Leaders with high emotional intelligence skills create higher performing companies using the benefits of emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence, once sidelined as a soft skill, has emerged as the essential competitive advantage of high performing companies. Research and experience both confirm that emotional intelligence is the single most important predictor of leadership effectiveness, employee effectiveness, engagement, and innovation. Luckily, anyone can learn how to get the benefits of emotional intelligence.

Leaders with low EQ tend to rely on authority, tests of loyalty, and directing work, all of which create stress, infighting, burn out, or stagnation in the workplace. Today this style of leadership is leading organizations into crisis. In 2021, during The Great Resignation, workers were leaving their jobs in record numbers. Since April 2021, people have been quitting their jobs in record numbers, with many saying that life is just too short to work where their efforts and time are not valued. As late as July 2022, McKinsey found that over 40% of workers were planning to lave their jobs, a rate that has been unchanged since 2021. Even as those numbers have slowed down in 2023, there has been a seismic shift in the nature of what is acceptable as work conditions for most employees.

It’s no surprise that McKinsey noted that about half of employers are finding high rates of disengagement, and yet, what is not often noted is that half of workers are moderately or even highly engaged. What creates the difference between engagement or disengagement at work?

When you foster a people-first culture, grounded in trust, empathy, collaboration and inspiration throughout your organization, workers remain engaged and put in a little extra effort every day to achieve goals and increase productivity. Good leadership is people centered because, simply, your company is your people.

When you have high emotional intelligence skills, you have a number of advantages over those who have a more limited understanding of emotions. Here are 5 benefits of emotional intelligence that give organizations of every size a competitive advantage.

1. Reduced stress and burnout in the office

In this tough business climate, every company is stretched and needs to make the most of its people and resources to compete. That means work is inherently stressful with pressure to perform throughout the organization. When employees feel their boss or team doesn’t care about them as people and doesn’t value the time and effort they bring, productivity falls. Burn out is more common and people start looking for other work alternatives, leading to even more distraction and less productivity. It’s a negative cycle that produces less than average results. On the other hand, when bosses show appreciation, empathize and make them feel heard, and demonstrate that they care about their team members beyond the work they perform, stress levels go down, even as work standards rise. Productivity goes up because workers are simply willing to put in the extra effort when they can count on being appreciated and valued as a team member.

2. More worker engagement and productivity

Workers on the front lines of the organization need support to keep going. When they know they are appreciated, when they feel like their work is contributing to a greater good and common goal, when they can count on their manager to be a supportive friend and help them achieve work-life balance, then they feel proud of their work and accountable to their team for accomplishments. Even with the demands of a global economy, pandemic interruptions, remote work distractions, people who feel like they are a valued part of a team and understand their contribution to the success of the whole, continue to put in their best efforts day after day. Emotional intelligence skills like empathy, conflict management, emotional control, and influence help workers feel part of a team that responds to their needs. If they like their team enough, they won’t let the team down.

3. Better Cross Cultural communication

Even if you’re not working in a multi-national conglomerate, chances are that cultural differences present challenges to collaboration and a sense of a common purpose. Cultural differences and expectations cross a wide range of personal attributes, from race and gender to religion, regional differences, and even income strata. When people feel like they are not understood, their internal noise level goes up, distracting them from productive work. As companies work to pursue diversity and inclusion agendas, the ability to accommodate different communication styles and respect different work styles will be a key factor in ensuring success and harmony within a team. Leaders will need to be especially attuned and aware of the emotional states of teams in order to manage potential conflict and create a culture of teamwork. The emotional states are key to understanding people because, regardless of cultural differences, human emotions are an enduring baseline for human experience. Valuing authenticity and a wide range of personal communication styles helps everyone feel appreciated and safe so they bring their whole self to work.

4. Improved company reputation

Thanks to social media, everyone is talking about work. Your customers and your employees are talking either loud and proud or down and dirty, and all that talk is far more public than before. Thanks to sites like LinkedIn and Glassdoor, your company reputation is easy to check. And check they do, both customers and prospective employees alike. Emotional intelligence will help you keep both employees and customers happy no matter where they mention your organization, they improve your social capital and confirm social acceptance. Once lost, reputation is hard to regain, so maintaining a human connection to your employees and customers will help you attract better business into your front offices as well as onto your back office teams.

5. Enhanced resilience

Since the start of the pandemic, use of the word unprecedented has been, well, unprecedented. There seems to be no reference point for where we are going in terms of the world of work. Will teams remain remote? Will customers prefer online experiences to in person ones? Emotional intelligence gives you an advantage in the face of uncertainty. Being resilient means making good decisions that will enhance your mission and keep productivity up even during the most challenging times. Confidence and authenticity help you remain calm even during crises. Values rooted in the benefits of emotional intelligence act as a guiding light to help you remain true to your mission and take care of important stakeholders during the darkest hours.

Are you ready to get the benefits of Emotional Intelligence?

Convinced that you need to start getting better at emotional intelligence? Here’s how to start taking advantage of these 5 benefits of emotional intelligence.

First, begin by understanding what your emotions are. Some people have a misunderstanding that our emotions are outdated or primitive, somehow less valuable or important than reason and logic. In reality, our emotions are a highly evolved system for assessing our surroundings and responding. If we feel threatened, our emotional system activates a fight/flight/freeze response. If we feel safe, our emotions activate our social desires, making us more willing to collaborate and give of ourselves in service of those around us. When you have a healthy respect for the information that your emotions are cluing you into, you have taken a step forward in emotional intelligence.

As a next step, work to be more aware of how your own emotions fluctuate throughout the day and what events trigger positive or negative feelings. Burnt toast? A co-worker’s cheery smile? Someone holding a door for you? How little does it take to change the way you feel about your day? What small acts can you take to make others feel willing to put in a little extra effort today?

Last, start tuning into what other people are feeling. Emotions are contagious. If one person feels stressed, it can disrupt a whole office. Check in with everyone around you regularly. Is everyone ok? If there is tension, try to connect the feeling to something that’s happening. Did someone demean someone else or make a mean remark? Did someone untrustworthy or angry come into the room? Did someone get blamed or targeted unfairly? Figure out the source of the stress and address it. Spend time listening to how people feel and why. What does the team need to relax and get back to work?

You’ll know you’re getting better when you can start to predict, and mitigate, discomfort in a team. When you’re aware of who triggers whom, how they act out, and how the team responds, you can start to run interference before the trigger goes off and keep the team safe and engaged in the task at hand. That’s when you are truly on your way to reaping the 5 benefits of emotional intelligence for your organization.