Avances en el estudio de la Inteligencia Emocional

The emotional intelligence coaching of school administrators: a cross-case analysis
was member checks and having administrators sign
off on quotes and transcripts. In addition to the sign
off sheets, each administrator also signed a content
verification form after reviewing their individual
case descriptions verifying there were no inaccurate
changes or omissions from the study.
Cross Case Analysis Findings
Emotions of School Administrators
Throughout the coaching sessions, there were many
references to “being angry,” “I did not think emotions
were important,” or “I need to deal better with
this emotion.” It was my goal as a coach to help the
administrators understand that working with emotions
effectively was an important skill to successful
administration. Chip shared his viewpoint of
emotions in the workplace during an interview:
This has totally changed my thinking about
how to deal with emotions rather than just setting
them aside. (11/07/06)
During a focus group discussion, I asked the
three administrators what emotions challenged
them the most in their positions. Paula answered
fear, Chip answered fear and anger and Rick answered
anger. Chip actually made several references
to anger and fear during every one of his eight
coaching sessions. During one session he shared:
It’s like dealing with fear everyday. (10/04/06)
Sometimes he described both emotions in
the same response:
I became angry and scared when I got the
email. I let my emotions control my actions,
and I sent a negative email, escalating the situation.
(9/28/06)
In other coaching sessions Chip also used
angry and scared to describe his emotions:
I was angry, and I was scared. I want to do a
good job and all we hear is negative,
negative, negative. (9/28/06)
I used to think I handled my emotions well;
I would set them aside. There was no room
for emotions in the workplace. (10/4/06)
Chip shared that he hoped as he became
more experienced he could eliminate some of the
negative emotions associated with his job:
Maybe the fear will go away as I develop
stronger relationships with my supervisors.
(11/07/06)
Rick’s challenges arose around not only understanding
his emotions but developing skills to
understand others’ emotions. Rick openly shared in
an interview that he was always a very sensitive person,
but not very sensitive to other people. Rick
shared this perspective on dealing with emotions,
“It is very important to understand your own emotions.
Sometimes I am not sure you can understand
someone else’s emotions.” (10/20/06)
During the eight coaching sessions, Rick
shared numerous events that either frustrated him
or made him angry:
…because of that I get frustrated. I get that
“what-do-you-mean, you don’t understand
kind of attitude.” (8/13/06)
…questions about a decision I made make
me angry and mad. My feelings of being
mad and angry caused me to react poorly to
another teacher. (9/30/06)
This made me very upset…(10/26/06)
This is very frustrating. (10/26/06)
How frustrating it is to change your behaviors
and feelings. (11/20/06)
Throughout the duration of the study the administrators
expressed their feelings of frustration,
fear and anger. Regardless of how much the administrators
improved their emotional intelligences,
struggles continued.
What are the Administrators’ Perceptions of the
Importance of Emotional Intelligence?
During the three months of coaching, interviews,
and focus group, the three school administrators all
agreed that EI was very important. Paula stated
that she thought emotional intelligence may be the
most important skill in administration. She shared
during an interview:
I think it might be the most important skill
of an administrator. (10/17/06)
This was even more interesting coming from
Paula who had just spent the last four years completing
her Ph.D. in education. Paula also entered
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