Increasing emotional intelligence: Presenting the results of a training intervention

Abstract

This poster presents the results of an eighteen month study examining the impact of an emotions focused training intervention on emotional intelligence. In total 280 staff from a large Queensland public sector organisation attended a two-day training program that focused upon imparting the skills and abilities associated with Mayer and Salovey's (1997) four-branches of emotional intelligence (awareness, understanding, facilitation and management of emotions). Utilising an experimental methodology, the experimental group's emotional intelligence was tested prior to the commencement of training and again after the training had been completed using the Workgroup Emotional Intelligence Profile (WEIP-6; Jordan, Ashkanasy, Härtel, & Hooper, 2002). In addition, a control group from the same organisation was also tested at three points in time over the same eighteen month period. Paired samples t-tests were conducted on both the control and experimental group data, and whilst no change was found in the control group, the experimental group's overall emotional intelligence significantly improved post-training. In addition, a calculation of effect size using Cohen's d was conducted to provide an extra measure of the significance of these findings. Full results of these calculations will be presented during the symposium and feedback on the methods utilised will be sought from symposium participants.