Introduction and Background
Due to a restructure at work I suddenly found myself questioning the skills and knowledge I possess and if they were the right ones for the job I found myself in. After 20 years plus working as a physiotherapist I was offered an opportunity to develop, coordinate and teach in the newly created Certificate IV in Allied Health Assistance course. From a handful of students the course grew into many groups with different delivery modes. After a few years I was able to step into a team leader role with ‘Allied Health’ being one of the five delivery areas I had to manage, from allied health, massage and fitness to outdoor recreation and community services in the form of children’s services. Having ‘grown up’ in a medical model where you instruct people what to do as you ‘know’ what is best for them, leading a group of teachers did not come natural to me. The journey over the past three years has been one of falls and rises, learning from my mistakes and taking on board advice from others. In the background remained my involvement with the allied health assistance course through the occasional teaching opportunity and a close working relationship with the new coordinator which satisfied my passion for the health industry.
Then, without much consultation, the decision was made to shuffle the cards and redistribute all delivery areas in our department to the three team leaders, and I was given the responsibility to look after community services qualifications. No longer was I going to be involved with allied health and massage but now had to provide support to those teaching in community services, youth and disability, beside children’s services, fitness and outdoor recreation. To me my strength and passion were not taken into consideration and it felt as if they had cut off my right arm; my allied health skill and knowledge which I had relied on for so many years and which was quite tangible for me was no longer required; what was left was a role which required skills I doubt I had.
Through the EDGCT course I learned more about Howards Gardner Multiple Intelligences and established that my intrapersonal skill was well developed. Reflecting on the latest developments and how best to deal with them I unexpectedly came across an article about emotional intelligence and its importance for good leadership. I could feel a small seed called passion starting to grow again especially when I found a free course on ‘Coursera’ titled: ‘Leadership as a relationship of emotional intelligence, through hope, compassion, mindfulness and playfulness’. The course did not start until a month later which did not stop me from reading more about emotional intelligence (EI) and trying to figure out how I could utilise EI in my final assessment task for 5010, playing around with topics such as ‘EI in educational leadership’, ‘the emotional intelligent teacher’ or ‘transitioning from teacher to team leader and the importance of EI’.
In this part of the Weebly I have documented my EI journey both on a personal level as well as as part of the EDGCT final module 5010. As such, two sub-tabs have been created; the first one with reflections on the final assessment task for 5010, and the second one a more personal journal reflecting on the courser course, books and articles.
Then, without much consultation, the decision was made to shuffle the cards and redistribute all delivery areas in our department to the three team leaders, and I was given the responsibility to look after community services qualifications. No longer was I going to be involved with allied health and massage but now had to provide support to those teaching in community services, youth and disability, beside children’s services, fitness and outdoor recreation. To me my strength and passion were not taken into consideration and it felt as if they had cut off my right arm; my allied health skill and knowledge which I had relied on for so many years and which was quite tangible for me was no longer required; what was left was a role which required skills I doubt I had.
Through the EDGCT course I learned more about Howards Gardner Multiple Intelligences and established that my intrapersonal skill was well developed. Reflecting on the latest developments and how best to deal with them I unexpectedly came across an article about emotional intelligence and its importance for good leadership. I could feel a small seed called passion starting to grow again especially when I found a free course on ‘Coursera’ titled: ‘Leadership as a relationship of emotional intelligence, through hope, compassion, mindfulness and playfulness’. The course did not start until a month later which did not stop me from reading more about emotional intelligence (EI) and trying to figure out how I could utilise EI in my final assessment task for 5010, playing around with topics such as ‘EI in educational leadership’, ‘the emotional intelligent teacher’ or ‘transitioning from teacher to team leader and the importance of EI’.
In this part of the Weebly I have documented my EI journey both on a personal level as well as as part of the EDGCT final module 5010. As such, two sub-tabs have been created; the first one with reflections on the final assessment task for 5010, and the second one a more personal journal reflecting on the courser course, books and articles.