For almost two decades we have trained and coached people on their emotional intelligence. This framework and set of skills can help individuals recognize and understand the role emotions play in their work life and better still, to be more intentional about their impact on people and work. This month, with the release of our newest book Team Emotional Intelligence 2.0, we are excited to share how teams–an essential component of the future of work–can also be emotionally intelligent and change the way we think about collaboration, respect, time, and success.
Team Emotional Intelligence
This topic is not new: a 1932 study at Columbia University showed that teams outperformed individuals at problem solving. What is new is how complex work and organizational structure has become. Most of us are unable to get our work done without the assistance, support, or work of others inside our organization. The global shifts in work in 2020 have further increased the complexity of work in fully virtual or hybrid contexts. All this complexity requires relearning and brain rewiring to make sense of the experience of teams and learn how best to be effective.
Additionally, when your team context changes, the elements needed to have high personal and team emotional intelligence may shift. Consider your team norms and how they can help your group strengthen your emotion management and relationship skills. In our work with clients, we have found that shifts to the team can be a great opportunity to get a baseline understanding of your team emotional intelligence and learn other strategies so that there are fewer surprises, disappointments, frustrations, or irritations between members.
Team EQ is a collective effort so rather than allowing your group’s emotions and relationships to determine how much your team can accomplish, you can learn skills and strategies to boost your team’s advantage. Below is a round-up of 3 of our articles on teams to provide some of those strategies about how to be a better teammate, manage a team more effectively, and start thinking differently about teams.
3 Article to Help You Develop and Manage Emotional Intelligence
1. The Secret to Team Performance (And 5 Strategies to Achieve it Virtually)
What it’s about: A definition of psychological safety and five ways to build it for your team.
How it can help: This article highlights the research on psychological safety and describes some concrete things members and leaders can do to build it in a virtual environment. Helping employees feel psychologically safe is about building trust in different ways. When people feel psychologically safe, they are more willing to share feedback and their perspective, take calculated risks, ask questions, challenge each other, admit mistakes, and learn from one another.
2. 3 Creative Ways to Boost Your Virtual Team’s EQ
What it’s about: Three creative examples of teams interacting, and three EQ strategies based on those examples that teams can apply in their work together. The strategies are designed help teams get creative in their approach to virtual work.
How it can help: This is one of the most popular articles of 2021 and for good reason. Many teams tried to move to virtual by doing the same things they did in-person. Many other teams stuck with the same approaches to virtual regardless of how well they worked. This article helped teams break free from habits that weren’t working to create new approaches together.
3. Team Emotional Intelligence: Seeing Agreement as a Symptom, Not a Goal
What it’s about: A breakdown of the–sometimes–hidden costs of early consensus to a team’s success. The article explores three things teams can do to effectively break the cycle.
How it can help: In efforts to lean into positive emotions that come from agreeing on something as a group, you may end up with a less than positive result. Managed conflict and competing perspectives are signs of inclusion and many times, result in increased creativity and innovation. By focusing on a couple of small, intentional behaviors you may be able to flip agreement on its head and actually start welcoming disagreement.
By: Dr. Maggie Sass
For more easy-to-implement strategies to improve your EQ, purchase our book Emotional Intelligence 2.0.
To learn more about emotional intelligence training and TalentSmartEQ’s programs and solutions, please visit: https://www.talentsmarteq.com/contact/ or contact TalentSmartEQ at 888-818-SMART.