EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

-REACHING OUT

HR027
MBA HR 2014-16

INTRODUCTION
I reached out to Vivek Singh and Tanushree, for the process of forming a support group with 2 individuals. A
written consent for this assignment was taken, and confidentiality in all respects was maintained.

OBJECTIVES
1.
2.
3.
4.

To observe the behavioural pattern of both the individuals.

To analyze the implications of those behavioural patterns in their life.
To analyze areas of concerns and strengths to provide developmental feedback.
To provide strategies to help meet needs of the group members.

METHODOLOGY
1. Observation
a. What was observed: study of body movement), shouting, accents, tones of voice, relationship to
others, physical characteristics and contextual factors.
b. How it was observed: Attention, awareness, objectivity.
2. Inventory: reflective papers of both individuals, inventory relating to anger management, anxiety,
assertiveness, empathy and decision making
3. Documentation: recording of critical incidents which show a deviation from the normal behaviour of the
individual. This was done in the following way:a. What I saw. Recording was done through ABC model
Antecedent: What happened right before the targeted behaviour, Behaviour: What, exactly, did the
individual do, and Consequence: What happened after the behaviour occurred?
4. Discussion with the individuals
The following questions were attempted to be answered:
o
Who: was involved? witnessed the incident? responded? took what actions?
o
What: happened? was his complaint? actions did he take? were the results of those actions? Was
said? Follow-up is required?
o
Where: did the incident occur?
o
When: did the incident happen? was the incident discovered and reported?
o
How: was information obtained? did the incident occur (accidental or intentional)? Do you explain
the actions?
5. Analysis
a. Behaviour pattern analysis
b. Implications on life
c. Strategies suggested
d. Personal learning

Declaration
I Vivek Singh, declare that I permitted Naman Khanna to observe me for the Emotional Intelligence
Assignment. I am fully aware of the content of the report which is related to me.

Signature: - _______________

I Tanushree, declare that I permitted Naman Khanna to observe me for the

Emotional Intelligence Assignment. I am fully aware of the content of the report which is
Related to me.

Signature: - _______________

Person Observed: - Vivek Singh

Pre-observation State
Before beginning with the assignment I had little interaction with Vivek but in those interactions he seemed a hyper, social
person who does not have a care in the world and shys away from responsibility. In the past year during the lectures as well
I have seen vivek not been so interested in the lectures and always finding ways to have fun during them.
Although I had seen him speaking actively about HRUDAY the cell of which he is the president of on numerous occasions.
He seems quite motivated as the President of the Cell to make sure the
cell activities are smooth.
Post-Observation State
After keenly observing vivek and having group discussions with him and anshul my perceptions about him have changed
drastically.

