Emotional Intelligence Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends People Managers, Project Managers 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-025

Before you join: Participants should have at least two years of professional work experience and regular interaction with colleagues, 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

Emotional intelligence affects how professionals interpret pressure, respond to criticism, give feedback, handle conflict and build trust. Technical expertise can be undermined when emotions drive rushed decisions, defensive conversations or avoidable relationship damage. For managers, specialists and client-facing staff, the practical requirement is not to suppress emotion; it is to recognise emotional signals, choose an appropriate response and help others move difficult conversations towards useful action.

This five-day course develops the personal and interpersonal capabilities associated with emotional intelligence at work. Participants examine the Four-Branch Ability Model, self-awareness techniques, cognitive reappraisal, active listening, empathy, feedback, conflict management and emotionally intelligent leadership. They learn to identify triggers, separate observations from interpretations, regulate responses under pressure, read stakeholder concerns and communicate requests or boundaries clearly. The course also addresses cultural differences, power dynamics, ethical influence and psychological safety.

Instructor-led delivery combines short technical briefings with realistic cases, facilitated group work, communication simulations and structured reflection. Participants apply the methods to situations such as performance concerns, demanding customers, project disagreements, change communications and cross-functional tension. They leave with a personal emotional intelligence development plan, a trigger map, difficult-conversation planners and practical feedback and conflict-management scripts. The course is available in classroom locations in more than 50 cities or live online, runs from 08:30 to 16:30 over five days, and includes a certificate of completion.

The course suits experienced individual contributors, new and established managers, project leaders and professionals whose results depend on productive working relationships. It is particularly useful where teams face competing priorities, sensitive stakeholder expectations or recurring communication breakdowns.

What you will be able to do

  • Diagnose emotional triggers using trigger mapping, appraisal theory and behavioural evidence
  • Apply the Four-Branch Ability Model to interpret emotional information at work
  • Regulate pressure responses using cognitive reappraisal, STOP and implementation intentions
  • Interpret stakeholder concerns through active listening, empathic accuracy and SCARF analysis
  • Conduct difficult conversations using SBI feedback, DESC scripts and clear requests
  • Resolve workplace conflict using Thomas-Kilmann modes and interest-based negotiation
  • Adapt leadership communication to build psychological safety during change and uncertainty
  • Produce a 30-day emotional intelligence development plan with measurable behavioural commitments

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Earlier recognition of personal triggers before reactions damage important conversations
  • Clearer language for expressing concerns, needs, boundaries and requests
  • Greater confidence giving and receiving corrective feedback
  • Practical methods for staying composed during conflict and criticism
  • A focused 30-day plan for changing two high-impact relationship behaviours

For your organisation

  • Fewer avoidable escalations caused by defensive communication and unchecked assumptions
  • More useful performance conversations between managers and employees
  • Stronger cross-functional cooperation when priorities and interests differ
  • Earlier surfacing of concerns, dissent and delivery risks
  • More consistent customer and stakeholder interactions during difficult situations

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish major emotional intelligence models and identify emotional information relevant to workplace behaviour.

  • Emotional intelligence defined through ability, trait and mixed-model perspectives
  • Four-Branch Ability Model: perceive, use, understand and manage emotion
  • Distinguishing emotions, moods, stress responses and personality preferences
  • Primary and secondary emotions identified from workplace interaction cues
  • Appraisal theory explains how interpretations generate emotional responses
  • Professional boundaries between empathy, agreement, disclosure and emotional labour
  • Personal EI baseline using behavioural evidence rather than self-labels

Participants can identify recurring emotional triggers, assumptions and behavioural patterns affecting their work relationships.

  • Emotion vocabulary expands beyond angry, stressed, fine and frustrated
  • Body-signal scanning identifies early physiological markers of escalation
  • Trigger mapping links situations, interpretations, needs and habitual reactions
  • Johari Window compares self-perception with feedback from trusted colleagues
  • ABC model separates activating events, beliefs and consequences
  • Attribution checking tests assumptions before assigning intent or blame
  • Values conflict analysis reveals recurring sources of emotional charge
  • Reflective journalling records patterns, impact and alternative interpretations

Participants can select and apply suitable regulation techniques before responding under pressure.

  • Name-it-to-tame-it labelling reduces undifferentiated emotional intensity during difficult exchanges
  • STOP technique interrupts impulsive responses before consequential conversations
  • Cognitive reappraisal reframes interpretations without denying legitimate concerns
  • Implementation intentions specify if-then responses to predictable triggers
  • Box breathing and grounding restore attention under acute pressure
  • Response delay choices distinguish pausing, deferring, escalating and deciding
  • Recovery routines address emotional residue after conflict or setbacks
  • Emotion regulation plan sets cues, actions and accountability measures

Participants can sustain constructive motivation by connecting emotional information to values, goals and recovery practices.

  • Self-determination theory distinguishes autonomy, competence and relatedness needs
  • Emotional data separates values-based motivation from approval seeking
  • Growth mindset language replaces fixed-ability interpretations after setbacks
  • WOOP method connects wishes, outcomes, obstacles and implementation plans
  • Learned optimism challenges permanence, pervasiveness and personalisation explanations
  • Goal framing links daily effort to meaningful professional outcomes
  • Energy audit identifies task, relationship and context-based drains
  • Personal resilience protocol schedules recovery, support and boundary actions

Participants can interpret others’ concerns more accurately while avoiding assumptions and over-identification.

  • Active listening tracks content, emotion, need and unstated concern
  • Empathic accuracy tests understanding without assuming shared experience
  • Nonverbal cue clusters interpreted cautiously across voice, posture and timing
  • Perspective-taking separates another person's position, interests, fears and constraints
  • Cultural intelligence avoids treating communication norms as universal
  • Power dynamics assessed before raising concerns or offering feedback
  • SCARF model identifies status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness threats
  • Stakeholder empathy map records what people say, do, think and feel

Participants can communicate observations, emotions, needs and requests without escalating defensiveness.

