Emotionally Intelligent Teams

As a leader, I suspect you know exactly who your self-aware and emotionally intelligent team members are. They are often those individuals you wish you could clone!

Emotional Intelligence has been described as an intangible intelligence that gives people an awareness of their emotions and their impact.

You will generally see evidence in emotionally intelligence people of a heightened understanding of themselves and their emotions. They are acutely aware of how they influence people around them and often appear to be more mature and respectful.

TEAM EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Did you know that your team who work together have a team emotional intelligence just as an individual does? Interestingly, that group emotional intelligence demands the same capabilities that you see in emotionally intelligent individuals. They need to be self-aware, able to self-manage, have social-awareness and be able to effectively manage relationships.

As the world of work changes faster than ever, one thing is crystal clear. You and your team culture must be in peak health. A big part of that peak health today includes developing a team’s emotional intelligence.

We constantly see evidence of emotionally intelligent teams showing more loyalty, inclusiveness and resilience. As I sit down to write this blog, I think of a client who emailed me yesterday to say one of her team has been headhunted and chosen to leave. Yes, I know this happens, but isn’t it tragic when it happens with one of your star emotionally intelligent team members.

I am often asked how to prevent this from happening. As a training and development specialist, of course, my answer will be to invest in your team’s development; and not just technical skills.

THE POSITIVE IMPACT

Developing emotional intelligence in your team has been proven to improve loyalty, trust and productivity. People who develop their emotional intelligence communicate more effectively, handle stress and conflict productively, are better team players, can navigate change, and also perform at a higher level. Think again of that team member you wish you could clone.

The impact Emotional Intelligence has within organizations is nothing short of dramatic. It is responsible for 58% of professional success, regardless of job category. (TalentSmart tested emotional intelligence alongside 33 other important workplace skills, and found that emotional intelligence is the strongest predictor of performance, explaining a full 58 per cent of success in all types of jobs.) Of all the workplace skills a person can possess, none is more impactful than emotional intelligence. It is the single strongest predictor of performance and it serves as the foundation for a variety of other critical skills like time management, communication and customer service.

HOW DO YOU SPOT IT?

• Emotionally intelligent people pay attention to what they are feeling
• They understand how other people feel
• They can regulate their emotions
• They are motivated
• They have great social skills
• They are willing and able to discuss feelings with others
• They can correctly identify the underlying causes of their emotions

If you’d like to know how we can help you measure your team’s emotional intelligence, read on.

EQ CAN BE EXPERTLY MEASURED AND DEVELOPED

In our team reboot programs, as some of you have experienced, we use the Team EBW (Emotions and Behaviours at Work) Business Emotional Intelligence Assessment. The EBWt measures your team emotional intelligence deeply and we’ve never seen such a dynamic and thorough tool which is why we are mentioning it here.

We added Emotional Intelligence assessments to all our programs in mid-2020 and have seen enormous results in building rapport, trust, loyalty and productivity.

I highly recommend Brenda as a Team Development Consultant, we have found the programme has resulted in a team with a greater level of self-awareness, a healthier level of confidence and respect for themselves and the team around them. Without a doubt, given the current environment we are in, our team continue to remain engaged, happy and motivated. — Jill McMillan, Director, Apex Insurance

You can read the specifics of what is measured here.

Final Word

Emotional intelligence (or Emotional Quotient EQ) is a hot topic these days, especially in the workplace. It is widely believed, and rightly so, that individuals with high emotional intelligence tend to better manage the demands and stressors found regularly in the workplace.

So, as our working worlds face unknown change for some time yet, it is absolutely worth assessing and developing your team’s emotional intelligence, starting with self-awareness which we believe is the catalyst to change.

You can design your own measurement by creating an internal survey that asks key questions using a system like Survey Monkey. Or you may choose to simply observe your team in group situations, specifically for the purpose of measuring emotional intelligence.

Whatever you choose, we highly recommend you assess and develop your team’s emotional intelligence. If employers can raise the collective level of their teams’ emotional intelligence, then they will benefit from stronger teams, more effective leaders and increased bottom-line performance.

BRENDA

Leadership & Team Development Specialist at Team-Reboot.com

+64 204227337