Speaker: Margarita Overton, Chief, Integrated Prevention , Department of the Air Force
In comparison to other trainings you've attended, what stood out to you and made it particularly impactful?
Margarita Overton: One of the reasons why I found talent smart, emotional intelligence training more impactful than other trainings that I've taken is that not only does talent smart, take the time to teach you the concepts behind emotional intelligence, but you work through uh a development plan. And by developing this plan, you kind of hold yourself accountable to the strategies that you uh write down and say that you want to tackle. For example, I know that relationship management is one of the areas where I have an opportunity for more growth. And so I put down in my plan, that one of the EQ strategies that I want to use is uh taking a 15 minute walk around the work center once a week. So I plan to do that for the next month uh and just observe uh behaviors, listen to what people are saying and get a feel for the tempo. Uh And hopefully by doing that, I can strengthen the relationships that I have.
A lot of trainers only attend Level 1 - what would you say is the biggest benefit of going to Level 2?
Margarita Overton: Level one training was definitely a great thing to attend because I was able to learn the concepts um and the do domains surrounding emotional intelligence. And yeah, we talked about some of the strategies that you can use um to strengthen your emotional intelligence. But I felt like level two is definitely a must. Um because we work through um those four domains. And also to, because I was able to get some um feedback from multiple Raiders, I was able to get some insights about my perceptions about my emotional intelligence and others perceptions about my emotional intelligence. And then with that put together a development plan to improve those areas where um I was lowest in. So definitely think that level two takes it to that next level.
What potential impact would this program have inside your organization?
Margarita Overton: I can see the emotional intelligence training. Level one and level two having a huge impact in our organization. One of the things that our organization um struggles with because I work for the military is um feeling moderate to high stress. And there are unique challenges to uh navigating a military career. And I believe that emotional intelligence can help one manage their own stress because the stressors that come along with military life are not gonna go away. Um But if we can manage that stress by being self aware and also um being able to manage our um those reactions that we feel when we are stressed and also being aware, socially aware and then managing those relationships. I think that those concepts will um help significant re reduce the levels of stress that our personnel are feeling. Like I said, the stress is not going to go away, but the huge um need is for us to be able to manage that stress and to be uh more effective in our interactions with others.
