Applied Emotional Intelligence

It’s worth the work to develop emotional intelligence—for yourself and your organisation. Companies that score high in emotional intelligence (EQ) outperform their peers in many metrics. People with EQ communicate better, enjoy healthier relationships, and work more productively.

Emotional intelligence has become important not only for managers but all employees. According to the World Economic Forum, EQ traits are the top skills organisations look for today, yet research suggests only 36% of people possess them.

So, can we learn emotional intelligence? Research from The O.C. Tanner 2025 Global Culture Report shows that the answer is definitely yes. But it must be applied through practice, which results in higher levels of trust, innovation, and connection among your employees.

Let’s take a look at how organisations and people can develop and practice EQ.

Want to see all the data on EQ in the workplace? Read the Applied Emotional Intelligence chapter of the 2025 Global Culture Report.

The 5 elements of high EQ

For our research, we asked employees what it means to be emotionally intelligent. Based on their response, we identified five key characteristics:

• Practical empathy
• Self-awareness
• Nimble resilience
• Equitable flexibility
• Communication skills

Here’s how we define these characteristics for our EQ Index.

• Practical empathy: Listening to understand, taking supportive action, maintaining boundaries.
• Self-awareness: Self-confidence in values, managing emotions, openness to feedback, acknowledging strengths and weaknesses.
• Nimble resilience: Embracing change, adaptability, willingness to fail, recovering from setbacks.
• Equitable flexibility: Excellent life balance, supporting time-flexibility needs, encouraging new ways of thinking.
• Communication skills: Holding oneself accountable, admitting to mistakes, open communication.

Organisations that practice all five of the EQ characteristics are 107x more likely to be considered thriving when compared to their peers.

Emotional intelligence builds integrity and trust

Leaders who practice emotional intelligence communicate that they will follow through on what they say. This consideration and consistency builds trust with their teams. When employees see their leaders have high EQ, there is a 44x increase in the odds they will also see their organisation as having high integrity.

Employees develop trust in leaders who show integrity. As trust grows, employees feel more connected to each other and their purpose, which leads to higher levels of belonging and retention.

EQ can be learned and must be practiced

Emotional intelligence is like any other skill: it can be learned and practiced by anyone. From work culture to business outcomes, organisations benefit greatly when they invest in EQ development for their employees.

“I found that being very open about the things I did not know actually had the opposite effect than I would have thought. It helped me build credibility.”
‍—Jim Whitehurst, CEO, Red Hat

As your teams develop and improve, it’s important to note that low EQ among leaders can neutralize the benefits of high EQ among employees. Employers should ensure that leaders truly understand the importance of emotional intelligence and putting the principles into action with their teams. Outcomes improve dramatically when leaders and their people both exhibit high EQ.

How to enhance the emotional intelligence in your workplace

To effectively apply emotional intelligence at work, you need to create policies, resources, and support to practice and reward it.

1. Encourage leaders to demonstrate EQ behaviours

Leaders must consistently model EQ practices. Train leaders to not only listen but to also take action and support employees. Build a culture where leaders acknowledge mistakes and take accountability. Then give your leaders the same amount of support and understanding.

2. Apply EQ to repair trust and manage conflict

When trust is damaged, EQ practices can re-establish integrity. If leaders are honest about their mistakes and work openly to remedy them, trust can be rebuilt.

Odds of a strong sense of trust improve:

• 7x when leaders admit they made a mistake
• 6x when direct leaders show consistent behavi​our in making amends
• 6x when senior leaders are actively involved in rebuilding trust and improving culture

EQ behaviours can also improve conflict management. Leaders with high EQ are 40x more likely to manage conflict effectively.

“Unlike IQ, which changes little after our teen years, emotional intelligence seems to be largely learned, and it continues to develop as we go through life and learn from our experiences.”
—Daniel Goleman, Author, Psychologist, and Science Journalist

3. Use recognition to help develop emotional intelligence

Since emotional intelligence can be learned, we can focus on practical steps to develop it. Research shows that integrated recognition effectively improves EQ. At organisations where all workers give and receive recognition, the EQ of employees and leaders rises.

Recognition helps employees hone their EQ skills of empathy, self-awareness, and communication. It can also encourage and reinforce EQ behaviours, so recognise employees and leaders who participate in EQ training or demonstrate EQ skills. Share those stories so others can see the importance of these behaviours in the workplace. And make EQ one of the formal reasons employees receive recognition in your recognition tools.

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O.C. Tanner is the global leader in software and services that improve workplace culture through meaningful employee recognition experiences. Learn how Culture Cloud® can help your employees thrive at work.