Emotional Intelligence

Description

Emotional intelligence matters more than ever for professionals across all fields. We are living in times where you won't get away with just being good at the substance of your work. Emotional Intelligence is the key to understanding your own emotions and those of the people around you. When you harness this awareness and skill, it doesn’t just boost your effectiveness—it enriches your relationships and brings more meaning and satisfaction to your work.

In this interactive course, you’ll develop both your verbal and non-verbal communication skills. Emotionally intelligent professionals listen closely, express themselves clearly, and adapt their style to fit different people and situations. 

Through thoughtful exercises, feedback, and personal reflection, you’ll grow as a leader who inspires, motivates, and guides others by tuning into emotional cues. Also, in times of polarization, the ability to find common ground is more important than ever.

And there’s a bonus—you’ll also increase your well-being and job satisfaction. Managing relationships with care and navigating challenges mindfully creates a more positive experience at work and beyond.

Emotional intelligence is not fixed, and people can significantly increase it with focused practice and training over time. Large meta-analyses and randomized studies indicate that emotional intelligence training has a moderate, positive, and lasting impact on EI scores across different professions. 

What you’ll learn:
This course is designed to help you deepen your connection skills. You’ll explore how to:

• Experience more connection and empathy with others
• Listen better to others and understand them more deeply
• Understand and express your needs and desires clearly
• Manage emotions and reactions or yourself and others effectively
• Recognize what triggers your feelings
• Have meaningful, productive feedback conversations
• Stay centered during tough conversations
• Communicate honestly and responsibly —even during conflict
• Set clear boundaries with clarity and calmness

In general two thirds of participants are professionals and one thirds are students.

Our approach
We blend trusted methods into hands-on exercises that let you discover what works best for you—all in a supportive, relaxed setting. Here’s a glimpse of the tools we use:

• Non-Violent Communication helps you speak honestly while keeping connections strong.
• Deep Democracy invites every voice to be heard, especially the quieter ones.
• Embodied Leadership teaches you to use your body and intuition to stay grounded and wise.
• Systemic Work shows you patterns in groups and relationships, helping you navigate complex emotions.
• Constellation and spatial work allows to access unconscious feelings and needs and understand the interdependence of a system.
• Theory U guides you through a process of sensing the present moment deeply, connecting to your inner knowing, and stepping into fresh, creative action.

How we work:
This course will not have long lectures or endless presentations. This isn’t a traditional course: it’s an experience. There will be brief elements of theory, lots of practice, meaningful feedback, and deep self-reflection. You won’t just use your head—you’ll tap into your feelings, intuition, and embodied wisdom. Throughout, you’ll have space to bring in your authentic self and real-life challenges, both from work as well as your private life. 

Last year’s UU Summerschools by Jan Reinder and Henrik received a 9 out of 10 score by more than 50 participants. 

Lecturers

Jan Reinder initially didn't realize how important empathy was to him. He started debating, and when he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he focused on visibility and promotions. Confronting his family's wartime past sparked a shift. He began meditating and increasingly focused on adding value in his work. When he moved to the European Union, he decided to fully commit to empathy and connection. After three wonderful years in Brussels, it was time to return to the Netherlands and make a career change. Since 2019, Jan Reinder has been mentoring organizations and individuals who want to achieve more meanigful results together.

Henrik was often laying awake when he was young to wonder and ponder on why it didn't feel right to be angry at someone else. From there he accidently became a social entrepreneur in leadership development, development cooperation and coffee. Work experience and connections in more than 20 countries are a constant source of inspiration. He still aspires to become less of a pleaser and more genuine and straight-forward. Trying to slow down a bit, he is developing a regenerative farm and retreat with his family on the east coast of Sweden.

Target audience

Professionals and master's students.

Study load

Every day, we will start at 10.00 hours and we will finish around 15.00 hours. Every day, there will be around one or two hours of homework to prepare for the next day.

Tags

• communication
• Communication Skills
• leadership
• emotional intelligence
• personal development
• Personal growth
• coaching