The project ’Connecting EQ to Leadership Development’ (ConnEQt) is aiming at developing a up-to-date and sustainable concept for an educational opportunity for adults leading to a 12 weeks long blended learning course that is unique in delivering personal (leadership) development opportunities for individuals in the purpose of raising awareness of the combination of Leadership activity in relation to Emotional Intelligence, both as a competency element of a leader, and of the follower(s) of the leader. The length of this personal development journey and at the same time providing skills for leading and managing followers with different amount and awareness of their emotional intelligences is necessary in order to give attendants time to discover, practice, digest, reflect and evaluate personal learning in order to optimize professional and/or volunteer leadership activities. While the period of learning is 12 weeks, only one of these weeks is dedicated as a residential on-site course for the attendants. All other learning activities, including supervision, coaching, and networking, is intended to be remote, either online or offline, still in close connection to a personal coach or supervisor. The project is aiming at using a thorough literature study about the combination of leadership activity and emotional intelligence to invent, describe and pilot learning activities that can assist the holistic personal development about emotional intelligence. The additional aspect of human senses to support the full body learning will be made possible through physical, visual, olfactory, and auditive activity development. Before piloting the concept, all involved staff, facilitators, coaches, and lecturers, will go through intense staff training in Italy, in order both to create the concept and to practice potential activities in the aim of refining and prioritizing the learning activities. The concept will be piloted with 20 individuals in leadership positions through a 12 week blended learning experience with a residential seminar in Spain, and along with this the activities will be piloted during 4 national multiplier events in Spain, Italy, Austria, and Denmark. The products of the project will be the mentioned learning concept, joined by a descriptive publication for stakeholders and interest organizations. Along with this, an interactive I-book will be created as learning material for the blended learning course and for future use. Publications, I-book, and concept description will be accessible through the European network and through the information channels of the partner organizations. University College South Denmark (UCSYD) is the lead partner of the 21 months project, with the 3 partners alp (Austria), Euroaccion (Spain), and Kamaleonte (Italy).
The project ’Connecting EQ to Leadership Development’ (ConnEQt) has developed an up-to-date and sustainable concept for an educational opportunity for adults, consisting of a 12 weeks long blended learning course that is unique in delivering personal (leadership) development opportunities for individuals in the purpose of raising awareness of the combination of leadership activity in relation to Emotional Intelligence, both as a competency element of the leader, and the leader's awareness of and alignment of leadership style according to emotional contexts or situations of the follower(s). Taking into account the busy time for leaders as well as the ongoing plead for sustainability, the period of learning is 12 weeks, of which only one is dedicated as a residential on-site course for the attendants. All other learning activities, including supervision, coaching, and networking, is intended to be remote, either online or offline, still in close connection to a personal coach, mentor, or supervisor. This should leave time for each learner to read. practice, digest, and reflect in the most convenient time and place - as an optimized learning environment. However, the project also aimed at exploring how a sensitive topic like Emotional Intelligence could be handled through (partly) remote and virtual learning media. The project was aiming at using a thorough literature study about the combination of leadership activities and emotional intelligence to invent, describe and pilot learning activities that can assist the holistic personal development about emotional intelligence. The additional aspect of human senses to support the full body learning can be made possible through physical, visual, olfactory, and auditive activity development. The initial time of this project has therefore been spent on theoretical literature studies, resulting in 2 publications: 1) a reference framework describing the connections between Emotional Intelligence and the skills of an emotional intelligent leader living out a relational leadership, and 2) a compilation of short theoretical articles covering the main topics included in the blended learning course. These 2 publications are meant to support interested individuals and institutions in exploring the topic, and can be used for future blended learning courses of this kind. Before piloting the concept, all involved staff, facilitators, coaches, and lecturers, went through an intense staff training in Italy in May 2018, in order both to create the concept and to practice potential activities in the aim of refining and prioritizing the learning activities. This lead to a thorough curriculum for a 12 week blended learning course, including description of methodologies, learning, practicing, and mindfulness activities, and a suggestion for setting up a similar course. The curriculum was piloted February through May 2019 with remote, online webinars before and after a 5 day on-site residential course in Spain, with 17 participants from different working environments throughout Europe. Along with this, the activities have been piloted during several national multiplier events in Spain, Italy, Austria, and Denmark. The products of the project are the mentioned Curriculum and artcles, joined by a descriptive reference framework publication for stakeholders and interest organizations. Along with this, an interactive I-book is set up as a (self-)learning and materials platform for future blended learning courses. Publications, I-book, and concept description will be accessible through the European network and through the information channels of the partner organizations. University College South Denmark (UCSYD) was the lead partner of the 23 months project, with the 3 partners alp (Austria), Euroaccion (Spain), and Kamaleonte (Italy).