  • Nonviolent Communication structures observations, feelings, needs and clear requests
  • SBI feedback frames situation, behaviour and observable impact
  • Feelings and needs stated without accusation, diagnosis or exaggeration
  • Open questions surface interests behind positions and defensive statements
  • Paraphrasing and summarising verify meaning before proposing solutions
  • Request language specifies ownership, timing, standards and follow-through
  • Repair attempts address misunderstandings before trust deteriorates further
  • Communication channel selected by emotional complexity, urgency and confidentiality

Participants can prepare, conduct and follow up difficult feedback conversations with clarity and respect.

  • Radical Candor distinguishes care personally from challenging directly
  • Feedback preparation separates observed facts from interpretations and stories
  • DESC script structures difficult requests, boundaries and consequences
  • Defensiveness managed through acknowledgement, curiosity and paced questioning
  • De-escalation language lowers threat without abandoning the issue
  • Receiving feedback uses clarification, reflection and considered response
  • Psychological safety behaviours invite dissent, questions and early warning
  • Follow-up agreements convert feedback discussions into observable commitments

Participants can manage emotional escalation and move workplace conflict towards specific agreements.

  • Thomas-Kilmann modes diagnose competing, avoiding, accommodating, compromising and collaborating
  • Conflict mapping separates people, process, interests and substantive issues
  • Interest-based negotiation distinguishes positions from underlying needs and priorities
  • Emotional flooding recognised before problem-solving capacity collapses during tense discussions
  • Time-outs negotiated with return times and clear reconvening conditions
  • Apology framework addresses acknowledgement, impact, repair and changed behaviour
  • Boundary statements communicate limits without threats or contempt
  • Conflict resolution record captures agreements, owners, deadlines and review points

Participants can use emotionally intelligent leadership behaviours to strengthen trust, accountability and team communication.

  • Situational leadership adjusts emotional support, direction and autonomy
  • Leader mood contagion assessed through meeting tone and team behaviour
  • Emotionally intelligent delegation clarifies outcomes, authority, support and checkpoints
  • Recognition practices connect specific contribution to team purpose
  • Change communications acknowledge uncertainty without creating false reassurance
  • Decision protocols separate emotional signals from evidence and bias
  • Ethical influence avoids manipulation, coercion and strategic emotional pressure
  • Team norms establish respectful challenge, repair and accountability

Participants can create a practical emotional intelligence development plan for priority workplace relationships.

  • Personal EI development plan prioritises two behavioural changes
  • Stakeholder trigger map anticipates high-risk conversations and regulation responses
  • Conversation planner combines empathy, purpose, request and contingency
  • Feedback feedforward plan defines practice partners and observation criteria
  • Thirty-day habit tracker schedules cues, repetition and reflection
  • Manager alignment conversation secures relevant workplace practice opportunities
  • Progress measures combine self-ratings, behavioural evidence and colleague feedback
  • Review cadence adjusts actions using results and emerging needs

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

What you take back to work

  1. Personal emotional trigger map
  2. Emotion regulation plan
  3. Difficult conversation planner
  4. SBI and DESC script templates
  5. Stakeholder empathy map
  6. 30-day emotional intelligence development plan

Who should attend

  • People Managers — need to handle feedback, performance concerns and team tension constructively
  • Project Managers — need to align stakeholders when priorities, deadlines and interests conflict
  • Client Relationship Managers — need to maintain trust during complaints, escalation and negotiation
  • Technical Specialists — need to communicate expertise clearly under challenge or scrutiny
  • HR and Learning Professionals — need to support productive workplace conversations and manager capability
  • Emerging Leaders — need to build self-management and relationship skills before broader leadership responsibility

Skills and tools covered

Emotional self-awarenessEmotion regulationActive listeningDifficult conversationsConflict resolutionEmpathic leadership

Tools and standards

Four-Branch Ability Model of Emotional Intelligence, SCARF Model, SBI Feedback Model, Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce each model, followed by facilitated case analysis, pair work, group discussion and communication simulations. Cases reflect common professional situations: missed commitments, challenging feedback, customer complaints, competing priorities and change uncertainty. Participants practise observing emotional cues, framing responses and selecting appropriate conflict approaches. Structured reflection connects each method to current workplace relationships. The final module converts learning into a practical development plan, with behavioural measures and workplace follow-up actions.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have at least two years of professional work experience and regular interaction with colleagues, customers, suppliers or stakeholders. They should be willing to reflect honestly on their communication habits and discuss realistic workplace situations. Previous management experience is useful but not required. No psychology qualification, personality assessment certification or prior emotional intelligence training is needed. The course does not require clinical knowledge and is not therapy or counselling training; it focuses on observable workplace behaviour, communication choices and relationship outcomes.

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

You need professional workplace experience and regular interaction with others. No prior emotional intelligence course, psychology background or management role is required.

Bring examples of current workplace relationships or conversations you would like to handle more effectively. You do not need to share confidential names or commercially sensitive details.

It is suited to managers, project leaders, specialists, HR professionals and client-facing staff. It is most relevant for people who need to handle feedback, conflict, stakeholder pressure or team communication.

This course concentrates on recognising and managing emotional information before and during interaction. Communication and leadership methods are taught through that focus, including triggers, regulation, empathy and de-escalation.

You will use the methods to prepare for feedback, challenging stakeholder meetings, conflict discussions and change conversations. The final development plan identifies specific behaviours and relationships for workplace follow-through.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The course progresses from self-awareness and regulation to empathy, communication, conflict, leadership and application 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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