Reflection Journal
Session 1: Overview of Emotional Intelligence
In the beginning of the course, we were introduced about the overview of Emotional
Intelligence and at the same time discover our EQ strengths based on 4 competencies of
Emotional Intelligence. As we know, Emotional Intelligence has grown to become a significant
element in daily life and workplace, especially in leadership management. Emotion Intelligence
is defined as a set of skills that are thought to contribute to appraisal of emotions in oneself and
others. It can also help to contribute to the effective regulation of emotions as well as feelings
(Salovey & Mayer, 1990). In this lesson, we were acknowledged about 4 quadrants of EI which
are Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness and Relationship Management.
Having taken EQ test under instruction of professor, my test result appeared to be significantly
different from my self-assessment. I believed myself have a strong personality for selfmanagement while the result turned out to be relatively low with 3 out of 10. Meanwhile, my
relationship management is rather high with 8/10. From the test results, I’m able to use the
interpretation of the test for my personal growth in inspirational leadership and organizational
influence.
Session 2: Building Self-Awareness and Self-Esteem
According to the EQ test in the first session, I’m able to identify my ability in emotional
self-awareness is rather low with 4 out of 10 points. Therefore, building self-awareness lesson
can improve my ability to regulate my own emotions to practice good communication and
cooperation in the workplace. Self-awareness is essential as it allows us to understand things
from diversified perspectives as well as manage our own emotions to align behavior with
values. The Johari Window Model appeared to be a good tool for me to understand and train
self-awareness for my personal growth. The aim of this model is to maximize the open area
and minimize the hidden as well as unknown area thus gaining information and knowledge to
uncover the boundary in communication. To develop my open area or “the arena”, I need to
stay free from distractions, mistrust, confusion, and misunderstanding. By a process known as
“feedback solicitation” which is the way to expand my open area from others’ feedback, I will
be able to eliminate my blind and hidden area about myself. I believe with the disclosure among
group members, me and my team will have the most productive and effective working
environment.
Session 3: Emotional Regulation and Self-Motivation
Closely related to the previous lesson about self-awareness, emotional regulation is the
process that we control our own emotions instead of being controlled by them. Lack of
Emotional Regulation is the possible cause of emotional distress when we encounter with
contemporary emotional sufferings. A model of three circle of emotional regulation is a good
model of to help us rebalance our emotional state which includes drive, soothing and threat
system. Most of my time, I recognized myself in drive and threat system which led me to
periodic emotional sufferings. However, I realized these 3 hormone delivery systems should
be developed simultaneously to come fully functioning. Beside emotion regulation, self-
motivation is also necessary to keep pushing us forward. To increase self-motivation, I believe
that cultivating a positive mindset and building my resilience is a good start as the power of
intrinsic motivation is the very first step. Moreover, constantly seeking feedback to figure way
to improve so that I can deal with setbacks and continue to pursue my goals despite obstacles.
Session 4: Social Awareness and Empathy
If the first 3 sessions, we learned about personal orientation with self-awareness and
self-management. From this session onward, I approached to a larger extent of emotional
intelligence which is social awareness and relationship management. Social awareness is
basically about others. In other word, it’s our ability to consider the perspectives of individuals
and groups or communities to effectively interact with them. From my personal view, social
awareness is fundamental part to gain relationships. This skill helps us to fit into the community
as well as get what we need from the community. In the working environment, social awareness
makes it easier to share information, communicate and collaborate with colleagues and
managers. Among components of social awareness, I believe primal empathy is the first and
foremost part we should practice to sense others’ feelings through nonverbal signals. People
usually mistake empathy with sympathy. While sympathy is sharing feeling with others,
empathy is about understanding their feelings. Empathy requires attunement and open to
discover commonalities. If we can develop our social awareness with basic skills such as
empathy, respect, and kindness, I believe we will be able to create long-term relationship with
people in daily life and workplace.
Session 5: Relationship Management and Influencing Others
In the workplace, beside individual talent contribution, the factor that helps to build
effective teams us relationship management. In short word, relationship management is using
your emotional awareness to manage mutual interactions. How to manage relationship is
important for organizations because a tight-knit team lead to improve retention and motivation
to succeed as a unit. In general, there are 10 concrete approaches that keep workplace
relationships healthy and thriving. Among them, I consider 3 methods which could work well
in my future career as a marketing consultant. Taking feedback well is a strategy to resolve any
miscommunication as well as enhance the common ground. On the other hand, making my
feedback direct and instructive will also help to handle my own emotions. Hence, be aware of
the situation and offer solutions for change. Lastly, continuously building trust and using
empathy well will be a tool for me to address any relationship problem in workplace.
Session 6: Conflict Management and Dealing with Difficult People
In this session, we dig in one of the most frequent trouble in the workplace which is
conflict management. In office politics, it’s inevitable that we must cope with people whom we
could hardly get along with because of their socially inappropriate behavior such as lack of
cooperation, verbal abuse, disrespectfulness or controlling, etc. Learning how to deal with these
people quickly and confidently is called Dealing with Difficult People. A process for conflict
management according to AMA 2021, we need to define the root of the conflict, look beyond
the incidents and find solutions to reach agreement.
While collaboration seems the obvious way to resolve a conflict. However, it’s easier
than done because most of us don’t know how to handle the conflict effectively. As such, we
were introduced the model of The Five Conflict Resolution Strategies by Thomas Kilmann
which consists of 5 different ways to deal with the conflict: Competing, Collaborating,
Compromising, Accommodating and Avoiding. Moreover, I’m able to know how to apply the
model of conflict resolution. Choosing the right method is important as I must consider the
importance of achieving goal versus relationship and in which way, I can draw the best outcome
with the chosen strategy. To do this, there are skills I can practice such as active listening,
effective communication, practicing empathy and having a positive attitude to deal with the
situation. In a nutshell, conflict is not necessarily bad. Instead, we can use it as a catalyst for
growth rather than a hindrance.
Session 7 & 8: Negotiation theories and strategies
In conflict management, one of the useful strategies for conflict resolution is
negotiation. As a BBA undergraduate, I realize good negotiations considerably contribute to
the success of organization as it brings satisfied outcomes for either party. Therefore, we can
build better relationship and getting ahead in the resolving conflicts in the workplace. The 4
Fundamentals of Principled Negotiations is the model introduced with us in this lesson, which
can apply to reach a negotiation. This model centers around 4 main elements: people, interests,
options, and criteria. Followed by this, we have 4 stages of negotiations which are prepare the
plan approach; discuss to exchange positions and issues; propose to specify what you want;
bargain or ask for what you need, modify if needed. Finally, negotiation is about mutual benefit
so we should always concede first to reduce tensions and get the outcome in a harmony.
Session 9: Teamwork presentation
Although we only choose one topic in emotional intelligence to present, the preparation
for the presentation was definitely a wrap-up of all lessons. Coming together as a group, we
must accept that there’re different personalities and perspective toward the shared goal. In my
previous teamwork, I have experienced friendships splitting up because of conflict during the
work. My team members couldn’t resolve conflict because they were insistent with their own
opinion and lacked social awareness or relationship management to understand others. In the
end of this course, I believe this problem got better when my teammates and myself were open
to listen each other better, took the mutual benefit upon our own benefit and resolve conflict
effectively to turn any challenges into opportunities for better performance. Finally, I feel more
confident when I’m equipped well with a set skill of self-awareness, self-management, social
awareness, and relationship management. Next time when I step into the professionalism work,
I believe I will be able to use these skills to come up with solutions for workplace problems.