Why Emotional Intelligence Training for Employees Matters

High emotional intelligence in the workplace is a business advantage. Research confirms this.

And training has been conclusively shown to improve EI.

From leaders to frontline workers, emotional intelligence is one of the best known predictors of job performance (particularly in jobs with high levels of interpersonal contact). It is highly correlated with job satisfaction and reduces job burnout. High emotional intelligence helps ensure better collaboration and  stronger working relationships (either management to employee or between colleagues). And it’s integral as workplace diversity increases.

A team leader gathers her team for a problem-solving meeting. Each member offers suggestions while the leader distractedly checks her phone. Then as the group considers and narrows options, one employee voices concerns. His colleagues jokingly remind him that his worries are unfounded. He’s “always so cautious” and needs to “just get on board.” The leader looks impatient to keep things moving. The dissenting employee relents against his better judgement and the group moves forward with the chosen approach. A couple weeks later, customers begin complaining about the switch and many take their business to a competitor.

Active listening is a key part of emotional intelligence. When employees feel ignored or steamrolled, they quickly become disengaged and unhappy.

An employee leaves an organization and in his exit interview, he mentions that the boss plays favorites and is short tempered. When HR calls this manager in to discuss the employee’s comments, he quickly dismisses them citing countless examples of the employee’s low productivity and contentious attitude. He laughs off the mention of short-temperedness as just his tendency to “tell it like he sees it.”

Self-awareness and emotional control are integral parts of emotional intelligence. By dismissing constructive feedback rather than objectively considering it, employees don’t learn to adjust their approach for various situations and people.

“Emotionally and socially intelligent people accept and understand their emotions; they are also capable of expressing themselves assertively, being empathetic, cooperating with and relating to others in an appropriate manner, managing stressful situations and changes successfully, solving personal and interpersonal problems effectively, and having an optimistic perspective toward life,” outlines one of many studies.

 

How can you ensure that your workers at every level are emotionally intelligent?

You can hire for emotional intelligence, of course. Numerous emotional intelligence tests exist to help organizations measure social competence. But, of course there are limitations. How accurate is it to ask someone to assess their own self-awareness, ability to regulate emotions, empathy, and ability to anticipate and read others’ emotions? Another option — ability testing models — offers emotional scenario-based questions asking applicants to correctly identify or predict emotions. These can be expensive but have been shown to “contribute to the prediction of job performance.”

You can train for emotional intelligence. Not everyone is gifted from birth with the ability to perceive and manage emotions — either theirs or someone else’s. This ability varies from person to person. A promising, technically skilled young engineer may have a tendency to become easily angered when things don’t go her way. A customer service manager may struggle to address performance issues because she’s a natural “pleaser” and doesn’t want to upset anyone on her team. While you need these technical skills, these low emotional intelligence tendencies can do damage. But, according to positivepsychology.com, “research suggests that people with average or below average emotional intelligence can do just as well as others by learning it.”

This learning can happen at any point in life … which is good news for organizations with technically skilled employees at any level who struggle because of low emotional intelligence. By helping workers become more self-aware, have better emotional regulation and become better able to stay open to and understand the views of others, relationships and engagement improves, contributing to overall productivity and higher employee wellbeing and retention.

Because human emotions are part of every workplace, emotional intelligence is one of the most important soft skills in today’s workplaces. But it’s not a skill everyone is proficient at. Training helps employees advance these skills as they progress in their careers.

 

Learn more about and register for our live, virtual seminar: Developing Your Emotional Intelligence.

 

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