formal management responsibility, although those leading people will find direct applications.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need regular workplace interaction and at least one year of professional experience. No previous training in psychology, coaching or emotional intelligence is required.

Participants should bring examples of real workplace situations involving feedback, pressure, conflict or stakeholder relationships. They do not need to share confidential names, documents or sensitive case details.

The course is suited to managers, team leaders, project professionals, client-facing staff and technical specialists. It is most useful for people whose results depend on cooperation, trust and influence.

Communication courses often focus on message structure, presentation or written communication. This course concentrates on recognising emotion, regulating reactions and using interpersonal methods when conversations become difficult.

Participants use the methods to prepare for feedback, stakeholder, performance and conflict conversations. The final application plan identifies specific behaviours, situations and review points for the next 90 days.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instructor input, case analysis, discussion, simulations, feedback and individual planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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