Course description

Work is full of feelings: the flash of irritation at a curt email, the worry before a hard conversation, the quiet colleague you're not sure about. This course helps you understand your own emotions, manage your reactions under pressure, read other people more accurately and lead with empathy, using practical skills you can try at work the same day.

It's written for team leaders, managers and staff in any role who want better working relationships. You learn to notice and name what you feel, spot your triggers and use a pause before you react. You build motivation and resilience, listen to understand and see situations from other people's side. You practise reading signals in person, in messages and on video calls, and checking your read rather than guessing. Then you bring it together in difficult conversations, feedback and conflict, supporting colleagues who are struggling, setting healthy wellbeing boundaries and writing your own personal development plan.

There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, each with a worked example, common slips, questions people often ask and a short exercise to try, and each section ends with a short quiz. You follow two made-up people at a garden furniture maker in Preston: Thilini, a customer support team leader, and Sverre, a delivery planner who hopes to become a supervisor. Every section has a practice pack with a worksheet, example answers, a cheat sheet and worked examples, plus extras such as a reflection baseline, a trigger log, a pause and reset card, reflection logs, a listening checklist, scenario cards, conversation and feedback planners, a conflict conversation planner, a wellbeing boundaries plan and a personal development plan template.

What you'll learn

• Getting started: what emotional intelligence means in everyday work, the main models presented as frameworks rather than settled science, how emotions work, and a reflection baseline.
• Self-awareness: noticing emotions in your body, thoughts and behaviour, naming feelings precisely, knowing your triggers, values, strengths and blind spots, and asking for honest input.
• Managing your own reactions: the pause, calming your body, reframing, handling frustration, anger and worry, and putting things right when you react badly.
• Motivation and resilience: what drives you, goals that matter, realistic hope, bouncing back from setbacks and keeping going through change.
• Empathy: what empathy is and isn't, listening to understand, seeing other people's side, showing empathy in words and actions, and empathy with healthy limits.
• Reading others: words, voice and body language, emails, chat and video calls, differences between people, the mood of a team and checking your read.
• Difficult conversations and feedback: preparing yourself, opening calmly, giving and receiving feedback, and handling tears, anger and silence.
• Conflict: understanding conflict, spotting it early, staying calm in a disagreement, helping colleagues resolve it and repairing working relationships.
• Leading with empathy and wellbeing boundaries: leading people as individuals, building trust, supporting someone who is struggling, setting wellbeing boundaries and leading through pressure.
• Your personal development plan: reviewing your progress, choosing priorities, building a personal development plan, practice scenarios and a final project.

Who it's for

Team leaders, managers and staff in any role who want to work better with the people around them. You don't need any experience or management title. A notebook or a document for your reflection journal is all you need to start.

What this course is, and isn't

This course teaches practical workplace skills. Models of emotional intelligence are presented as useful frameworks, not settled science, and the course never uses them to label people. It doesn't diagnose mental health conditions or replace professional support; where it matters, it points you to your GP, NHS 111, Samaritans and, for workplace rights, Acas or the Labour Relations Agency. Thilini, Sverre, their colleagues and Fellbrook Outdoor Ltd are fictional.

What will I learn?

• Explain what emotional intelligence means at work, and describe the main models as useful frameworks rather than settled science
• Notice and name your own emotions precisely, and recognise your triggers, values, strengths and blind spots
• Use the pause, calming techniques and reframing to manage your reactions, and put things right when you slip
• Set goals that matter to you and bounce back from setbacks and change with realistic hope
• Listen to understand, see situations from other people's side and show empathy in words and actions, with healthy limits
• Read emotions in person, in messages and on video calls, and check your read instead of guessing
• Prepare for and hold difficult conversations, and give and receive feedback calmly and specifically
• Spot conflict early, stay calm in disagreements, help colleagues resolve conflict and repair working relationships
• Lead with empathy, build trust, support colleagues who are struggling and set wellbeing boundaries
• Review your progress and write a personal development plan with clear priorities, practice and review dates

Frequently asked questions