Introduction:

In your personal life, your reaction to stressful situations like these might be to start shouting, or to go hide in a corner and feel sorry for yourself for a while. But at work, these types of behavior could seriously harm your professional reputation, as well as your productivity. Stressful situations are all too common in a workplace that's facing budget cuts, staff layoffs, and department changes. It may become harder and harder to manage your emotions under these circumstances, but it's even more important for you to do so. After all, if management is forced into making more layoffs, they may choose to keep those who can handle their emotions, and work well under pressure.

So, how can you become better at handling your emotions, and "choosing" your reactions to bad situations? In this course, we look at the most common negative emotions experienced in the workplace and how you can manage them productively. Why are we focusing only on negative emotions? Well, most people don't need strategies for managing their positive emotions. After all, feelings of joy, excitement, compassion, or optimism usually don't affect others in a negative way. As long as you share positive emotions constructively and professionally, they're great to have in the workplace!

Throughout this course, you will understand how emotions affect your job performance and learn practical techniques to manage them. Are you unsure how to manage anger or frustration? Do you swallow your feelings until you can't hold back, then say too much? Are you in charge of your emotions, or are they in charge of you? If difficulties in managing your emotions are eroding your job performance, this course will give you the tools and techniques to turn the situation around. You will learn you have choices in how you view and manage stress. You will grasp how to keep your emotions in perspective. You will discover how to express yourself openly and honestly, and use emotional intelligence to establish better relationships.

Course Objectives:

By the end of this course, delegates will be able to:

• Understand the connection between emotions and stress in the workplace
• Improve your skills at managing emotions in the workplace and maximizing work relationships
• Become more effective at managing emotions in the workplace through assertiveness communication skills
• Create less stress in the workplace by fostering work environments where emotional honesty and emotional energy are accepted
• Learn how to balance the physical, mental and emotional aspects of life
• Control your emotions when faced with stress in the workplace and achieve positive interaction in teams and work groups
• Identify common causes of stress in the workplace from personal experiences
• Discover the critical keys to making sound decisions, even under intense pressure
• Learn unique time-management techniques guaranteed to add hours to your day
• Use easy delegation techniques that “clone” you and multiply your effectiveness
• How to use the stress-management strategy of “coping” on and off the job
• Determine your levels of personal and work-related stress
• Recognize the ways you may be contributing unintentionally to your own levels of stress in the workplace
• Identify aspects of your personal and professional lifestyles in relation to your management of emotional well-being
• Discover how you can stay focused in the face of stress and frustration
• Deal effectively with intimidating and explosive personalities
• Create a positive workplace environment
• Minimize risk due to ‘out of control’ employees
• Interpret and use the EI competencies framework to develop your personality when interacting with others
• Manage your self-talk and negative feelings towards a situation or person so that it does not disrupt your behavior
• Recognize your ‘hot buttons’ and how it can affect you and others
• Control and guide your emotions when managing others so that you can achieve your productivity
• Develop an optimistic mind-set
• Recognize and respond to others’ feelings in an appropriate manner
• Acquire useful guides in developing your self-awareness, self-management, self-motivation, social awareness and relationship management skills

Who Should Attend?

Any business professional who is experiencing intense emotional and/or stressful situations at work. Team leaders, supervisors or anyone who is an acting or aspiring leader in any sector of industry and/or business. The training course is also appropriate for those who desire to learn effective management and leadership skills and techniques to be able to better manage their work. Managers, supervisors and individuals who need to coach others and/or face emotional and stressful situations at work

Course Outline:

Understanding the Emotions That Hold You Back

• The positive and negative effects of emotions in the workplace
• Changing how you respond, even when your mind doesn’t want to
• How to neutralize paralyzing emotions
• Overcoming tears, anger, rage, and self-pity
• Getting your point across without losing control

Feelings and Emotional Well-Being

• Define personal mastery and its impact on your work life
• Differentiate between the two groups of emotions to better understand how you are feeling and why
• Identify different feelings in the past, present and future
• Evaluate your emotional debt and discover ways to pay it off
• Analyze situations so that your emotions do not sabotage the results you want
• Recognize thoughts, feelings and behaviors associated with stressful situations
• Analyze behavior patterns associated with stressful events

Preparing for Confrontation and Other Tough Situations

• Getting to the real issues – defining the problem
• 7 principles for maintaining positive relationships during disagreements
• Building a trust framework
• 4 steps for getting beyond the fear of confrontation
• The top 5 times when you shouldn’t confront
• What to do when you face the impossible

Navigating Your Way through Conflict

• Understanding the 4 causes of conflict and how to defuse them
• 10 conflict-resolution skills everyone should know
• How to deal with conflict-related stress
• 5 emotional myths that handicap your conflict-resolution style
• The 3-step A.C.E. method of conflict resolution
• 3 growth opportunities conflict offers and how to benefit from them

How to Deal with Others’ Negative Emotions

• 7 keys to richer relationships
• How-to’s for dealing with back-stabbing, gossip, and resentment
• Active listening skills guaranteed to give you the upper hand
• Constructive confrontation for when the other guy is mad
• Coping with crisis – even when everyone loses control
• Minimizing antagonistic behavior

Communicating or Controlling? Balance or Ballistics?

• Use your mirror listening skills to understand how others are feeling
• Identify feelings and the reasons why people feel the way they do
• Recognize when to be assertive in interacting with others
• Construct assertive messages using the XYZ technique

Communication Skills for Dealing with Emotionally Charged Situations

• The 3 C’s of conflict communication
• 4 keys to direct communication, and some habits you may want to break
• Improving your indirect communication
• Savvy speaking skills for getting through tense situations
• How to resist the “hardball” tactics that shut down communication

Managing Emotions in the Workplace

• Identify rituals that presently exist in your life
• Classify rituals according to purpose

Dealing with Anger

• Understanding the three dimensions of anger
• 4 facts you must know about anger
• The 4-stage anger management strategy
• 3 ways to deal with anger appropriately
• Unacknowledged anger: what to do with a ticking time bomb

Achieving Emotional Balance for Phenomenal Success

• A 5-step process for reclaiming your self- esteem
• Self-talk: Could what you’re telling yourself be getting you nowhere?
• Stress and burnout: How to keep them at bay
• How-to’s for handling your emotions in every situation

COURSE LOCATIONS