EQ: The Why
Technical skill and strategic thinking matter, but emotional intelligence is what keeps people, yourself included, engaged, balanced, and motivated to do their best work. It helps you build trust, create alignment, and make decisions that hold up under pressure. When leaders lead with self-awareness, they bring out the best in others while maintaining their own sense of direction.
EQ matters because most leadership failures aren't technical. They stem from mishandled conflicts, damaged relationships, inflexibility, or lack of trust. These are the things that derail careers and drain teams. The difference is how well leaders navigate the human side of leadership: whether people choose to follow them, stay with them, and give their best effort.
This session leans heavily on research, and that's deliberate. Even when we're discussing something as personal as emotion, it's important to ground our understanding in evidence. What the data consistently shows is what many of us already know from experience, which is that EQ makes a difference.
Self-Assessment: EQ - The Why
Please take a few moments to contemplate the following self-reflection questions. Where can you identify opportunities for personal growth in your leadership?
How do my emotions influence the way I lead, communicate, and make decisions under pressure?
Have I seen moments where a lack of emotional awareness affected my credibility or relationships at work?
When I think about my role as a leader, how does EQ influence the environment I create for others?
Do I recognize when emotional reactions are getting in the way of clear thinking or fair judgment?
How intentional am I about using emotional awareness to guide motivation and engagement—both mine and others’?
Do I take time to reflect on how my behavior impacts trust, morale, or collaboration across the team?
How well do I balance empathy with accountability when leading through difficult situations?
What role does EQ play in helping me stay grounded, adaptable, and connected to purpose?
Remember, this self-assessment is just a starting point for understanding your knowledge of Emotional Intelligence as a leader. It's essential to reflect on your responses and actively work on areas where improvement is needed. Additionally, working with your ECFL Leadership Coach or seeking feedback from a trusted mentor can provide valuable insights into your strengths and weaknesses.
“75% of careers are derailed for reasons related to emotional competencies, including inability to handle interpersonal problems; unsatisfactory team leadership during times of difficulty or conflict; or inability to adapt to change or elicit trust.”
Since the concept of Emotional Intelligence was introduced in 1990, over 3,000 scientific articles have explored its impact. Research shows that EQ plays a critical role in leadership, contributing to career success, stronger relationships, and overall well-being. EQ is also a skill you can develop through intentional practice, so if it's an area in which you're currently struggling, there's room to grow.
Here are a few of the guaranteed benefits of having a strong EQ:
Our relationships improve, both personally and professionally. We become better at reading the emotional needs of others through their facial expressions, gestures, and body language, and we're more thoughtful about their feelings when making decisions.
Our listening skills sharpen. Many people wait for a pause in conversation just to offer their opinion, not really listening but waiting to speak. With stronger EQ, you practice active listening: hearing what someone says while also tuning into their thoughts and feelings. This shifts conversations from competitive exchanges to genuine, two-way interactions.
Stress becomes more manageable. When you're aware of your own emotional responses and those of others, you can identify toxic or unhealthy situations earlier and make choices about how to engage or when to step back.
“Some people think only intellect counts: knowing how to solve problems, knowing how to get by, knowing how to identify an advantage and seize it. But the functions of intellect are insufficient without courage, love, friendship, compassion, and empathy.”
Research consistently shows that EQ plays a vital role in leadership and organizational success. From understanding and managing emotions to building effective teams and creating positive work environments, EQ has proven to be a key factor in both individual and team performance.
The Foundation of Emotional Intelligence
Salovey and Mayer originally defined EQ as a type of social intelligence, separate from general intelligence. They described it as the ability to monitor your own and others' emotions, distinguish between them, and use that information to guide your thinking and actions. EQ influences how people develop in their careers and social lives, how they handle frustration, control their emotions, and build relationships. Research suggests that the difference between a brilliant person and a brilliant manager often comes down to EQ.
Building Emotionally Intelligent Organizations
Bardzill and Slaski found that organizational leaders must recognize the importance of emotionally intelligent behaviors and actively reward them. Positive reinforcement of EQ creates service-driven climates. Since emotional elements underlie the dynamics of many aspects of modern organizations, EQ should be considered when devising organizational policies, processes, and procedures.
