No summertime sadness for these ChemE student (Part II): Emotional Intelligence

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Students participate in a workshop led by Danny Cushing about Emotional Intelligence as part of ILead’s ChemE Summer Program 

If you’ve read our tour of the TTC’s Transit Control Centre, you’ll know that students in the ILead ChemE Summer Program are up to some pretty fun things.

On July 18, Danny Cushing, executive coach and former Director of Leadership Development at the Rotman School of Management, led 25 students in a workshop to build their Emotional Intelligence (EI or EQ). This refers to the ability to recognize and regulate emotions as well as to use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour.

Mr. Cushing introduced the dynamic links between leadership effectiveness, focus and attention – each of which can be enhanced through the building blocks of mindfulness – the awareness of one’s mental processes and the understanding of how the mind works. In groups, students examined the profile of a real-life CEO and discussed what it would be like to work for someone with that particular EI profile.

Aidan Malone (EngSci 1T7), who participated in the session, sees EI as a problem-solving tool, “Emotional intelligence deals with being aware of and regulating your emotions, which allows you to make tough decisions in an informed manner.”

He offered us his perspective on why EI matters: “No one works in a vacuum, and this is especially true for a professional engineer. The majority of engineering work is performed in teams, which makes the ability to understand and get along with your colleagues vital to your success in the workplace,” said Malone.

The ILead ChemE Summer Program provides students with the opportunity to enrich their leadership experience throughout the summer. The program broadens their skill set and knowledge of the human process necessary for engineering work, as well as their own personal development.

Reflecting on her experiences with the Summer Program, Julie Arrey, a student at McMaster University who is working at U of T this summer, expressed: “The summer program has been great so far. The different sessions present leadership qualities in a different and new perspective every time, which I find very useful.”

As the term draws to a close, these 25 students will be rounding off their summer of leadership training with a workshop on how to establish a vision and plan for the future, and present a final team project to their peers.