Improving my Emotional Intelligence through the Design Workshop

Create the ideal backpack. It might seem like a simple task for many people, but for me it was not. I had no idea where to begin on this assignment when we first got it on Monday because all I could think was “I can’t draw” and “I’m not creative”. I view myself as a person who deals well with concrete ideas and numbers. Design isn’t really my thing. To make matters worse, we were told to not focus on specific features of the backpack, which would have been easier for me. Instead, we had to connect with the emotions of our partner to discover what they really needed as opposed to what they presumably wanted. As a result, Monday I struggled with this assignment and I was dreading finishing it on Wednesday.

However, on Tuesday I was working on my Leadership Development Plan and, in this plan, I identified that one of my weaknesses is not being socially aware of other people’s emotions. This made me realize that one of the reasons that I was struggling with this assignment was because I wasn’t putting in enough effort to make myself aware of my partner’s emotions regarding his ideal backpack. Without truly understanding his emotions in regards to this project, I wasn’t going to be able to create what he needed.

Therefore, on Wednesday, I came into class with the goal to be more aware of the emotions behind the backpack design I was creating. Although, I wouldn’t say that my final prototypes were perfect, the feedback that I got from my partner on Wednesday was much more positive than the feedback that I got on Monday. I had been able to identify several key things that my partner really needed in his backpack and was able to come up with a few solutions that he liked to solve these problems.

Overall, this design project coupled with my LDP gave me a greater appreciation of the importance of emotional intelligence and also gave me to ability to take the first steps to work on my own weakness in this area regarding social awareness.