The Vaccine Your Education Support Staff Must Use Now

Frontline ESS are rightly feeling a range of negative emotions at the moment, which is normal and natural as it is the human response to a pandemic – but there is some good news.

Frontline staff have a vaccine to help protect them, and although it won’t stop them from being infected by the Coronavirus, it can vaccinate against fear, anger and all the negative emotions that, if left undetected or unaddressed, can lead to serious mental health issues.

The vaccine is called Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and we can and should all access it now.

What is EQ?

Much has been written about emotional intelligence – and more specifically its value in the workplace – but the concept of emotional intelligence is not new. Years of research and testing have shown that our human brains are hardwired to give emotions the upper hand. The limbic system (the emotional brain) reacts to events first, before we have the opportunity to engage the rational brain (cortex).

Example: A parent arrives at your school in a negative mood and raises their voice and blames you for having to wait to speak to someone. Your first response will be emotional – you will feel something. You may feel shocked, annoyed or even angry, and unless you have the ability to regulate those emotions, your response to the challenging parent may be unprofessional.

Unprofessional communication leads to higher levels of anxiety and stress, and if the interaction continues with both staff and the parent communicating negatively, the parent may leave looking for somewhere to put all that negativity ie: tell others in the School community via social media.

Staff are often left having to ‘hold in’ how they feel until they get a break and a chance to vent.

To help us understand what EQ is, I’m sharing with you a definition influenced by a few theories, and mainly popularised by Daniel Goleman’s 1995 book Emotional Intelligence. Daniel Goleman, considered one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject, explains emotional intelligence as having five components:

1. Self-Awareness

The ability to recognise and understand your personal moods, emotions and motivations, as well as their effect on others. Self-awareness depends on your ability to monitor your own emotional state and to correctly identify and name your emotions.

2. Self-Regulation

The ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods, and the propensity to suspend judgement and to think before acting.

3. Internal Motivation

A passion to work for internal reasons that go beyond external rewards such as money and status.

4. Empathy

The ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people and treat people according to their emotional reactions.

5. Social Skills

The proficiency to manage relationships, build networks, find common ground, and build rapport.

As seen by Daniel’s Five Components, Emotional Intelligence is a part of us that impacts every aspect of our life.

When working on developing your EQ, remembering that your emotions are not the ‘enemy’ is important. Your emotions contain valuable information that, if used properly, can help you make sound decisions and keep you out of harm’s way. The aim is not to stop negative emotions, it’s to understand them and manage them according to the environment.

Much is still to be learned about the human brain and how it works, but for now, for frontline ESS to ride the wave of COVID-19, or for you to lead a frontline team of ESS during COVID-19, remember that emotional intelligence is the vaccine that will strengthen and protect us all from a pandemic of negativity.

By Cate Schreck – Author of “The A- Z of Service Excellence”