How emotional intelligence can help us reinvent ourselves at work

Today’s fast-paced workplace requires us to change and adapt at increasing speeds, while managing complex interpersonal demands. Despite these challenges, we can utilize emotional intelligence to meet these continually increasing demands and excel in our new reality.

The basis of emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our emotions—as well as know how they impact others. Beyond that, emotional intelligence gives us greater ability to understand the emotions of others, allowing for greater empathy. This in turn increases our ability to work effectively with others of different backgrounds and perspectives.

Glenn Llopis, author of Make Reinvention Your Superpower, argues that a lack of emotional intelligence traps people in what he calls “career quicksand.” He explains that this occurs when individuals lose sight of their unique capabilities because they are rewarded for following the corporate playbook instead of their own. As a result, they are not encouraged to explore new ideas, having been trained to believe that success relies on executing old ones.

How to encourage emotional intelligence

Organizations are increasingly becoming aware that being successful today requires more collaboration, creativity, and adaptability. Research at Lawrence Technological University found that emotional intelligence “improves one’s ability to be socially effective, and can lead to improved collaborative outcomes.”

Successful organizations in today’s climate will be comprised of emotionally intelligent people who can pivot quickly. The good news is that emotional intelligence is not some innate quality; it’s something you can build. Employees at all levels of the organization will need to boost their collaboration, problem-solving, and teamwork skills.

One way to encourage these traits is for leaders to ask every employee to share examples of collaboration, good teamwork, and problem-solving during staff meetings. They can set up an easy-to-use process whereby staff can recognize each other when they demonstrate using emotional intelligence in their daily work. Having an emotional intelligence employee-of-the-month recognition program can also help keep the focus on continuous improvement. Finally, managers can also ensure that employees are aware that empathy and resilience are attributes that will make workers more likely to get a promotion.

Building collaboration and conflict-resolution skills

Organizations of the future will need to collaborate more both internally and externally.

Having employees who are able to work with various people of different cultural backgrounds will increase team and organizational cohesiveness.

Llopis emphasizes the importance of using emotional intelligence to approach workplace diversity with curiosity. This mindset helps uncover valuable insights and opportunities for growth. “When we look around with intentionality and expect to discover something new, we open ourselves to seeing possibilities we might have overlooked,” he says.

Conflict and problems inevitably arise at work. But because organizations must move so quickly, teams must be able to solve these issues quickly and effectively. Unresolved frustrations, unexpected changes, anxiety, and disappointment in organizations can lead to a negative and toxic workplace quite quickly if workers don’t have the tools they need. Emotional-intelligence training teaches people to work through these common workplace issues without losing track of what they are trying to accomplish. These workers are better able to navigate difficult conversations that lead to better acceptance and understanding with their peers and leaders.

The ability to work through difficult interpersonal relationship challenges leads to increased optimism and stronger growth mindsets for those who go through them. Llopis says that self-trust is central to emotional intelligence and reinvention, enhancing one’s ability to manage workplace conflict. “By cultivating a deep understanding of oneself and confidence in one’s abilities, self-assurance empowers employees to navigate their own challenges and support others, fostering deeper connections and adaptability in high-stress work environments,” he says.

The value of an emotionally intelligent culture

Companies that invest in supporting emotional intelligence find that their culture shows improvement. The results of an environment of collaboration are greater freedom to be creative and experiment with new solutions and innovations. Open communication and dialogue become part of how everyone in the organization is expected to conduct themselves. This results in an atmosphere of psychological safety, which allows everyone the freedom to experiment, take some risks, and push their own boundaries so they can reach their full potential.

Organizations that put a high emphasis on emotional intelligence in their recruitment, onboarding, and training process will find they are molding their organizations in a manner that allows all of their people to have more fulfilling careers. Nurturing empathy and resilience means everyone has a supportive environment where everyone can reinvent themselves while keeping the organization moving forward.