Taking stock of emotional intelligence in a higher education career

How often do I react rather than pausing and reflecting? What are the positive and negative things I do in the workplace? Can you give me feedback about my leadership style?

These are examples of questions Ben Foote, chief executive of the Australian Institute of Management, says higher education professionals can ask colleagues to get a sense of their level of emotional intelligence and how they are interpreted in the workplace.

Foote said, as machines continue to take over manual tasks, it’s important to help people better their communication skills and ability to understand and manage their emotions.

“For people in higher education – in terms of how they treat colleagues and interact with students – soft skill development, and emotional intelligence development, is going to be critical,” he said.

Campus Review spoke with Foote about the ways training can help people improve their emotional intelligence and what they can do on their own to boost soft skills.

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