EQ (emotionally intelligent) leaders are critical in tricky times, and their strengths can support both employees' personal goals and companies' business goals. Sound impossible? The good news is that emotional intelligence can be learned! Learn how and why EQ is critical for all humans -- and especially leaders!

1. Emotional Intelligence
Can Be Learned

2. The Global Pandemic

3. • The global pandemic has tested us –
as individuals and as businesses.
• Moving forward, emotional
intelligence will play an even greater
role in personal and professional
success.
3

4. Why Emotional Intelligence?

5. 5
• Start by understanding EQ and
the importance of emotional
intelligence for leaders.
• When employees are enduring a
period of anxious uncertainty, a
manager who can connect with them
as individuals ca provide powerful
support.

6. The benefits of EQ include:
• Better conflict management
• Greater adaptability
• More team solidarity
• Improved communication
• Lower employee turnover
• Elevated corporate culture
• Increased sales
6

7. • A Fortune 500 company
incorporating EQ assessments helped
“stem the brain drain", increasing
retention by 67%.
• The firm calculated a savings of over
$30 million by reducing recruiting
and training costs and increasing
sales through retention.
7

8. How to Develop Emotional
Intelligence

9. • EQ leaders demonstrate
empathy, welcome dissent, and help
employees feel safe.
• By balancing their thoughts and
feelings, they create an inclusive
environment where people feel
comfortable enough to take risks.
9

10. Seek feedback
• Direct reports may worry about providing
authentic insights, but emotional intelligence
is founded on self-awareness.
• It can help to get feedback from direct
reports, other supervisors, and colleagues.
• So, pay attention to that 360-degree
evaluation!
10

11. Learn non-verbal cues
• Social awareness can help a leader with EQ
lower the stress levels of those around them.
• Focusing on others – and what they're not
saying – to pick up on clues about how
employees are feeling about a project or
plan.
11

12. Practice active listening
• Emotionallyintelligent managers don’t just
hear what people are saying; they are actively
listening.
• The distinction is that the active listener is
hearing and processing what is displayed.
12

13. Practice active listening
• Active listeners are focused on what is being
said and what it means for the person saying
it.
• They're not already thinking about what they
will say in response.
13

14. Check in on feelings
• Keep a journal and make time throughout
the day to write down how you are feeling.
• Set a calendar reminder to pause and check
in on your feelings at that moment.
• Awareness of your own mental and
emotional state can help you interact in more
productive ways.
14

15. Allow yourself a break
• Getting up and going for a walk around the
office (mask on, right now) can give you an
outlet too.
• On a larger scale, make sure you’re keeping a
healthy work-life balance in mind.
15

16. Perfect praise
• Cosmetics icon Mary Kay Ash said, “There are
two things people want more than money:
Recognition and Praise.”
• Praise that helps people feel genuinely
recognized has a positive impact on self-
esteem, motivation, and productivity.
• Aim for specific gratitude that shows
employees you value their contributions.
16

17. Explore your motives and values
• Remembering what you love about your
career can help improve your motivation.
• In turn, this enables you to better motivate
others.
• Connecting your motives to your core values
can also provide a strong foundation for your
self-awareness in interactions.
17

18. Practice, practice, practice
• Like any other skill that’s worth learning,
emotional intelligence is going to take time
to perfect.
• EQ requires you to pay attention to how you
react to people or stressful situations, as well
as how your reactions affect others.
18

19. Final Thoughts

20. • As businesses work to bounce back
from the COVID-19 crisis, there’s no
better time to grow your EQ.
20

21. • Use an intentional, self-aware
approach to incorporate emotionally
intelligent leadership into your daily
interactions with direct reports.
21

22. EQ is a powerful asset we can all
learn and develop – and it's
essential for business and
personal growth.

23. Want more?
Binge watch… Read the full blog… Like some podcasts!

24. Have we met socially?

25. Thank you!