Through series of interviews and discussions I have seen a whole new side of vivek singh. Vivek is an ENFJ type
personality. ENFJ are engaging mobilizers. He is warm, empathetic, responsible and responsive. He has a quality of being
sociable and he facilitates others in the group and provide inspiring leadership.
Through series of discussions during the time of feedbacks and especially negative feedbacks he has had a positive outlook.
During the four weeks of that I have observed him he has not shown a sign of stress even though his cell had a lot of events
in between. He has been actively involved in guiding juniors through their summer internship interviews and is still
providing his insights in order to help the juniors get through their first year.
During these four weeks especially I have seen vivek manage classes, his cell activities and still he takes out time to provide
regular guidance to the juniors.
During the time of his Emotional Intelligence Collage presentation, vivek spoke very passionately about his life, how he
was brought up and this shows how proud he is of his family and upbringing.
Analysis
Behaviour Patterns Observed:Firstly through his collage presentation, vivek had spoken passionately about his hometown and how his upbringing has
affected him. He has been brought up in a traditional environment and that shows how he is set in his ways and does not
accept alternate options. He might say yes to the new options to a problem but he does this so as to avoid any confrontation.
He is still thinking about his way and does not accept a new alternative whole heartedly and this has affected the way he
works in his group projects and also it affected the way he worked during his summer internship.
Vivek is an anxious person usually but when its regarding something which is very important to him his anxious leads him
to procrastinate on other things which tends to waste more time. When vivek becomes more anxious he tends to talk a lot,
this shows how he is unable to cope with the stress of not knowing. This has been proved through his high score on Anxiety
management which is:- 26.Not being able to handle anxiety is a sign that he also cannot cope with stress.
During most situations of conflict for example during his cell activities vivek before confronting a fellow member would
always procrastinate regarding the confrontation and in the end vivek is unable to articulate his thoughts and in the end he
isnt able to communicate what he wants to in the beginning.
During the sessions with Vivek, when asked a hypothetical question of how would he deliver bad news to his colleague he
wasnt able to answer, this shows the true nature of his personality.
As vivek is a very empathetic person, sometimes his empathy takes over his emotions and he is unable to regulate his
emotions and this has made it difficult for him to be the messenger of bad news to his friends.
Asking vivek on what motivates him to finish his daily tasks his reply of finishing the task as soon as possible shows that
how his inability to manage anxiety hampers his performance. Although vivek finished his assigned work even though he is
stressed out but the quality of work is compromised as his anxiety issues lead to poor performance.
Sometimes facing a new task bring along with it a good amount of anxiety or stress , that is when the right amount of
cortisols are released in the brain, this leads to an effective performance of an individual. This is usually the case when
vivek is facing a new challenging task, but slowing his stress level is stretched as his cortisol levels increase and thus
leading to very lack-lustre performance.
The high level of anxiety can also stem from the fact that he doesnt believe in his own abilities and doubts himself. Even
though he is confident about his communication skills he still feels that he is not a good orator thus not believing in himself
and his ability.
Life Implications
Being unable to cope with stress and not being able to manage anxiety is one of the major deterring factors for a person in
the path of success. Although vivek is an extremely hard worker but all his hard work is undone when he is not able to cope
with the pressure and becomes anxious as a result. This in the future would lead him to procrastinate on important decisions
on his life and as he becomes more stressed or anxious this could lead to making bad decisions in life as prolonged stress or
anxiety leads to negative thoughts which in the end lead to poor performance.
This shows that he still needs to learn how to manage multiple things at a time. As when faced with multiple tasks in an
organizational set up the inability to handle anxiety, stress would lead to ineffective management of tasks and thus lead to
poor performance.
The inability to control anger due to high levels of stress and anxiety would become a great hindrance to vivek in order to
be a good manager. Vivek has the ability of communicating and motivating people like all good managers do but in order to
be a successful manager he has to understand his own abilities and also learn the art of controlling his anxiety which he
must learn to manage stress.

Effect of Emotional Intelligence as a subject

Although vivek still is very anxious, through these past few weeks there has been a change in him, as during the exercises
in the class (learning centre exercise) he has opened up about his inability to handle stress and anxiety and he is taking
measures in order to improve upon those. He has started to trust his own abilities more and in order to tackle new
challenges and take control of his anxiety he has started taking unknown work as a challenge and wants to learn from every
experience.
On being asked regarding how the Emotional Intelligence class has changed him or helped him, he was clear in terms of
what he gained through his experience in the Emotional Intelligence class. As per him he has controlled his anger problem
to a certain extent. Even though anxiety is still there but he is starting to get the hang of it.

Based upon the group discussions the Following are the strengths and Weakness identified:1) Strength: - a) Empathy
b) The ability to cheer up or calm down another person
c) Proactive
d) Good Mediating skills
e) Hard working
f) Quick Thinking
2) Weakness: - a) High anxiety
b) High anger
c) Low self-awareness
d) Inability to multi-task
In order to define an action plan for Vivek, during the interview and group discussion the following Focus areas were
identified which are needed to be addressed.
Cognitive Focus area:During times of stress vivek only thinks about how to get out of the situation and this leads him to not focus on the issue at
hand and just on a way to avoid the issue.
He thinks about the people surrounding him as he is confident only when his known people are around, thus leading to
problems in assertion in unfamiliar situations.
In-order to stop the situation from worsening vivek tries to divert his mind from the issue altogether so that later his anger
does not get best of him and he regrets later on.
Emotional Focus area:During unfamiliar situations vivek usually feels stressed and frustrated
He feels empathetic towards the other person so as to understand the situation better, this may sometimes back fire as this
would lead him not to confront the exact cause of the situation and procrastinate which would further
Action Focus area:Insomnia is the main result of his Emotional instability.
Signs of aggression, venting out on people who are not involved.
Action Plan:Through detailed discussions and interviews the following action plan was developed:-

