Two Activities that Develop Emotional Intelligence
Activities that help explore emotions and improve emotional awareness
Dear collaborative discussion friends,
This week we are highlighting two activities that help participants identify and explore feelings in a discussion and practice intentional empathy. All the activities in the toolkit have an activity key that indicates the level of the activity (beginner or advanced) and other characteristics using icons. Activities that relate to emotions are denoted with the following icon.
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This week's activities:
Activity 3.2 - Critical Feeling in Discussions
Activity 4.5 – Nurturing Intentional Empathy
Two activities that help explore emotions and improve emotional awareness
Activity 3.2 Critical Feeling in Discussions helps participants develop a deeper awareness of how emotions influence a discussion and decision making. This activity encourages participants to identify, critically reflect on, and engage with their own and other participants’ feelings during a discussion, rather than ignoring them.
This activity begins by having participants look at images related to a particular topic that usually invokes strong emotional responses, such as gun control. As they are shown the images one at a time, participants are invited to share the level of emotional response they have to each image using hand signals or by holding up pieces of colored paper, with red for strong, orange for moderate, and yellow for weak. Participants are then asked to look at a few of the images again, this time delving deeper by naming and discussing the specific feelings that the images brought up. Participants can refer to an emotion wheel if it helps. They are encouraged to explain their emotions and share the context for why they had that particular reaction.
Participants then come back together as a full group and are given a specific prompt to discuss. They are asked to indicate the level of their emotional responses once again using the colored pieces of paper during the discussion. As certain points, such as when many participants are holding up red pieces of paper, the discussion is paused and participants discuss why the emotions are changing at that point. Participants then debrief, reflecting on the role of feelings in a discussion, when they might be good or bad for the discussion, and if any of the emotional reactions during their discussion were surprising.
By helping participants identify and gain a deeper awareness of the role emotions play in a discussion, this activity makes them less prone to emotional manipulation. Participants also develop a greater understanding of the reasons why people are passionate about particular issues.
Activity 4.5 Nurturing Intentional Empathy helps participants practice intentional empathy by viewing a situation from someone else’s perspective and diving deeper into what they are thinking and feeling. This activity helps participants respond by reflecting back the emotion they perceive the other person is experiencing and exploring the sources of these feelings.
This activity first introduces participants to the concept of intentional empathy and how it differs from traditional concepts of empathy. Participants that then introduced to a scenario and provided with the script of a conversation. After reading the script, participants are then asked to write a response that includes a question for one of the characters in the script to ask the other character. They are instructed that the question they craft must recognize and name the emotion they think they are hearing (of the other character) and helps them and others recognize the source of these emotions. Participants are then invited to refine their initial responses through multiple iterations. By encouraging participants to refine their responses, this activity helps them move beyond problem-solving to asking questions that help them gain greater insight into others’ perspectives. Participants also discuss how the practice of intentional empathy can help create a safe space for collaboration.
In this way, this activity helps participants learn and practice intentional empathy to deepen their understanding of others’ experiences and create a psychologically safe space for effective collaboration.
Upcoming Events
Registration is now open for our annual Collaborative Discussion Coach Summer Training! The cost of the training is $265. We are able to offer a discounted price due to the generous support of the Interactivity Foundation. Our programming should never be cost prohibitive. Please contact us if a scholarship is needed. The deadline to register is May 5, 2024. Learn more and register here!
Looking forward to collaborating,
Ritu Thomas & the Collaborative Discussion Team