{"id":918,"date":"2020-04-03T10:16:10","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T23:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sage-people-scraping-ca.local\/?p=918"},"modified":"2025-12-31T22:31:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T11:31:25","slug":"9-ways-build-emotional-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-au\/blog\/9-ways-build-emotional-intelligence\/","title":{"rendered":"9 ways HR teams can build emotional intelligence in their organisation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPeople & Leadership<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t9 ways HR teams can build emotional intelligence in their organisation\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"Headshot\t\t\t\tCharlotte Penny<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Say you\u2019ve got a colleague who has started behaving differently \u2013 perhaps they are quieter, getting less work done and only responding to questions with one-word answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your first thought is to worry about their mental health and wellbeing rather than to judge them for being \u2018moody\u2019, good news \u2013 you probably have a high \u2018EQ\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is emotional intelligence?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An emotional quotient, or EQ \u2013 better known as \u2018emotional intelligence\u2019 \u2013 refers to a person\u2019s ability to recognise, understand, manage and reason with emotions, both their own, and other people\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to PsychCentral<\/a>, there are five categories of emotional intelligence: self-awareness; self regulation; motivation; empathy; and social skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is emotional intelligence so important?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Emotional intelligence is essential in modern workplaces because it allows employees to better empathise and communicate with their teams and colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emotional intelligence is so important that, in a recent survey<\/a> of over 500 People managers, most respondents said trustworthiness (39%) along with confidence (27%) and resilience (27%) were more important for employees to have than experience (13%) and education (11%) \u2013 showing that empathy and emotional intelligence can be up to three times more valuable than traditional workplace skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employees with high EQ are more likely to recognise the signs of stress and burnout in their teams and colleagues. So, having emotionally intelligent people in your organisation is a great way to potentially build engagement and could even lead to improved retention and productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how do you build an emotionally intelligent workplace? Here are nine tips to get you started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Free research report: The changing face of HR<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Seismic shifts in the way organisations operate, work, and manage their people are occurring. We surveyed 500+ HR leaders to discover how they are responding.<\/p>\n

Uncover insights on how to stay ahead and transform HR from a process focused function to a people driven business.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload Report<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

1. Work out your strategic priorities<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Emotional intelligence is a great skill to hone with employees, but it can take time to integrate, especially in a large workforce \u2013 meaning it could be expensive, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before you invest in an expensive emotional intelligence course or external consultants, you should figure out what the value of emotional intelligence to your workforce will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wellbeing surveys and exit interviews are a great way to find out how emotionally intelligent your staff already are. If EQ seems low, and if you are noticing employees have low productivity and high turnover, there could be a strong case for emotional intelligence training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Try going it alone<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With a plethora of books about emotional intelligence on the market, you could provide the training in-house. Start by ensuring your HR and People team understand the fundamentals of emotional intelligence and that you have worked out a training strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, pull individual people or teams into training workshops to teach them what you have learned. If you\u2019re looking to train yourself and your team in the basics of emotional intelligence, \u2018Working with Emotional Intelligence\u2019 by Daniel Goleman and \u2018EQ Applied: The Real-World Guide to Emotional Intelligence\u2019 by Justin Bariso are great books to start with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Hire consultants<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t have the time to put together your own workshop, if you\u2019re working with a large and complex workforce or if you\u2019d prefer to trust the experts to deliver top-quality training, there are many professional organisations that specialise in delivering emotional intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While reaching out to these firms, be clear about exactly what you want to get out of the course: whether it\u2019s increased productivity; improved retention; better employee wellbeing; or all of the above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Lead from the top<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As HR and People leaders, your attitude will filter down to the workforce. If you and other leaders in the business are often caught being grumpy, cynical or switched-off, your employees are less likely to feel engaged and inspired too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make sure you\u2019re leading by example \u2013 with within your team, and across the wider board and executive team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Support line managers <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dealing directly with people, line managers need to be particularly equipped with high emotional intelligence. If you\u2019re rolling out training, make sure it\u2019s tailored for managers. Scenario-based learning can help people managers understand more about their own EQ and how to hone their skills further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Integrate training<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Emotional intelligence training is an ongoing process. You will need to make training a regular thing if you expect to see any benefit from it. Make it an integrated practice within your business. You could go so far as to write emotional intelligence development into your strategic priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Make it part of your company\u2019s values <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Emotional intelligence thrives in a culture of open communication. So, make sure you\u2019re encouraging employees to open up to one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could create dedicated spaces in your workplace or set up a stream via an online communication tool such as Microsoft Teams or Slack so they can speak openly and without fear of judgment, or encourage staff to communicate outside of working hours by organising more social occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could also implement training programs that teach managers how to identify emotional difficulty and approach employees about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Build emotional intelligence into your hiring strategies <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By understanding emotional intelligence during the recruitment process, you can ensure you\u2019re hiring the best candidates early on. Not only will this mean less work to train these employees down the line, your new hires are likely to have a positive effect on your existing workforce too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Include ways to understand candidates\u2019 emotional intelligence in the interview process and benchmark EQ between candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Understand the data <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Actionable insights are vital to understand emotional intelligence in your organisation and its impact across the business. You can, for example, understand employees\u2019 emotional intelligence through surveys and exit interviews. This will tell you whether your training is effective and will also help you to understand the value to your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does your workforce have a high EQ? <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With the growth of technology, effective human communication has never been more important \u2013 and is something that technology will never be able to replicate. Is it baked into your HR strategy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Free research report: The changing face of HR<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Seismic shifts in the way organisations operate, work, and manage their people are occurring. We surveyed 500+ HR leaders to discover how they are responding.<\/p>\n

Uncover insights on how to stay ahead and transform HR from a process focused function to a people driven business.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload Report<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Subscribe to the Sage Advice Newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Get a roundup of our best business advice in your inbox every month<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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