How to Improve Emotional Intelligence Skills for Better Overall Team Dynamics

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Out of the many soft skills that employees should possess, emotional intelligence (EI) is undoubtedly one of the most crucial ones.

Those with high emotional intelligence are more successful in their careers, not least because they’re primed and ready for leadership. These people are better at working in teams, managing their staff’s needs, wants, and goals, and working with external shareholders.

Despite its importance, emotional intelligence on the whole has declined, with EI scores dropping by 5.54% from 2019 to 2023.

Investing in emotional intelligence training has never been more important. Keep reading to discover how you can improve those EI skills to help boost team dynamics.

What is emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence is an invaluable skill that helps you recognise, understand, and manage your and others’ emotions. When you are emotionally intelligent, you’re empathic, a great motivator, and have top-notch social skills.

You will need emotional intelligence to artfully develop and implement the recommended internal COSO controls, for example. No one wants to feel like they’re being looked at for a crime they haven’t committed, and putting in anti-fraud frameworks can dredge up resentment amongst your team.

By using emotional intelligence, the leader in charge can navigate those complex emotions in a way that assures everyone involved while motivating them to do better in their role.

Why is emotional intelligence important in balancing team dynamics?

Let’s now take a look at why, exactly, emotional intelligence is so vital when it comes to ensuring positive team dynamics.

1. Facilitates clearer and more effective team conversations

Communication is the bridge that connects every single member of the team, but not everything you say is the right path forward. Emotional intelligence is understanding what, when, and how to say what you mean.

If you can manage your own emotions and know how to watch for others, then you can strategise the best way to boost morale, help your team manage stress, and clearly communicate the project’s needs.

2. Resolves disputes with empathy and constructive solutions

Those with high levels of EI know exactly how to approach each dispute with empathy and understanding and can then use conflict resolution techniques to solve problems fast. With EI, you can find solutions by opening up dialogue and using compromise rather than letting frustration or anger rule the day.

3. Manages change and uncertainty with resilience and positivity

Change is the name of the game. In business, if you don’t change, you fall behind. With layoffs common, it’s only natural to be uncertain about your career.

Emotional intelligent people understand this.

They also know how to regulate their own emotions so that they can be resilient and stay positive in the face of all those changes – and help others to do the same.

4. Builds trust and fosters a sense of belonging

A team needs to trust one another. Teamwork building can only do so much, after all. What you need is someone with high emotional intelligence to make others feel seen, heard, and appreciated – like they belong. That’s what builds trust in the long run, which in turn creates a sense of belonging amongst every member of your team.

5. Increases team commitment and enthusiasm for work

A great boss makes or breaks the workplace. Emotionally intelligent leaders typically make great bosses. This is because they know how to connect with their team, work with them through issues, and boost their morale.

Workers who trust their bosses, like them, and work great with their team are more passionate about what they do and more likely to stick around, boosting employee retention rates.

How to assess your team’s emotional intelligence

Great leaders are emotionally intelligent, but they’re not the only ones who need this skill. Everyone can benefit. As a leader, however, it is on you to help your team improve their emotional intelligence. To do that, you need to first know how to assess their skills.

1. Observe team interactions and responses in various situations

The best way to start assessing your team’s EI skills is to simply observe. Watch how they interact with each other during team meetings, and how they handle stress, friction, and challenges both during a project and throughout their day.

You’re essentially watching to see who in your team seems to struggle to emotionally regulate and empathise with others. Take note of who exhibits strong EI skills, and those who don’t, so you know where to put your focus.

2. Collect feedback from peers, subordinates, and supervisors

You don’t have enough eyes in your head or minutes in the day to watch every single one of your team members at all times. That’s why you’re going to need feedback from others. Ask for feedback from your peers, subordinates, and, yes, even your supervisors.

3. Use self-assessment questionnaires to evaluate emotional skills

One of the most powerful tools that the EI uses is self-reflection. You can quickly start to encourage more self-reflection while collecting essential data just by sending out a questionnaire. Use open-ended questions to encourage honest responses, then analyse them to find out who needs help (and where).

4. Conduct interviews or discussions on emotional and social dynamics

Conduct interviews or hold discussions individually or in a group to help you understand each team member’s perspective on emotional and social dynamics. A great example of this is following a conflict. Sit each employee down individually to discuss the conflict, then have the person try to explain the other team member’s side of things. This can help you understand how accurate their emotional and social intelligence is.

5. Implement role-playing scenarios to assess emotional handling skills

Role-playing is a great training tool. Before you offer advice or frameworks, however, let them wing it. This way, you can see where each person’s emotional intelligence is at, and how you can help each member of your team improve individually.

Strategies to enhance your team’s emotional intelligence

Once you have a baseline, you can start implementing emotional intelligence training. After all, if you know the benchmark, you can put each strategy to the test and find the ones that work best for your team. Everyone’s different, so some strategies may be more effective than others. The best way to find out which is to try them all.

1. Encourage self-reflection on emotions and reactions

Self-reflection is the best way for everyone to develop their emotional intelligence independently. You can provide self-help book clubs, encourage journaling, send questionnaires, have one-on-one check-ins, or even have team members track their moods throughout the week.

2. Facilitate empathy-building activities for the team

There are many ways that you can help your team build on their empathy, including:

• Mirroring Techniques: You will want to represent the empathy you want to be modelled. This is known as mirroring. You’re essentially modelling the behaviour you want out of your staff. Show them what it looks like to be an empathetic leader.
• Perspective Exercises: Roleplay different scenarios and encourage staff to take on and understand another’s viewpoint.
• Empathy training: Teach active listening, body language, and emotional labeling skills. This will help staff learn how to read others and display the correct body language. Offer training on effective communication techniques Communication techniques are a science, which means they’re very straightforward to teach and learn. You can enroll your team in communication workshops or conflict resolution training to give your staff the tools to communicate effectively.

3. Create a supportive and positive team environment

When you first start training staff on emotional intelligence, there can be a lot of backlash. It can be embarrassing to be told you don’t know how to read people or empathise because it can sound like you’re saying they’re a bad person.

That’s why you need to also foster a supportive and positive team environment with:

• Recognition programs that celebrate achievements
• An open-door policy in case anyone needs private advice
• Private one-on-one training
• Empathetic language to show you understand
• Morale-boosting activities that help teams feel connected

4. Invest in emotional intelligence workshops or seminars

You can sign your team up for workshops, start mentorship programmes in-house, or even invest in a leadership coaching programme. Expanding your options beyond your office means bringing in new ideas and showing your staff you want them to develop and improve.

5. Implement structured feedback and reflection mechanisms

The best way for any one person to improve is with personalised feedback. Implementing structured feedback and reflection mechanisms means each team member gets specific details about where to improve, what they’re great at, and more. The goal is to give them the space and tools to reflect and improve.

Key takeaway

Emotional intelligence is one of the most in-demand soft skills in business today. The good news for every business is that it can be taught. Investing in emotional intelligence skills can help team members learn to communicate more effectively, motivate themselves and others, and much more. If you want to improve overall team dynamics, you want to invest in EI.

This article was guest written by the Team at AuditBoard.