How to Improve Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace
In today's evolving world of work, the most sought after employees are those who are adaptable and emotionally intelligent - those who can connect, communicate and collaborate productively. Heading into 2025, emotional intelligence (EI) is the key differentiator between the best leaders and contributors and the average performer. Measuring and developing EI skills at all levels in organizations has tremendous ROI - increased engagement, productivity, profitability and enhanced organizational culture.
This article will explore emotional intelligence skills, illustrate the impact of EI through real-life examples, and provide actionable steps to measure and improve emotional intelligence in the workplace.
What is Emotional Intelligence?
You may still find yourself wondering, what does Emotional intelligence mean? Emotional Intelligence is a set of skills that help us make intelligent responses to negative feelings, and better perceive, understand and manage emotions in ourselves and in others. This crucial skill set can significantly impact workplace dynamics, improve leadership abilities, and foster a more inclusive and productive work environment. Ben Palmer, PhD - the CEO and founder of Genos International - breaks this down into core competencies that are essential for achieving high emotional intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence Competencies
Self-Awareness
Self-awareness involves recognizing and understanding your own emotions and how they affect your thoughts and behavior. By developing self-awareness, you can make more informed decisions and improve your interpersonal relationships, which will most likely enhance your overall performance.
In practice, self-awareness means regularly reflecting on your emotional responses and identifying patterns. Someone who has high self-awareness is present with the role that their feelings are playing in their decisions and behaviors. They demonstrate an awareness of the way they feel, ask others for feedback on their behavior, respond effectively to feedback, and demonstrate awareness of their mood.
Awareness of Others
Awareness of others, often referred to as empathy, involves understanding and considering the emotions of those around you. This competency helps in building strong relationships, facilitating better communication, and creating a supportive work environment.
Awareness of others goes beyond merely recognizing others' emotions; it requires genuinely understanding their perspectives and responding appropriately. For instance, if a team member is visibly stressed, a leader high in awareness of others might offer support to this person and offer to lighten their workload, demonstrating that they value their team's well-being. This leader likely makes others feel appreciated, adjusts their leadership style so that it fits well with others, and notices when someone needs support.
Authenticity
Authenticity is about expressing yourself honestly and with integrity. In the workplace, being authentic fosters trust and respect among colleagues and helps create a culture of openness and transparency.
Being authentic means aligning your actions with your values and speaking truthfully, even when it’s difficult. People high in authenticity are often described as genuine, whereas people who demonstrate this skill less frequently are often described as untrustworthy.
A few things that authentic people tend to do are accurately acknowledge the way others feel, recognize others’ non-verbal cues (e.g., body language), and notice when someone needs support.
Emotional Reasoning
Emotional reasoning involves integrating emotional insights with factual information during decision-making. This means considering both your own and others’ emotions, alongside factual information, to make well-rounded decisions. It's about understanding and utilizing the information conveyed by feelings to enhance the decision-making process and clearly communicating this approach to others.
People high in emotional reasoning reflect on feelings when decision-making, ask others how they feel about potential solutions to problems, and use an organization’s values effectively when making important decisions.
Self-Management
Self-management is the ability to regulate your emotions, especially in stressful situations. It includes managing your impulses, maintaining a positive outlook, and adapting to changing circumstances without becoming overwhelmed.
Effective self-management enables you to stay calm and focused under pressure. For example, instead of reacting angrily to criticism, you might take a moment to process the feedback constructively. Techniques like deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and cognitive restructuring can help improve self-management.
Positive Influence
Positive influence refers to the capacity to positively impact those around you. By encouraging and supporting your colleagues and employees, you can help foster a more productive and motivated team environment.
Positive influence not only involves recognizing and nurturing the strengths of others, but also effectively helping people resolve issues that are affecting their performance. For instance, praising someone’s good work publicly not only boosts their confidence but also motivates others, and helping another person efficiently respond to an issue can improve their mood and put them back on track quicker. People who can positively influence others’ moods, feelings, and emotions are empowering to work with, and easily motivate those around them.
Inspiring Performance
Inspiring performance, or inspirational leadership is the ability to lead and inspire others through emotional intelligence. It involves being a role model, motivating your team, and creating a vision that others are eager to follow.
Inspirational leaders articulate a compelling vision and inspire their teams to achieve it. For example, a leader who shares a clear and inspiring vision for a project can energize the team and foster a collective commitment to success. Leadership development programs that focus on emotional intelligence can help cultivate this ability.