1. In order to handle stress better, at times of high anxiety that is when the anxiety starts, he should drink lots of water
and if possible should try to listen to some music, so that he could get time to calm himself.
2. During times of turbulence in his personal life, vivek should not think about the personal stuff so that he could

focus more on the professional front and try to indulge himself in the office work so much so that he does
not think about personal stuff this would help him deal with balancing his personal and professional life
and thus helping him manage his anxiety.
3. Each day when he gets up and before he goes off to sleep vivek should look at the mirror and say to himself that he
can do it and he will do it. Repeating this numerous times would ensure he starts to believe in his abilities which
would further lead to decrease in the stress level and thus lead to effective performance.
4. To look at each difficult task as a challenge and look at each step as a learning curve as even if he falters at this
point he would remember this in the future and would not repeat the same mistake again.
5. As he is high on Need for affiliation in the McClellands theory of need he should try to take trips be it short trips
with people he is comfortable for example his friends or family, this would help to rejuvenate him and make him
move his mind of things that trouble him.
6. Vivek should follow a structured problem solving methodology, it involves identifying the problem, developing and
selecting a solution to the problem, implementing the solution, and evaluating its helpfulness.
7. Exposure therapy: - by taking the help of a councillor or a mentor which would guide the person through a series
of real or imaginary scenarios to confront specific fears. Through a gradual process of exposure, vivek would learns
to cope more effectively with these fears, and with practice, the anxious response would naturally decrease.
8. Feelings of anxiety sometimes stem from an individuals negative or unhelpful thoughts. Cognitive restructuring is
a technique which can be used to help vivek challenge negative thoughts and develop more helpful and constructive
ways of thinking.
Key Learnings:Being a person who is low on self-awareness and unable to deal with anxiety and stress, by observing Vivek I realised how
many a time I must have reacted in those same situations. Observing a person who has similar habbits to oneself is like
watching a mirror and this made me realise what I should do or not do in the future. Although being low on self-awareness
makes it even more difficult for me to understand others but in these four weeks observing vivek has made me feel more
empathetic towards others and have made me realise that no matter how hard I work or how much effort I put in to the work
in the end if I am unable to handle the stress on that particular day I wont be able to climb the ladder of success.
While drafting viveks action plan I realised how important it is to self-reflect in order to grow as an individual and be more
emotionally intelligent. Being able to communicate is a good skill to have but along with that the ability to cope with
pressure and use the pressure affectively and channelize the same is what makes a person successful. Vivek has all the right
ingredients of being a good manager, that is he is a good communicator, hardworking, motivates people who work with
him, empathetic towards other, but he needs to learn to how to calm himself and learn to manage stress, and this I believe is
the greatest asset any manager could have. So I learned that in order to be successful I have to learn to manage my stress
and learn to channelize it so that I could be more productive and efficient.

Person Observed:- Tanushree KT.

Pre-observation State
During the past one year I had a very minimalistic interaction with Tanushree KT mostly during the time when we were in
the junior placement committee, in those interactions she seemed a very quiet, reserved person who does not show her
emotions and does not easily get attached to people. In the past year during the lectures as well I have seen tanushree been
very attentive in the class and also manage her placement committee commitments.

