Our internal voice is not always our most objective critic or biggest fan. Sometimes it tells us we are better than we are; more often, it tells us that we are worse...

Self regard is how you feel about yourself and more specifically how confident you feel in your role...

How can you make decisions on behalf of someone you don't know very well? That's why it's so important to know yourself. Sara provides an exercise to help you to achieve just that...

Self awareness is about your ability to recognise and understand why certain situations, people and tasks create positive and negative emotions within us...

Independence is the ability to be self-reliant and self-directed in your thinking and actions; to be free of emotional dependency.

Independence is the ability to be self-reliant and self-directed in one's thinking and actions.

Never underestimate the value of developing a good memory for building rapport and maintaining good relationships.

Your memory has almost infinite potential, if you know how to make it serve you.

By far the most important skill within communication is listening, and the gold standard of listening is empathic listening...

There's a considerable difference between hearing what someone has said and understanding what someone has said. Listening is the most powerful communication tool you have at your disposal...

Ever had the experience when you simply wanted to be listened to, but the other person was too keen to get involved but didn't really want to listen?

There are degrees in the quality of how we listen. Our investment in listening (or lack thereof) usually comes across to our audience and to everyone else in the room, so it's worth being conscious of how well we tend to listen.

We listen to take in information, to learn more about what is going on around us and to help us improve the quality of the relationships with those we work alongside, lead or manage. But we do have to listen...

The trouble is that we don't‚ not listen‚ because we are mean people. It's because, like everyone else on the planet, this internal dialogue is going on in our heads....

Ever had the experience of trying to tell someone about something that you find difficult, only to be fobbed off with comments that usually preface the person starting to talk about their problems rather than yours?

Empathy is the ability to be attentive to and to understand the feelings of others; or put another way, to emotionally read people and respond appropriately...

For us to have any hope of connection and understanding of someone in business we must value their position and take the time to understand their needs...

Responsibility may not necessarily appear to be about emotional intelligence, but it is when it's about how you demonstrate taking responsibility.

The word, responsibility, is made up of two words, response and ability.

Responsibility is about taking conspicuous responsibility for what you say - without using language that appears hesitant - or distances you from the messages you are trying to convey.

Is there someone new at work you're finding hard to get to know? Here are some things you can do to help.

Good relationships allow you to trust, relax, enjoy and enhance your work, everyday. So, how much time and effort do you spend working on and building yours?

How good are your working relationships? With your colleagues, your boss, your clients?

We often underestimate the importance of relationships in furthering our careers and in helping the working day run smoothly...

Assertiveness is the capacity to state your needs clearly to the rest of the world and pardon the rest of the World for not being psychic if you haven't been able to state those needs clearly!

Assertiveness is something many people find difficult to achieve. Often it's confused with inappropriately direct or aggressive behaviour. That's where people go wrong...

Assertive behaviour, language and actions are about having the confidence to commit to your thoughts, opinions and relationships with other people.

Reality testing is the ability to assess the difference between what you think is happening, the subjective, and what is really happening, the objective.

This is a competency that seems almost too simple to mention. It's about knowing the difference between what we think and believe and what is actually, factually true...

We have noticed that in interactions, the person with the most flexible behaviour will control the outcome.

In relation to emotional intelligence, flexibility is all about how you adjust your thoughts and behaviours in the face of change.

To be effective as a leader, you need to have broad methods of thinking...

Holistic thinking in an emotionally intelligent universe is about the ability to be adaptable and to be able to keep in mind the bigger picture view of exactly how you impact the world.

Holistic thinking is not about seeing the bigger picture, but about seeing the whole picture.

You'de think we'de see the signs of stress getting on top of us. Trouble is, we often don't, until it's too late.

Pressure, stress and the need to get things done yesterday are common concerns. It's easy to see things that way, and to become overwhelmed.

A great deal of stress comes from within us. Stress could be defined by the feeling of not having the resources needed, in the moment, to deal with the situation in front of you.

One of the trickier things to consider about emotional intelligence is stress tolerance. Many people mistake it to mean, don't feel stress. That's just not so.

Many of us spend our working lives going from one meeting to the next; one call to the next. It would be lovely to prepare, but so many of our clients feel they simply don't have time. So what can we do?

Impulse Control can be described as the ability to defer instant gratification; to avoid the, quick fix‚ of reacting emotionally.

Have you ever had one of those moments whilst recalling events in a day when you freeze and think, can't believe I said that, I can't believe I did that; that was so stupid!

Optimism is an attitude. Mixed with a healthy dose of realism it can keep you motivated when your work life becomes challenging.

This film illustrates the effect an optimistic or pessimistic attitude can have on other people.

Optimism is at the top of our pyramid of interpersonal competencies for a reason...

Here are some day to day actions you can take to support your learning from Part 1 of this course.