Applied Emotional Intelligence

Perspective

For many years, emotional intelligence has been the exclusive sphere of charismatic leaders and select professions. Not anymore. According to our research, this multi-faceted set of interpersonal skills has become extremely useful throughout workplaces and industries where it can quickly increase trust, innovation, and the bottom line. In fact, organisations that become emotionally smarter across every level aren’t just creating a more pleasant work environment; they’re outperforming their peers by many, many times. This creates an obvious new mandate: Champion the ability to perceive and control emotions, and then shift it from a specialized executive prowess into a general expectation for all employees.

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Introduction

Emotional intelligence, often abbreviated as EQ, is traditionally—and briefly—defined as the ability to understand and manage one’s own emotions, as well as recognise and influence the feelings of others.

Those with high EQ tend to be better communicators, build stronger relationships, work more productively, and advance their careers. Studies show that managers with high EQ retain 70% of their employees for five years or more, and employees whose leaders have high EQ feel more inspired.¹

Over the three-and-a-half decades since psychologists Peter Salovey and John Mayer coined the term, emotional intelligence has become increasingly valuable, especially for people in healthcare, consulting, sales jobs, or management positions. According to the World Economic Forum, EQ traits are the top skills organisations look for today,² yet research by emotional intelligence expert Travis Bradberry suggests only 36% of people possess them.³

Such findings raise the question: Are people born with emotional intelligence or can it be taught and learned?

Like practical empathy (one of the main themes in last year’s report),⁴ our research confirms that people can develop emotional intelligence. But to be effective, it must be applied through practice. When applied well, high EQ behaviours build trust, foster innovation, and create a strong, caring workplace culture.

Interestingly, our research revealed that organisations can also practice EQ. And when they do, it’s groundbreaking. Employees who work for high-EQ organisations are 6x more likely to be Promoters, 9x more likely to have a sense of purpose, 13x more likely to do great work, and 18x more likely to feel a strong sense of success.

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“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

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The Elements of High EQ

Emotional intelligence is typically broken down into the core competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

In our research, we took these competencies a step further. We asked employees what it means to be emotionally intelligent and identified five key characteristics:

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

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Each element of the EQ Index has a specific meaning for our research.

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.

While our previous studies highlight the importance of practical empathy, nimble resilience, and equitable flexibility for leaders,⁵ this year we’ve found each of the five elements apply to individuals, leaders, and organisations. To be clear, it’s not just leader EQ that impacts the workplace. Employees and organisations can also practice EQ to improve connection and culture, and organisations that practice all five of the EQ characteristics are 107x more likely to be considered thriving when compared to their peers.

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Emotional Intelligence Builds Integrity and Trust

Our research shows there is a strong relationship between EQ, integrity, and trust. In effect, EQ behaviours signal integrity to others, which builds trust.

Integrity is the alignment of an organisation’s practices and policies with their core values and principles. In other words, it’s the degree to which employees perceive their company and its leaders “walk the talk.” It’s one thing for an organisation to say it advocates values like inclusion, empathy, and belonging, but only organisations with genuine integrity translate those values into day-to-day policies and actions. When a leader demonstrates EQ characteristics such as self-awareness and practical empathy, it communicates that their actions are guided by ethical principles and that they’re committed to doing what they say. As a result, workers are more willing to trust their leader’s direction and guidance because their actions have established an expectation that it’s safe to do so.

Usually, employees interpret organisational integrity through leader behaviours such as:

• Delivering on promises
• Attempting to be fair in their dealings with others
• Behaving in the same ways they encourage others to behave
• Acting in alignment with ethical principles
  

When employees perceive their leaders as having high EQ, there is a 44x increase in the odds they will also see their organisation as having high integrity. While this places a lot of responsibility on leaders,⁶ how they act can determine the integrity level of themselves and the organisation.

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“Every company has their code of ethics or their core values. If a company says people are our greatest asset on paper and they just laid off 2,000 people while giving their CEO a $30 million bonus, it seems to be at odds with that statement.”
—Focus Group Participant, Student Services Specialist

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Next, let’s consider the impact on trust. When emotionally intelligent leaders show integrity working with others and dealing with workplace issues, employees are, predictably, more likely to trust them and the organisation. The following table also details how leader integrity increases the odds that people will feel their organisation handles conflict in a positive way.

