Emotional Intelligence in Leadership | Executive Workshop, Salah Abdeldayem
A professional workshop on self-awareness, regulation, and empathy in leadership, specific skills, not vague advice to "be more empathetic."
Emotional Intelligence in Leadership
A professional, evidence-informed look at self-awareness, regulation, and empathy in leadership: not "being nice," but a specific set of skills.
How this differs from Leading Under Pressure: that workshop is about decisions and action when time is short. This one is about the internal and interpersonal dynamics happening at the same time. Complementary, not interchangeable.
Emotional intelligence gets reduced in most training to "be more empathetic", vague advice that doesn't change behavior. Leaders need specific skills: recognizing their own reactions in the moment, reading what's actually happening in a team, and responding deliberately instead of automatically.
Who this is for
Managers and leaders who want to understand their own emotional reactions and the emotional dynamics inside their teams, rather than treating both as background noise to decision-making.
The problem
Unmanaged emotional dynamics don't disappear when they're ignored, they show up as eroded trust, miscommunication, and reactive decisions, usually without anyone naming what actually happened.
What you'll explore
Self-awareness, recognizing an emotional reaction as it's happening, not after
Emotional regulation, responding deliberately instead of automatically
Empathy as a skill: accurately reading what someone else is experiencing, not assuming
Social awareness, reading the emotional state of a room or a team
How unmanaged emotional dynamics quietly damage trust and communication
The difference between suppressing an emotion and regulating a response
What you'll take away
A clearer read on their own emotional patterns as a leader, and specific practices for the moment between "feeling something" and "responding to the team."
Learning outcomes
Recognize their own emotional reaction in the moment it's happening
Distinguish regulating a response from suppressing an emotion
Read a team's emotional state more accurately in a real recent situation
Respond to a colleague's emotional reaction without dismissing or over-managing it
Identify one recurring emotional pattern that affects their leadership
Apply a pause-and-choose practice before responding under emotional pressure
Half-day – full day
Corporate · Executive
Managers & leadership teams
Best for
Practical exercises
A structured self-awareness inventory applied to a real recent leadership moment
"Read the room": practicing reading emotional dynamics from a real, anonymized team scenario
A pause-and-choose drill for responding to a triggering statement
Peer feedback on a real emotional pattern participants want to shift
Methodology
Reflective and practice-based; draws on established research on emotional regulation and social awareness while staying explicit about what's evidence and what's practical coaching guidance.
Example agenda: full day
0:00
Opening: emotional intelligence as a skill set, not a personality trait
0:30
Self-awareness: recognizing your own reactions in the moment
1:15
Regulation: responding deliberately, not automatically
2:00
Empathy as a skill, not an assumption
2:45
Social awareness: reading a team's emotional state
3:30
Where emotional dynamics quietly damage trust
4:15
Building a personal pause-and-choose practice
FAQ
Is this just "be more empathetic" training?
No, it's built around specific, practicable skills, not vague advice.
How is this different from Leading Under Pressure?
That workshop is about decisions and action under time pressure. This one is about the internal and interpersonal dynamics happening at the same time.
Is this based on real research?
It draws on established findings on emotional regulation and social awareness, and is explicit about the distinction from practical coaching guidance.
Is this suitable for new managers?
Yes, and often especially valuable early, before habits form.
Bring this to your leadership team.
Enquire about this workshop
Leading Under Pressure
A leadership workshop built around the conditions that actually test leaders (limited time, incomplete information, and high stakes), not a discussion of leadership in the abstract.
Communicating with Confidence
Not a personality overhaul: a practical look at the specific moments where confident communication actually breaks down, and what to do differently in them.
Difficult Conversations
A practical approach to the conversations people postpone, feedback, disagreement, boundaries, built around preparation and structure, not scripts.