Emotional intelligence allows us “to perceive, understand, and regulate (our) moods and emotions in order to use them to succeed,” says Joshua Freedman. Perhaps more than any other skill, emotional intelligence is the key to effective leadership and business success. Why? According to Christopher L. Washington, “Emotions drive people, and people drive performance.”
Most leaders are aware of the importance of emotional intelligence, but often focus their efforts solely on cultivating their personal “EQ.” Imagine how much more impactful we could be by building the emotional intelligence of our entire team! Emotionally intelligent teams inspire high levels of employee engagement and loyalty. They also get better, faster results.
Here are two research-based strategies to help you grow your team’s emotional intelligence:
1. Assess your team’s baseline and build trust.
How would you gauge your team’s current EQ? It’s tempting to think that an emotionally intelligent team is one on which everyone keeps their head down, focuses on their own work, and quietly gets along. Think again. Many such teams have a case of what Patrick Lencioni calls “artificial harmony.” That is, team members go along to get along, and are either fearful of speaking up or don’t care enough to do so.
A better measurement of emotional intelligence is how comfortable team members are disagreeing with each other or offering out-of-the-box solutions to problems. Teams who trust each other express opinions, ask questions, take risks, and own up to mistakes without fearing that they’ll be punished or humiliated. A climate of trust means your team has your back, so you can push yourself out of your comfort zone and encourage others to do the same.
To start building trust on your team:
- Get familiar with your team members’ personal histories, passions, values and motivations beyond their career goals. Talk about them during both informal and formal 1:1s.
- Create opportunities for team members to share their personal histories and passions with each other (for example, by taking turns planning team-building activities that reflect their backgrounds or interests).
- Model genuine vulnerability, curiosity, and openness.
- Use your own mistakes as learning opportunities for the team.
- Be honest about and request your team’s feedback on the areas in which you are striving to grow as a leader.
2. Improve your team meetings.
Meetings offer an invaluable window into how well a team works together. Are your team meetings boring? Does one person tend to dominate the discussion? Are there a few quiet folks who never speak up? Is it always up to you to keep things moving? Honest answers to these questions will likely reveal at least one or two growth areas. Meetings are the perfect place to plant seeds of emotional intelligence by encouraging openness, building trust, and engaging in constructive conflict.
When you’re aware of the specific issues you want to address, consider creative solutions. For example, to avoid artificial harmony, ask team members to play devil’s advocate and argue against an idea they would otherwise support. If one person always speaks up first and loudest, ask them to use their voice to solicit feedback from the quieter team members. If you run every meeting, start rotating leadership duties among all members. Other EQ-boosting meeting strategies include:
- Start meetings with a simple icebreaker that creates personal connection (A few examples: “What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?” “What’s one personal or professional win you’ve experienced since our last meeting?”)
- In virtual meetings, ask team members to agree to a “cameras on and no multitasking” policy.
- Rotate one person in the role of note-taker during meetings to free up other team members to be fully engaged (The authors of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 argue that note-taking causes us to “miss the critical clues that shed some major light on how others are feeling or what they may be thinking.”)
- Create space for team members to appreciate each other’s contributions out loud.
- As trust grows on your team, model and encourage the sharing of honest feedback, mistakes, and lessons learned from failures. This paves the way for teams to hold each other mutually accountable.
In Conclusion…
Emotionally intelligent teams are effective, productive, and even fun. But the best news about emotional intelligence is that it’s contagious. Leaders who model behaviors and implement strategies like these will see results: teams who trust each other and feel safe and supported challenging themselves and others to grow. Investing in your team’s emotional intelligence might just be the most impactful leadership decision you make.