While speaking to her in general she always had that calm personality who is always in control of things and doesnt mind
the extra responsibility and she comes across as a person who puts her work first then any other thing. She has always
seemed to be the workaholic type person who doesnt go out much or talk to people and goes about her work silently.
Post-Observation State
After keenly observing Tanushree and having group discussions with him and Vritika my perceptions about Tanushree have
changed drastically.
By way of observing in class and the weekly interactions we had during these past four weeks tanushree has shown a whole
new side to her. Through these interactions it is revealed that Tanushree in reality is a highly Emotionally Intelligent person.
She is attached to people and likes to make friends but she has never shown how comfortable she is with people who are
close to her and how she feels safe around them. Her experience of living outside her home for the past 9 years has helped
her along the way to deal with managing her emotions well. She is now accustomed to change and because of that she is
very emotional stable or to put it she is high on emotional intelligence due to her life experiences.
She is very adept at taking responsibility for her actions as since the beginning her parents have given her the freedom to act
on her own accord which has helped her develop as an individual.
My perception of her that she is not a people person was changed as through the interactions I have had with her recently I
have come to know that she is a person who wants to learn constantly and wants to have some structure some goals in her
life and also she needs to be challenged regularly as she wants to improve constantly. So this thinking of excelling and
pushing herself beyond the limit has made her more focussed on the task at hand rather than the surroundings so this can be
interpreted sometimes as not being able to be attached to people.
Analysis
Behaviour Patterns Observed:During these past few weeks while observing tanushree from a distance and also having interactions with her in the form of
discussions and interviews I have now been able to identify several behaviour patterns.
During the strategy class we were given an assignment in the class that we had to prepare a presentation on a topic which
was to be selected from a list of options given by the professor.
Tanushree wanted to take one of the most difficult topic for her group and her team members were against it. Her team
members wanted to take the easy topic and be done with the presentation but she said its better this way as they would learn
something new through this. She was quite assertive in her approach as she respected her team members views but also had
put forth her points as well. Tanushree then finally managed to convince her group regarding the same. This brings out the
part that she wants to learn and grow as an individual and also regarding how confident she is if she feels she is right as she
convinced her whole group to go for the difficult topic and thus changed their mind-set.
She is very passionate about her cell commitments and is always focussed towards it. Tanushree during the last few weeks
has managed her cell work and her studies. As because of her cell commitments she doesnt get time to study at home, she
makes sure she pays attention in class and understand the topic there only.
The constant efforts she puts so as to manage her professional life and personal life is admirable. During these past few
weeks she had a lot of pressure on herself as the placements are about to begin but she has not shown any sign of stress or
concern at all. It was only during the interview and discussions that I got to know that she is under stress otherwise due to
her ability to hide her emotions in class or her ability to separate her cell commitments and her classwork and her personal
life would have never made me realise this.
She is a very family oriented person, each day after the last class she calls her parents and talks to them and let them know
about her day and what lies ahead of her in the day. May be by this way she takes a break from the class work and also it
acts like a re-fresher for her as she has to now go for cell activities which take up most of her day.
During these past few weeks there some changes in her behaviour for example as earlier she used to keep to herself but now
she talks to different people in class and seems more happy and sociable than before. Tanushree has also started learning on
how to say no to people. Through the interactions we have had, her inability to say no to people in the past has come out,
but during these few weeks I have seen that she is learning that art.
In-order to manage her time effectively and efficiently, she is maintaining a small diary of what she wants to do today and
how much work is left from yesterday. She likes to complete the tasks of the day in that day itself but if she doesnt she

finishes them first the next day and then moves on to the days tasks. In her diary she plans things like her attendance as due
to her cell commitments she has to miss classes, so in order to avoid any future hassle she plans things accordingly and
identifies where she can miss her classes and thus manage her attendance effectively.
For the duration of the assignment I have not seen tanushree having any altercation or argument with any individual in the
class. She comes across as a person with very high emotional intelligence.
This high emotional intelligence can be seen from her scores on empathy, assertiveness, anxiety management and anger
management, as in all these areas she has a score in the strengthen region with only empathy being on the high side. This
shows how adept she is in managing her emotions.
The time when she received a PPO from the company I remember she didnt show signs of emotion then as well. Now as
she is closer to her cell members as she works with them day and night I have seen her interacting with them more and
socializing with her cell members more which shows that she has taken them into her in-circle and now is totally
comfortable with them.

Life Implications
Being able to manage emotions of oneself is a very important aspect of being a successful manager. In-order to be
successful one needs to balance ones thoughts and be able to channelize the emotions in a way which is productive.
Tanushree has all the qualities of being a good manager:- she knows when to leave the topic, when to push people, she
knows how to regulate her emotions which is one of the most important qualities. Due to her cell activities as well she has
become more adept at motivating people and influencing them, but if one notices, still she finds it difficult to question
people on their feelings and personal experiences. She feels that she would be intruding their privacy or personal space and
this would hamper her professional life ahead if she doesnt try to improve upon it as the inability to bond or share other
peoples experiences would deter her from forming relationships and further it would cause problems for her as being an
HR manager one needs to understand what an employee goes through so that one can help him/her to function effectively.
Her inability to confront is in co-relation to her inability to say no to people. Being high on empathy she finds it difficult in
saying no to people and this would in the future be a major deterrent to her career. Being able to say no to people and the
correct way of saying no is a must for a successful HR manager. Not being able to say no to people would in the future lead
to her expecting from people as she cant say no so she would expect the other to do the same and this in the end leads to
high emotional instability as expecting from others and then when the expectation isnt fulfilled the feeling of grief or
sadness takes over this would affect the performance and as a result lead to more emotional instability.
Her way to being in her comfort zone and not coming out easily from it would have a negative effect on her life ahead as
this would cause the people near her to believe that she doesnt want to interact much and thus the relationships that could
be formed easily would in the end take a lot of time due to preconceived notions about her personality. Thus being open to
new people, this ability is a very important aspect of being a successful manager and she needs to work on it more.
Effect of Emotional Intelligence as a subject
Although Tanushree is emotionally quite stable and has a high emotional quotient still when asked how emotional
intelligence as a subject changed her perception of herself, she had few things to say.
As she knows that she cannot say no to people so after going through the assertiveness assignment in class and listening to
people high on assertiveness she felt a need to change on how she conducts herself in this regard. Although she has been
conducting herself in a very responsible manner all these years but her inability to say no to people has always let her down.
She has realised how important it is to say no to people and thus have started to practice it as well. As per tanushree, I
knew I had to work on this but did not know how to bring about this change and this has been possible but listening to
others in class who are high on assertiveness and even though those people are introverts just like tanushree.

