Mastering Social Intelligence

Description

Get a head-start in understanding people on your professional and personal journey. Discover how Curiousty, Compassion and Commitment drive meaningful leadership. Elevate your collaboration and communication skills for effective interaction. Learn to Understand and Live Social Intelligence!

What can this course do for you

“Great leaders move us through the energy they create in relationships. Their power comes from emotional and social intelligence, not authority.” (Daniel Goleman — Primal Leadership (with Boyatzis & McKee, 2013).

Social intelligence: the new foundation of personal leadership. In today’s rapidly shifting world of business, social intelligence has become just as essential as technical expertise. Organisations thrive when people understand how to read situations, build trust, navigate differences, and collaborate with intention. At the heart of this lies personal leadership: the ability to take responsibility for your own behaviour, emotions, and impact. When professionals strengthen their social intelligence, they expand their capacity to lead themselves first—so they can lead others with clarity, empathy, and courage. In a time where connection and cooperation determine success, social intelligence is no longer optional: it is the foundation of effective, human-centred leadership.

You will explore the four modes of behaviour and communication and also the four wheels of personal and collective development and growth.

What is the course about 

Day 1 will give you an overview and awareness of the Four Modes and the Four Wheels of  communication and behaviour, and how they relate to each other. On Day  2 and 3 , you will be introduced to the Four-Modes Perspective. This universal principle entails that every challenge can be met, and that every message can be delivered in four different ways.  In the afternoons we combine the modes of communication with views on Courage, Curiosity, Compassion and Commitment - your skillfulness and effectivity in communicating with others will quadruple overnight! The 4th day you will work on various challenges dedicated to e.g. Critical thinking in social situations, Self-regulation and emotional control, Problem solving under uncertainty. Cross-cultural observation and insight, Learning to verify before interpreting, Spotting similarities before highlighting differences, etc.. The last day we will be engaged in reflecting and presenting.

The course itself offers a highly interactive exploration of active presence, connective attitude and positive engagement. You will be challenged to be curious, courageous, compassionate and committed in investigating yourself, others and the true meaning of diversity. Your findings will be jaw-dropping and heartwarming at the same time. 

Every exercise in the course is practical, fun to do and highly educational. You will work on them with the whole group or in small teams. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, bringing you insights and capabilities that will be beneficial to you for the rest of your life. 

Four weeks before the course, you are invited to download an app, as you join a Circle of Understanding with your fellow participants. Every four days, a fun and memorable challenge will warm you up for the course in July in Utrecht and will you get acquainted before the real course has even started. 

After the course, the Circle of Understanding will offer you new and advanced challenges for a period of two months, to enable further exploration of all things learned in the course. Meanwhile, your private online platform serves as a reunion room. 

This course is offered in collaboration with the Academy of Understanding.

What recent participants wrote about the course
“It was impressive to have so many interactive activities that let us learn from a very different perspective and definitely, the teachers as much as the content helped me develop more as a person, as well as have a better understanding of global citizenship”.

"Even if you have high expectations of the course, I believe it will always exceed them; also, what you learn in and outside the classroom you will cherish forever. Hope you have the curiosity, courage and compassion to start the adventure and find out what's here to learn”.

“The highlight that I will cherish forever, is having met each of you and having shared moments together in all the activities”.

Lecturers

Ewald Theunisse

Miriam Zwaan

Target audience

This course is designed for students from any discipline who recognise that social intelligence is the new foundation of personal leadership. It is for those who believe that human understanding truly makes the difference—students who want to develop themselves in compassionate leadership, intercultural communication, and meaningful collaboration. Whether you study business, communication, technology, the arts or any other field, this programme welcomes anyone committed to becoming a more aware, capable, and human-centred professional.

A good command of English is necessary! Given the interactive nature of teaching, students must have the capabilities to actively contribute in class and communicate (understand and speak) in English well, ideally min level B2.

Aim of the course

• This intensive program aims to enrich your personal and professional life in a variety of ways. Not only will the trained global citizen’s skills expand your capabilities, but they will also broaden your perspective on life and how to lead it with more resilience and compassion.
• You will gain insight into possible ways of looking, thinking, doing, listening, and communicating and will become aware of your own ways, and those of others. A true intercultural experience.
• You will build on your personal leadership.
• You will enter new levels in mastering Social Intelligence.
• The didactical approach of this course may be quite different from what you would expect from a traditional module. Together with lecturers and professional coaches from the work field we will guide you through a meaningful and valuable experience.
• It starts with the four-week optional online taste of the Circles of Understanding. It’s not time consuming but a great way to get you into the vibe of the course.
   

The didactical approach of this course may be quite different from what you would expect from a traditional module. Together with lecturers and professional coaches from the work field we will guide you through a meaningful and valuable experience.

The sessions in Utrecht are highly interactive, challenging and fun; you will be invited to experience, experiment, reflect and discuss. You will learn by doing and explore different perspectives, while in the meantime being offered important personal and professional insights. The course will help you integrate your existing knowledge and skills with new insights, broaden your comfort zone and develop the mindset to improve communication and compassionate collaboration. During this learning experience, you will receive intensive coaching. 

When the weather allows it, we will spend parts of the day or the whole day outside in nature.

Therefore: bring comfortable shoes (like sneakers, or if you like hiking shoes).

Study load

Fifty hours of training, workshops, coaching, assignments.

It will be learning by doing, sharing, reflecting and presenting; indoors, outdoors and interactive.

You will be graded based on your performance during the workshops and on the assignments, assessed by means of participation, handling feedback and a reflective report. Overall level of participation and cooperation within group settings will be considered when assessing your performance. Full time attendance is required to earn the credits for this course. 

Please note: You must attend all learning activities (e.g. workshops, fieldwork) to be able to receive the Certificate of Participation and/or the credits for this course, unless absence is officially approved by the teachers and the coordinator of the Utrecht Summer School. You will be expected to be present until the final day of the course has ended. Please keep this in mind when booking your return flight. You can find your schedule in the Day to Day overview of your course on the course page.

Tags

• 21st century skills
• tour of the Netherlands