Emotional Intelligence Examples
Understanding emotional intelligence through workplace examples can provide insight into how these competencies manifest in a professional environment. Below, we provide examples of both high demonstration and low demonstration of emotional intelligence in the workplace, highlighting the impact that EI can have on organizational culture and performance.
Each of the emotional intelligence competencies has a productive and an unproductive state. People who are high in their demonstration of emotional intelligence often function within the productive states of being: present, empathetic, genuine, expansive, resilient and empowering. Those who are lower in their demonstration of EI tend to function more often in the unproductive states of being: disconnected, insensitive, untrustworthy, limited, temperamental or indifferent.
High Emotional Intelligence Examples
- Positive Communication: Leaders who actively listen, provide constructive feedback, and communicate clearly tend to foster a collaborative and positive work environment. For example, a manager who is present, listens attentively during team meetings and addresses concerns directly creates a sense of trust and openness. This approach empowers team members to share their ideas and concerns, leading to better problem-solving and innovation.
- Conflict Resolution: Employees high in emotional intelligence skills can navigate conflicts and help resolve disputes amicably, maintaining harmony within the team. An example of this might be a team member who mediates a disagreement between colleagues, and focuses on understanding each person’s perspective to find a solution that works for everyone. It takes the emotional intelligence competencies of self awareness and awareness of others to effectively do this. This not only resolves the immediate issue but also strengthens team cohesion and mutual respect.
Low Emotional Intelligence Examples
- Negative Reactions Temperamental managers who react impulsively to bad news can create a culture of fear and anxiety, reducing overall productivity. For example, a manager who lashes out at employees for missing a deadline without understanding the underlying reasons can demoralize the team. This can lead to increased stress and a lack of motivation, ultimately harming productivity and morale.
- Insensitive behavior: Employees who lack emotional intelligence often face difficulties in building and maintaining professional relationships, leading to a fragmented team. An example here could be an employee who consistently interrupts colleagues during discussions and fails to acknowledge the contributions of others. This insensitive behavior can create resentment and hinder collaboration, negatively impacting team dynamics and overall performance.
How to Measure Emotional Intelligence
Measuring emotional intelligence is the critical first step to developing and improving it. Finding an assessment professional who uses tools which are research-based and thoroughly tested is essential. At Genos, we offer science-based emotional intelligence assessments to help individuals and organizations gauge their EI levels and identify areas of strength and opportunities for development. Genos Assessments are supported by a wealth of peer-reviewed research and are accompanied by streamlined, action-oriented reports.
Emotional Intelligence Assessments
Genos Emotional intelligence assessments are designed to evaluate demonstration of core Emotional Intelligence competencies. The assessment process is highly customizable and can include self-assessment, peer reviews, and feedback sessions to provide a comprehensive understanding of one’s emotional intelligence.
How to Improve Emotional Intelligence in the workplace
Enhancing or developing emotional intelligence requires a proactive and sustained effort. Once EI levels have been established through the assessment, Emotional Intelligence competencies can be developed at all levels of an organization. Here are some practical steps to develop and improve emotional intelligence in the workplace.
Developing Self-Awareness through self reflection:
Regularly take time to reflect on your emotions and behaviors. Journaling can be a useful tool for this purpose.Keeping a daily journal where you note down your emotional responses to various situations can help you identify events that trigger specific feelings. Over time, this practice can enhance your self-awareness and help you understand how your emotions influence your actions and decisions.
Enhance Awareness of Others
- Mindful Listening: Pay close attention to what your colleagues are saying, without planning your response while they speak. This shows empathy and respect. Active listening involves fully concentrating on the speaker, understanding their message, and responding thoughtfully.
- Practice being physically present: The more grounded we are, the easier it is to pay attention to how others are feeling in the moment. We can be more emotionally mindful by doing things that help engage our biology for it. Deep breathing works to engage our parasympathetic nervous system, which is important for presence and mindfulness, which can prime us to be more empathetic and better listeners .
Enroll in a Training or Development Program
- Comprehensive Development Programs: Programs like Lead Empower and Thrive with EI and Applied Emotional Intelligence provide structured and effective approaches to enhancing EI. Look for a program that offers in-depth training on various aspects of emotional intelligence, combining theoretical knowledge with practical exercises and real-world applications. Participating in such programs can accelerate your emotional intelligence development and provide valuable tools and techniques for continuous improvement.
- Specialized Courses: Specialized courses focused on specific EI competencies can provide targeted training and development. For example, a course on psychological safety might teach you how to create a safe and supportive work environment, enhancing team collaboration and innovation. For targeted development, consider the following Genos courses on leading with a coaching mindset, psychological safety in the workplace, and the science of well-being.
