Emotional Intelligence in the Paralympic Community

1. Emotional Intelligence in theParalympic Community Alicia Mandel Carlee Wolfe

2. Today’s Discussion • What is emotional intelligence and why is it important in sport • How can we recognize and understand the five competencies that raise an individual’s emotional intelligence • How can you regulate emotional intelligence for yourself • How can you integrate principles of emotional intelligence in your clubs, camps or organization

3. What is Emotional Intelligence? It is the ability to… • Recognize, understand and manage what you are feeling • Use your feelings to positively impact and motivate others • Engage with others based on their feelings and emotions so that you develop a more positive relationship which in turns creates better communication, influence and social skills in general.

4. DID YOU KNOW…? • In general: • Out of 181 competence models studied, 67% of the abilities deemed essential for effective performance were emotional competencies • In sport: • As coaches our athletes look up to us and emulate the behaviors we demonstrate • We need to be able to remain emotionally competent when communicating with parents, athletes, partners, etc. • At work: • Compared to IQ and technical expertise, emotional competence mattered twice as much • The importance of emotional competence increases, the higher up you go in an organization

5. Bobby Knight John Wooden

6. Emotional Intelligence: Five Key Areas

8. Knowing one’s internal states, preferences, resources, & intuitions: Accurate self assessment Emotional awareness Self confidence Self Awareness

9. Exercise On a sheet of paper draw the following… Who are you? Example: mother sister, athlete, boss How would you describe yourself? Example: loyal, caring, happy Who are your key constitutes? Example: boss, husband, children, friends How would they describe you? Example: busy, caring, overwhelmed

10. Share with a Neighbor… • What did you discover about yourself? • How does emotional intelligence play a role in who you are and how others view you? • How do you think perceptions are formed? • What can you do to change those perceptions, if anything based on what we learned today?

12. Questions • How is self confidence portrayed in this movie? • Why is that important? • Did you recognize any emotional awareness? • Do you think that impacted the interviewers ability to get the job? • Where did self assessment play a role?

14. Self Regulation Managing one’s own internal states, impulses and resources: • Self Control • Trustworthiness • Conscientiousness • Adaptability • Innovation

15. When we understand our triggers, we can behave differently... think feel act

16. Self Regulation In sport, it is not merely enough to recognize a problem – you must be able to make a correction to solve the problem • How do you correct yourself when you realize you are acting out of emotion? • How do you reframe your mindset in working with or responding to your athletes/parents/coaches • How do you remind yourself to stay focused on the goal and not get caught up in the distractions?

17. What is Self Talk? When do you find yourself “talking to yourself?” What percentage of self-talk do you think is negative? Positive? We believe what we say to ourselves. Therefore, we need to increase our awareness of these beliefs to more accurately evaluate events and ambiguous information. Self Talk

18. Exercise: Self Talk • Identify one or more situations (events) which are currently a challenge for you, situations that generate negative self-talk. Use your note pad to reflect on your self-talk, the feelings you associate with the situation, and your typical actions or behaviors. Also, add the results of your actions or behaviors.

19. Reframing Self Talk So, what do we do about it?

20. Reframing Self-Talk • Disputing Self Talk • What are the facts? • Are any of these facts not consistent with or contradictory to my self-talk? • Discovering Turnarounds • How else might I view the situation? • How might a specific person I respect view the situation? • Does their perspective make real sense for me?

21. Exercise: Reframing Your Self Talk • Select one of the situations that you analyzed in the last exercise • Identify some disputes and turnarounds for the situation • Write a new script defining how you plan to handle the same situation in the future. Use the same chart, only this time you should have better results

23. Motivation Emotional tendencies that guide or facilitate reaching goals: • Achievement Drive • Commitment • Initiative • Optimism "The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender." -Vince Lombardi

24. The gap between what you want and what you’ll do to get it.

25. Reflection • How did the coach to create a spirit of hope and optimism to motivate the team? • What did the coach do to help his athletes strive to meet a standard of excellence? • If you know the movie, what sort of goals or commitments did the coach hold his players accountable to?

28. Empathy Awareness of others’ feelings, needs, concerns: • Understanding Others • Developing Others • Service Orientation • Political Awareness

30. Interpersonal Skills Adeptness at inducing desirable responses in others: • Influence • Communication • Conflict Management • Building Bonds

32. Closing…

33. Today’s Discussion • Emotional intelligence plays a key role in sport, no matter what your role • Remember the five components, and leverage them to improve performance for yourself and your teams: • Self awareness • Self regulation • Motivation • Empathy • Interpersonal skills • All of the principles discussed today can be brought back to your clubs, athletes, partners and organizations

34. “People change what they do less because they are given analysis that shifts their thinking, than because they are shown a truth that influences their feelings.” • John KotterThe Heart of Change