Yesterday's class included my presentation of additional material on emotional intelligence. It was based on my recent certification coursework in the area. There were few student questions or comments about that material. That said, since then I've spoken with students outside the classroom about the assessment as well as other issues they face that fall under the umbrella of "emotional intelligence." Those conversations suggested my message resonated with at least some of the students.
When I talk about feelings and emotions -- and when I talk about personal and professional development -- I inevitably talk about myself. That's what I did yesterday when I spoke about emotional intelligence. Sometimes what I share about myself is positive, sometimes not so much. I only share if it's relevant and if I believe the students will benefit. My boundaries in this area feel right for me in my role as an instructor.
Here's one final thought regarding my presentation on emotional intelligence. While speaking (or "lecturing") is something I do naturally, I'm always wary given the absence of a mechanism to solicit student feedback (above and beyond asking if there are any questions). I felt that wariness yesterday at the conclusion of my presentation. There are no doubt other (and even better) ways to talk about emotional intelligence. I'll explore them when I prepare for future classes that cover this topic.
After my presentation on emotional intelligence, we continued our exploration of motivating and incentivizing. Students met with their teams to discuss Kerr's article. Based on their responses to prompts, they understood the main lessons of the article. These concerned how and why rewards systems break down in organizations, and how they might be better constructed.
The discussion continued with team meetings to discuss the "A Change for Drill Sergeants" case study. To summarize the case in the words of its publisher, Harvard Business Review: "US Army Officer Captain Richard Swift was the newly-appointed commander of a 100-person Basic Combat Training unit, whose mission was to train brand new enlistees in the Army. Swift sensed malaise within his team of drill sergeants, (as these individuals) led the majority of the training. Swift was concerned that these instructors, with an average service of 13 years in the Army and multiple combat deployments, were no longer motivated to do their best and had lost sight of the importance of their work. He wanted to change this." In short, it's a case study on motivation, leadership, change, and communication, among other topics.
Given that class time was limited, I chose to solicit initial student feedback on the case in the form of one or two sentence takeaways. That is, I asked for specific feedback as opposed to having to start discussions responses to the prompts and then having to cut them off in the interests of time. These initial student comments on the case expressed doubt on Captain Swift's actions. We'll pick up where we left off with this conversation in class tomorrow.