The Team Performance Advantage
Welch's research demonstrates that EQ enables teams to boost their performance significantly. In an era that depends on teamwork, understanding what makes teams work is essential. His study compared teams with identical IQs and found that teams with high EQ outperformed teams with low EQ by a margin of two to one. Just like individuals, the most effective teams are those with high EQ, and any team can improve and reach higher levels of emotional intelligence.
EQ's Impact on Leadership Success
Turner described EQ as the softer component of total intelligence, contributing to both professional and personal lives. While traditional IQ reflects the ability to learn, understand, and reason, it's thought to contribute only 20% to success, whereas EQ contributes 80%. IQ has long been linked to job performance and recruitment decisions. However, EQ is what enables leaders and managers to retain their positions and succeed in their roles. The reality is that most firms hire for IQ but let people go due to lack of EQ.
Navigating Organizational Change
Vakola and colleagues found that EQ contributes to a better understanding of how policy changes affect people within organizations. Employees with low emotional control tend to react negatively to proposed changes because they're not well equipped to handle the demands and emotional consequences of stressful transitions. Those with higher EQ navigate change more effectively.
Growing your EQ strengthens both your leadership effectiveness and your personal relationships. If you'd like to explore this research further, links are provided.
In addition to this research, there's another important point to consider: studies have shown that Emotional Intelligence naturally improves with age. As people grow older, they tend to focus more on positive outcomes, place a higher value on relationships, and develop a more optimistic outlook. This natural progression, combined with intentional efforts to develop EQ, creates a powerful advantage for leaders.
As we’ve said many times now, think of EQ like a muscle: the more you work on it, the stronger it gets. As we age, our EQ naturally grows, and when we intentionally focus on developing it, the effect compounds. The final piece to this equation is motivation. Internal motivation—the drive to pursue personal goals with passion and perseverance—plays a key role. Leaders who are internally motivated tend to be more productive, resilient, and energized in achieving their goals.
Additionally, fostering an environment that supports internal motivation can lead to a more engaged, committed, and productive workforce. This involves providing meaningful work, opportunities for personal and professional growth, and a culture that values and recognizes individual contributions beyond just external rewards.
Daniel Goleman highlights that this type of internal motivation is driven by the desire to achieve for its own sake, characterized by three key elements:
Commitment to goals: Highly motivated leaders set clear, challenging, yet achievable goals and are dedicated to reaching them. This commitment gives their work direction and purpose.
Optimism: These leaders maintain a positive outlook even when faced with setbacks, believing in their ability to overcome challenges.
Initiative: They proactively seek out opportunities and are willing to go beyond what's required to achieve their objectives.
These traits translate to leaders who continuously raise the bar, embrace new challenges, and remain resilient when difficulties arise.
Leadership requires both heart and discipline. EQ enables you to lead with empathy, understanding the emotional needs and motivations of your team, while maintaining the operational discipline necessary to achieve results. This combination is what separates good leaders from great ones. Consider where you are in your EQ journey and identify one concrete way you can strengthen it. Your leadership, your relationships, and your outcomes will reflect that growth.
Reflection Questions:
Which of the research insights about EQ stood out most to you, and why?
How could improving your emotional intelligence help you handle change or pressure more effectively?
What keeps you motivated on difficult days, and how does that connect to your emotional awareness?
How does your level of motivation affect the energy and tone you set for the people around you?
Strengthen your understanding of Emotional Intelligence by sticking with the following resources. Use this opportunity to note new insights and adhere to practices that will enhance your leadership journey.
Strategies to Become More Emotionally Intelligent
Daniel Goleman (10:31)
4 Ways to Boost Your Emotional Intelligence
Farah Harris
(1. Salovey P, Mayer J. Emotional intelligence. Imagin Cogn Pers. 1990;9:185–211. [Google Scholar]
2. Bardzill P, Slaski M. Emotional intelligence: Fundamental competencies for enhanced service provision. Manag Serv Qual. 2003;13:97–104. [Google Scholar]
3. Welch J. The best teams are emotionally literate. Ind Commer Train. 2003;35:168–71. [Google Scholar]
4. Turner L. Emotional Intelligence-our intangible assets. Chart Account J N Z. 2004;83:29–31. [Google Scholar]
5. Vakola M, Tsaousis I, Nikolaou I. The role of emotional intelligence and personality variables on attitudes toward organizational change. J Manage Psychol. 2004;19:88–110. [Google Scholar])