As part of learning conferences, she was able to realise that people deal with things differently. Hence as a person she
should also probably see their triggers and be more aware socially. So apart from self-awareness, she also need to focus and
improve on the social awareness front.
On being open and approachable to other people, in one of the interventions in class, her group was
Perceived as being closed and people found it difficult to approach them. Due to that they realized that how they are being
perceived and thus that helped in creating an action plan to move out of her comfort zone and be open to people that is why
during these past four weeks she has been more sociable then before.

Based upon the group discussions the Following are the strengths and Weakness identified:1) Strength:- a) Able to manage stress and anger
b) The ability to multitask
c) Proactive
d) Good Listening skills
e) Hard working
f) Quick Thinking
2) Weakness: - a) Inability to communicate effectively outside her comfort zone.
b) High on empathy
c) Inability to say no to people (especially when people provide a request)
d) Inability to confront people
Tanushree has a good level of self-awareness but in-order to grow further her social awareness also has to increase.
In order to define an action plan for Tanushree, during the interview and group discussion the following Focus areas were
identified which are needed to be addressed.
Cognitive Focus area:1. During times of stress Tanushree only thinks about how the situation might get worsened if she would
confront so she gives herself a time-out and thinks about other things to divert her mind.
2. During confrontations she thinks that she is prying and thinks that she should not intrude the other
persons personal space.
3. Being high on empathy tanushree always thinks about the other persons feelings and tries to think from
the other persons perspective.
Emotional Focus area:1. Tanushree usually feels stressed while confronting people and sometimes the stress affects her so much
that she has a head ache.
2. She feels empathetic towards the other person so as to understand the situation better, this may
sometimes back fire as this would lead her not to confront the exact cause of the situation and
procrastinate which would further cause the situation to worsen.
Action Focus area:1. Tanushree usually diverts her mind by focussing on the other task.
2. Tanushree usually talks to her friends and family at times of high tension and stress.
Action Plan:Through detailed discussions and interviews the following action plan was developed keeping in mind her focus areas:1. Saying No when required: - she used to end up saying yes despite knowing that it would hamper her schedule and
even be a burden to a certain extent after extending her limits.
So in-order to improve upon this inability she needs to practice on saying no to people.
This can be done through visualisation but the best practice would be to do role plays
with her friends or team mates.
2. In-order to understand people better she has to confront people about their emotions and thus she needs to be more
open to confrontation and in-order to achieve this she needs to be able to see their triggers and be more aware
socially. So apart from self-awareness, she also need to focus and improve on the social awareness front.

3. Start by preparing to confront the real issue. Be able to state the issue in one (or two), non-emotional, factual based
sentences this would help in her confrontational inability.
4. Think of relationships in terms of what you can give, not in terms of what you can get. If you seek to build new
relationships based on mutual giving and receiving, youll have no shortage of friends and it would help in getting
her out of her comfort zone.
Key Learnings:Being a person who is low on self-awareness and unable to deal with anxiety and stress, by observing tanushree I realised
how to self-regulate my emotions. Even after being in so much stress the ability to conduct herself in those situations is
admirable and this has made me realise that I should try to be more positive in outlook and take each challenging situation
as a challenge. Observing tanushree made me realise that even though a person is high on emotional quotient most of the
times still the person could be misunderstood as the person isnt able to communicate openly. This ability of communicating
openly is a very important ability to have in an organizational set up as this deters people to form wrong preconceived
notions against a person. Thus in-order to grow as an individual it is must that I need to step out of my comfort zone and
communicate. Also while listening is an important aspect of social awareness and this has been displayed by tanushree
regularly, being able to confront people on their emotions is also highly important as this would lead to forming bonds and
creating an environment of trust and thus it would help in stepping out of the comfort zone and talk to new people and thus
this would help in unfamiliar situations.