How Emotional Intelligence training has the potential to improve any organisation’s performance

Imagine if there was a single skill you could develop that could transform almost every aspect of your organisation, from its financial performance through to its internal culture, customer relations and even staff productivity.

Emotional Intelligence is that skill.

The effect of strong Emotional Intelligence (also known as emotional quotient or EQ) skills has been proven over decades of scientific research. It can help you and your team:

• Improve sales performance
• Prevent a frustrated customer from taking their business elsewhere
• Develop a happier, more effective and more productive workplace
• Retain key members of staff when they are considering leaving your organisation

However, Emotional Intelligence is not necessarily something you are born with. Some are naturally blessed with high EQ performance, but for most it is a learned skill that you must build and nurture. That’s why so many brands and organisations are now investing heavily in Emotional Intelligence training for their teams.

Against that context, it’s not difficult to see the benefits of having your employees trained to tap into, and consistently develop, their Emotional Intelligence skills. In this blog, we’ll share how to access EQ training and how you can use it to achieve extraordinary results. 

Three key ways Emotional Intelligence Training can help improve performance

For more than 20 years, scientific and academic research has told us that, to be successful in our personal and professional lives, we need Emotional Intelligence.

The key to building better business relationships and organisational performance is having insight into, and rendering positive behaviours in, RocheMartin’s three focus areas of Emotional Intelligence. They are:

1. Inner focus: communicating authentically and openly

We are all human. Everybody, from time to time, endures setbacks, failed projects, and self-doubt. One power of EQ training is in its ability to help people recognise and control their own emotional challenges.

The ‘inner focus’ element of RocheMartin’s EQ training concentrates on four key Emotional Intelligence competencies:

• Self-knowing, which is about recognising how your feelings impact on your opinions, attitudes and judgments.
• Self-control, which is about being able to control your emotions and show restraint until you have had the time and space to think in a detached and rational manner.
• Self-confidence, which is about being able to accept and respect yourself as you are.
• Self-reliance, which is about being able to plan, make decisions and take responsibility with relative comfort and ease (i.e. you don’t need others to verify your actions).

By developing your colleagues’ skills across these four areas, Emotional Intelligence training enables them to communicate more effectively, more openly and more authentically. All of these are key traits of high-performing individuals and organisations.

2. Outer focus: enhancing our capacity to influence others

Another of the most notable ways Emotional Intelligence training improves a person’s professional performance is by teaching them how to influence others and engage in positive interpersonal relationships.

The ‘outer focus’ element of RocheMartin’s EQ training concentrates on three key Emotional Intelligence competencies:

• Empathy, which is about being aware of, understanding and appreciating the feelings of others’ thoughts and feelings.
• Relationship skills, which are about being able to build collaborative, positive relationships where both parties benefit.
• Straightforwardness, which is about communicating feelings, thoughts and beliefs in a clear, open manner.

Someone who participates in thorough Emotional Intelligence training can better recognise their feelings, acknowledge why they feel that way, and then plan to communicate better with teammates or customers. 

3. Other focus: enabling us to respond creatively and effectively 

Finally, by implementing Emotional Intelligence training across your organisation you help to create psychological safety in your team. 

Your colleagues will be able to better recognise and control any negative emotions they may feel at the moment. As a result, they will be less defensive and more open to change and new ideas.

The ‘other focus’ element of RocheMartin’s EQ training concentrates on three key EQ competencies:

• Adaptability, which is a key skill to develop in any workplace -- especially in times of uncertainty and doubt. Adaptability is a person’s capacity to react well to change, be open to new ideas, and adjust their emotions, thoughts and behaviours.
• Optimism, which is about being able to sense opportunities, focus on what can be achieved, and bounce back quickly from setbacks.
• Self-actualisation, which is about being able to manage your emotional energy in order to maintain an enthusiastic commitment to long-term goals.

Employees with high EQ skills can -- and consistently do -- take responsibility and manage their reactions to others’ emotions with the minimum of fuss.

How to get started with Emotional Intelligence training

The value of Emotional Intelligence training is clear. The science proves it. The academic research proves it. And our real-world results with some of the biggest and most-pressured businesses in the world prove it.

If you’re ready to get started, take time to consider three key things before you jump into any EQ training initiative.

1. Establish who needs training

Your senior leaders’ training needs might be very different from the needs of those at more junior levels. Think through what training might be needed and what objectives you are aiming to accomplish, and plan accordingly.

2. Choose an approach that works best for you and your teams

When it comes to choosing the style and format of your Emotional Intelligence training programme, there are a range of options from which to select. Each has specific benefits that may be suited to your particular needs.

It is worth spending some time investigating your options in full, as this will help you to align and maximise your learning opportunities with your existing commitments. Broadly, the main options are:

• Group, in-person workshops
• Live online classes
• Video-on-demand learning
• One-to-one coaching

3. Measure progress

Advances in EQ performance have been consistently shown to correlate with advances in business performance, so it’s important to invest in an effective Emotional Intelligence training programme that is capable of tracking and measuring results. 

Two of RocheMartin’s proprietary tools, the ECR and ECR 360, are highly effective ways of monitoring EQ progress. Each one measures a participant’s performance across 10 key Emotional Intelligence competencies and allows for a benchmark score to be established against which future tests can be compared.

This means that anyone participating in EQ training from RocheMartin is able to see the precise improvements in their own performance.

Emotional Intelligence training is the key to business transformation

For the last two decades, studies have repeatedly shown the value of investing in Emotional Intelligence training. If you are looking to improve the performance of yourself, your team or your organisation, it is hard to find a more effective method.

With the right commitment and EQ training, any business can be transformed into one of consistent high performance and incredible results.

Perhaps you’ve identified high-potential junior members of staff who you think could be elevated into leadership roles. Maybe you’re keen to hone the skills and expertise of your existing leaders. Or perhaps you are simply keen to increase your organisation’s retention rate by creating an environment in which people thrive and perform at their best.

Any of those situations -- and plenty of others besides -- can be realised by working with an experienced partner to help you identify and secure the best Emotional Intelligence training to address your organisation’s unique needs and future goals.

Having worked with global businesses including Optus, Sky, Oracle and Boeing, RocheMartin is a trusted leader in the field of Emotional Intelligence and leadership development. We are committed to working with like-minded organisations to deliver great leadership outcomes. 

Contact us today and take the first steps to improving your business’s performance with the world’s foremost Emotional Intelligence experts and our unmatched EQ training products.