While technical skills are valued quite highly, you’ll find that most workplaces are actually focusing more on hiring employees with the right soft skills and developing their workforce’s communication and interpersonal skills. 

Consider: 

• Soft-skill focused roles are expected to account for almost two-thirds of all jobs in Australia by 2030
• Workers will spend at least 40% more time using social/emotional skills by 2030
• Emotional intelligence (or EQ) is a predictor of success in employees and leaders alike and helps both to perform during times of crises

To ensure that your organisation can keep up, you need to make sure that you’re giving your staff every opportunity to advance their soft skills. Emotional intelligence is not only important for your leaders, but for rising talent and employees at all levels of your organisation. 

Why is emotional intelligence so important in the workplace?

Empathetic leadership

According to Gartner’s research, 45% of HR leaders around the world are focusing on the development of leaders (both current and future) as their main priority in 2022. Their Director of HR Advisory, Arj Bagga, argues that organisations should particularly focus on building leaders’ emotional capacity, asking: “How can we create a mindset around empathy and provide the capacity for managers to be more empathetic?”

Although experts have recognised the importance of emotional intelligence and people managing skills for several years now, there is no doubt that there will be renewed energy spent on ensuring that leaders are able to keep up with the demands of the workplace in 2022. 

Remote work

Many organisations in Australia are incorporating remote and hybrid work models, with most of the country’s top employers prioritising workplace flexibility. Working from home requires a certain level of discipline and intrinsic motivation – one of the five core components of emotional intelligence – to stay on track. 

Emotional intelligence is beneficial for remote workers, keeping them on task, and leaders, helping them navigate the challenges that come with managing teams virtually. 

Resilience

Resilience has been identified as a key skill for employees to develop in 2022. Helping to combat stress, burnout and change fatigue, resilience allows employees to better manage the challenges of the modern workplace and attain a better work-life balance. 

Emotional intelligence can help improve one’s resilience, as emotionally intelligent individuals have a better understanding of themselves, their emotions and stressors, and how to manage these productively. Additionally, emotionally intelligent leaders are better equipped to help their teams develop resilience. 

Diversity

Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen how important it is to foster a culture of diversity and inclusion. In fact, having a diverse workforce is now seen as a competitive advantage, allowing organisations to better serve their clients and innovate to adapt in the face of adversity. 

Emotional intelligence and inclusion go hand in hand: those with higher EQ levels are able to better understand and manage their unconscious biases. Additionally, a higher EQ allows individuals to empathise with others who are different to themselves and communicate more effectively. 

You can find out more about building a diverse workplace here. 

Curious about how you can leverage emotional intelligence in your organisation in 2022? Get in touch with the trainEQ team and we’ll show you!