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Writer's pictureDara Rossi, PhD

Why Emotional Intelligence Matters in the Workplace

Updated: Jun 20, 2023

Companies that actively utilize and train in emotional intelligence have been found to achieve tremendous internal and external success.


emotional intelligence matters in the workplace

Has there ever been a moment in your career where you were baffled by another’s emotions or actions, that you simply couldn’t understand how or why they came to such a conclusion? Emotions and the unique aspects behind them, from culture to past experiences, can profoundly affect the success of a business. Emotional intelligence in the workplace is a critical component that drastically influences the awareness, communication, and productivity of individuals, teams, as well as our processes and workplace practices.


Companies that actively utilize and train in emotional intelligence have been found to achieve tremendous internal and external success. Today, we share with you what emotional intelligence is, why it matters in the workplace, and how to improve it in your business today.



What Is Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace?

Emotional intelligence is recognizing how emotions apply to specific reasoning and actions. Emotional intelligence requires emotional awareness, including the ability to identify your own emotions, differentiate them from feelings, as well as pinpoint the emotions and feelings of others. People with emotional intelligence are able to manage emotions and feelings, including the ability to regulate their own emotions, harness emotions for problem-solving, and cheer up or calm down another person.


Why Emotional Intelligence Matters in the Workplace

Emotional intelligence matters in the workplace; it is a critical pillar of a business’s success. Suppose the leadership and management of a business cannot recognize, analyze, and influence how the staff is feeling and responding to one another. In that case, it can become a slippery slope to misunderstanding, judgment, and failed productivity.

Emotional intelligence training can yield a 1484% return on investment for organizations

Recent studies have shown that 50% of employees leave their workplace due to poor management. Even highly skilled management cannot keep a business running if they cannot connect with their staff. Fortunately, “emotional intelligence training can yield a 1484% return on investment for organizations,” reports Psychology Today.


When companies invest in emotional intelligence training and emotional intelligence is cultivated in the workplace, it can have the following positive effects supporting managers in:

  • Motivating, inspiring, and reinforcing quality work

  • Decreasing turnover, increasing positive productivity, and building a supportive culture for staff

  • Creating greater collaboration among colleagues, opening the path to new ideas, and minimizing the side effects of groupthink

  • Recognizing how emotions, biases, and other thought processes influence staff decisions

  • Opening recognition and empathy to resolve conflicts in a positive method during high-pressure or sensitive situations

  • Empowering leaders to recognize and pursue new opportunities they may have been blinded to before

  • Improving company morale and amplifying the voices of those who may have been too scared to speak up

How to Improve Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

The good news is that emotional intelligence can be learned, and those of us who already have emotional intelligence can continue to grow our emotional quotient through ongoing leadership development. When executives, management, and HR demonstrate high emotional intelligence, it creates a top-down effect that trickles to the rest of the company. Staff will experience, recognize, and adopt these traits, looking to leaders and managers for inspiration, motivation, and encouragement.

The fastest and most constructive way to build higher emotional intelligence is through emotional intelligence leadership training and development courses.

While emotional intelligence in the workplace can be developed over time through personal learning experiences, the fastest and most constructive way to build higher emotional intelligence is through emotional intelligence leadership training and development courses designed to apply emotional intelligence learning in real-world applications. Through emotional intelligence training, professionals can learn skills to support them in communicating more effectively, building strong relationships with individuals and teams, manage conflict, and have more satisfaction and joy.


Workplace Peace Institute – Cultivate Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

Workplace Peace Institute Leadership Academy offers an online, self-paced Social & Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace course to those who want to learn strategies to effectively build and maintain relationships both within and outside of the organization. Our program is a 6-hour online leadership training course consisting of six modules designed to be completed at your own pace over the course of six weeks.


We recommend this course for existing leaders, emerging leaders, human resource professionals, and anyone seeking to develop proficiency in emotional intelligence. To learn more about and enroll in the Social & Emotional Intelligence course, please click HERE.

 

Workplace Peace Institute is an organization systems design and research firm that is singularly focused on creating workplace cultures where people thrive. Workplace Peace Institute supports small to mid-sized businesses in optimizing employee engagement, maximizing organizational productivity, and improving profitability by infusing human security and dignity as foundational attributes of their business model. Our Leadership Academy supports leaders in honoring basic human needs and dignity needs in the workplace, so they can actualize human potential in the workplace. The online Leadership Academy optimizes competencies in human behavior, communication skills, conflict resolution, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging to create highly engaged workplaces where basic human needs and dignity are consistently honored. All our courses are offered online and can be customized for in-person workshops and seminars.


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