Assessing the cost of emotional intelligence training. Is it worth it?

Emotional Intelligence is one of the hottest topics in professional circles. Boardrooms, social media and networking events are all filled with discussions focused on EQ and its extraordinary impact on professional performance.

However, that in itself is not enough to justify a significant investment in Emotional Intelligence training. Like all business expenditures, EQ training should be rigorously assessed for its value, effectiveness and potential return on investment. Only then can wise and appropriate spending decisions be made and authorised.

This blog will shed light on the typical cost of world-class Emotional Intelligence training. It will explore the results it delivers, and give you an assessment of the typical ROI a business can expect to achieve from strategic EQ training investments. So you’ll have all the knowledge you need to consider the most appropriate next step for your organisation.

How much does EQ training cost?

Like anything else, the cost of Emotional Intelligence training varies from provider to provider. However, there is a particularly big difference in the quality of training available. Opting for a cheap provider may seem fiscally attractive, but it carries significant risk of achieving a negligible impact or ROI because the training is not grounded in the very latest scientific and academic evidence.

At RocheMartin, we have spent more than two decades delivering industry-leading Emotional Intelligence training to senior business figures around the world. We have worked with some of the biggest, most recognisable and high-pressure companies operating today. And in every instance, our EQ training has generated significant and extensive positive results that have had far-reaching and long-lasting effects for years to come.

Our typical costs include:

• Workshops, which are ideally suited to giving an entire team an introduction to the concepts behind, and the mechanics of, Emotional Intelligence start from £5,500 per half-day.
• An ECR Certification (including Train the Trainer), which enables someone in your organisation – most often a senior HR leader – to deliver ECRs with your team independently of any RocheMartin involvement, costs £2,990.
• SmartCoach, which is our online platform that allows participants to access Emotional Intelligence training on demand from anywhere in the world, costs £50 per module per student, or £300 per student for access to the full module list.

Training a whole organisation on a wider, long-term basis is impossible to quantify without knowing more about the size of the team or the length of the potential support. Contact us today to get a tailored quote for your Emotional Intelligence training.

What do you get from Emotional Intelligence training?

Participants in RocheMartin Emotional Intelligence training leave with a series of specific tools and advances. These include:

• A deeper examination and understanding of our 10 core EQ competencies
• Self-knowing (recognising how your feelings and emotions impact your opinions)
• Self-control (controlling your emotions and restraining your actions until you can think rationally)
• Self-confidence (respecting yourself without the need for external validation)
• Self-reliance (independently planning, making decisions, and taking responsibility for yourself)
• Empathy (being aware of, and understanding, the feelings of others)
• Relationship skills (establishing collaborative and mutually-rewarding relationships)
• Straightforwardness (communicating your feelings in an open and clear manner)
• Adaptability (reacting well to change and being receptive to new ideas)
• Optimism (sensing opportunities and focusing on what can be achieved)
• Self-actualisation (maintaining an enthusiastic commitment to long-term goals)
• Personalised benchmarks of their own performance, as detailed in our proprietary Emotional Capital Report (ECR)
  
• Tools, tips and exercises to help them continuously improve their EQ skills on a long-term basis

What is the ROI of Emotional Intelligence training?

Effective EQ training has been proven to lead to improved EQ scores. In turn, higher EQ skills correlate with positive impacts on a company’s finances in several different ways.

• Better shareholder returns

In Raj Sisodia’s 2003 study Firms of Endearment, 72 companies identified with high EQ capabilities were shown to have grown 10.5x more than the S&P 500 over a 15-year period.

• Fewer recruitment costs

Our EQ training with a large construction firm helped the company to reduce its annual employee turnover rate to such an extent that it saved almost $50m per year in associated recruitment costs.

• More sales

When bosses at insurance firm Metropolitan Life were looking for ways to increase their sales figures, they stumbled upon the extraordinary effects of high Emotional Intelligence skills. They found that sales reps with a high optimism score outsold their colleagues by 37%. Those who ranked in the top 10% for optimism sold a staggering 88% more policies than their most pessimistic 10% of colleagues.

• Better customer service

RocheMartin’s partnership with Australian telecommunications firm Optus yielded remarkable results through a comprehensive leadership development programme. Using its own internal metrics, Optus found increases in its leadership scores (+16%), engagement (+6%) and customer focus (+6%).

• Better decision making

RocheMartin worked with Sky, Europe’s largest media company, for more than five years. During that time, our EQ training was used to enhance the team’s leadership, innovation and productivity. More than 800 executives participated in our training and the impact was clear within just nine months. Those impacts included increases in optimism (+13%), adaptability (+17%), empathy (+25%) and relationship skills (+21%).

• Improved team morale

Global enterprise software company Oracle tasked RocheMartin with developing and delivering an Emotional Intelligence training programme that would increase its sales performance. Following our EQ training, 92% of Oracles sales staff reported having a more positive attitude in their job and 89% felt more confident. The experience of Metropolitan Life shows us the impact of high levels of optimism on final sales figures. 

• Better recruits

High Emotional Intelligence skills have been proven to enhance the likelihood of a happy, productive and inclusive workplace. By using EQ to create an environment of psychological safety, your organisation can attract and retain better and more diverse teams of multi-generational talent. This increases your organisation’s capacity to react to the different challenges it faces by giving you a broader collective perspective and a wider range of inputs for arriving at potential solutions.

Is EQ training worth the investment?

Yes -- but don’t just take our word for it. Here is what business leaders and HR directors around the world have to say about the value and impact of EQ training from RocheMartin.

“People in our organisation have said that (the ECR) is the best 90 minutes of coaching in their career to date.”

Diane Hogbin-Mills, Executive Programmes Manager, Network Rail

“The RocheMartin Emotional Intelligence platform has completely transformed our business development culture. Our sales team is more confident in its approach and this has led to exceptional results.”

Daniel Van den Broeck, Senior Vice President, Applications Northern Europe, Oracle

“We’re making better business decisions. We’re drawing more from the breadth and depth of the organisation. We’re managing tensions much better. And it’s had a big effect on the internal dynamic of the business."

Jeremy Darroch, Sky Group CEO

“Given the challenges of remote national teams we found SmartCoach to be a very effective way to reinforce face-to-face learnings and promote positive leadership behaviour change. The tool is more integrated and personally engaging than other e-learning programs we have seen.”

Michael Fuller, HR Manager, Quiksilver Australia

Ready to invest in Emotional Intelligence training? Contact us today and take the first step towards a better performing business.