High levels of trust in leaders and organisations, in turn, yield greater feelings of connection and belonging, as shown in the following table.

When leaders build trust in their teams, employees work together better, feel safer speaking up and taking risks, and look out for one another.

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“A leader’s ability to demonstrate genuine emotional skills directly results in creating trusted work relationships. Trusted relationships are critical to being a deeply connected and communicative team that not only cares about each other’s success, empowers one another, plays to the strengths of the team, but also seeks help where necessary while remaining focused on shared purpose.”
—Madhavi Jagadam, Vice President, People Innovation, Teladoc Health

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EQ Can Be Learned and Must Be Practiced

Fortunately, emotional intelligence is not dependent on an inherited gene or natural talent. All the behaviours associated with EQ are, in fact, attainable. Focusing on just one characteristic of EQ can impact integrity, trust, conflict management, and the ability to thrive at work.

The following table specifies how these four metrics improve when individuals, leaders, and organisations practice a behavi​our associated with each of the five EQ elements.

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Even though leader EQ is responsible for the biggest improvements, these findings reveal organisations would benefit greatly by adopting practices and training all employees to build EQ in the workplace.

Unsurprisingly, high organisational EQ generally has a positive influence on the employee experience, but low leader EQ can neutralize (or even reverse) this effect. So employers should undoubtedly encourage and enable leaders to develop EQ skills. Per the following table, outcomes improve dramatically when leaders and organisations both exhibit high EQ.

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Recommendations

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

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1. Encourage leaders to demonstrate EQ behaviours

If the goal is to build integrity and trust, leaders must consistently model EQ practices. Encourage them to follow up on employee concerns, deliver on promises, and act in ways that are fair and in sync with what they say.

Train leaders to listen and take supportive action with appropriate boundaries to prevent burnout,⁴ manage emotions, be open to feedback, embrace change, and support flexibility for their people. Nurture a workplace that openly admits mistakes and where people hold themselves accountable. Support leaders as they practice these EQ skills.

When leaders do what they say, employees are more likely to promote the organisation, find success, and develop a strong sense of trust.

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“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

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2. Apply EQ to repair trust and manage conflict

When trust is damaged, EQ practices can re-establish integrity. If leaders are open and honest about their mistakes and work to remedy them through consistent behavi​our, 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
  

Establish an environment where it’s safe for leaders to concede errors (and encourage them to do so), and where senior leaders model how to own and fix mistakes.

EQ behaviours that build trust can also assist conflict management strategies. Leaders with high emotional intelligence are 40x more likely to have an effective approach to conflict management than those who rank low.

Furthermore, fostering open communication with their teams can help leaders improve the odds of several cultural metrics, as seen in the following table.

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“EQ is a must for leaders as we foster approachability while our teams are more remote than ever. I count on my EQ to check in with team members by reading their tone and body language and being vulnerable, open, and honest myself. This presence and authenticity—often found in coaching—builds the trust to share risky ideas, take on new challenges or roles, or communicate directly when under pressure.”
—Magdalena Nowicka Mook, CEO, International Coaching Federation

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3. Use recognition to help develop emotional intelligence

Overall workplace culture improves significantly when everyone, including employees, increases their EQ. And at organisations where all workers give and receive recognition, our data show 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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“Group emotional intelligence is about the small acts that make a big difference. It is not about a team member working all night to meet a deadline; it is about saying thank you for doing so. It is not about in-depth discussion of ideas; it is about asking a quiet member for his thoughts. It is not about harmony, lack of tension, and all members liking each other; it is about acknowledging when harmony is false, tension is unexpressed, and treating others with respect.”
—Vanessa Urch Druskat, Associate Professor of organisational behavi​our, University of New Hampshire, and Steven Wolff, Co-Founder, Agile EI

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Applied Emotional Intelligence—Key Takeaways

High EQ leads to more integrity and trust in the workplace.

EQ and integrity can restore damaged trust and help manage conflict.

Employees, leaders, and organisations can all learn EQ through specific practices.

Recognition encourages and reinforces EQ behaviours by celebrating the actions and impact.