Emotional Intelligence’s Role in Creating an Inclusive Workplace

We’re living in the era of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and one frequently overlooked factor vital to creating a successful inclusive workplace is Emotional Intelligence.  The Center for Creative Leadership reports, “75% of careers are derailed for reasons related to emotional competencies, including the inability to handle interpersonal problems, unsatisfactory team leadership during times of difficulty or conflict, or the inability to adapt to change or elicit trust.”  By prioritizing Emotional Intelligence (EI), Human Resource professionals can help their organization in three critical areas: bridge the empathy gap, foster a culture of psychological safety, and combat unconscious bias.

Here’s why Emotional Intelligence should be a top priority in your inclusion efforts:

1. EI helps bridge the empathy gap. Many leaders struggle to truly empathize with the experiences of underrepresented groups.  By helping them develop their EI skills, HR professionals can help their leaders better understand and relate to people from different backgrounds which is essential for creating a more inclusive workplace.
2. EI fosters a culture of psychological safety. Psychological safety is vital for creating an inclusive workplace where people feel comfortable bringing their whole selves to work.  EI skills such as empathy and self-awareness can help leaders develop a culture of psychological safety where everyone feels valued and heard.

3. EI helps combat unconscious bias. Unconscious bias can impact one’s decision-making and perpetuate inequities in the workplace.  EI skills such as self-awareness and emotional self-management can help leaders recognize and combat their biases, leading to more equitable and inclusive decision-making.

People don’t engage with their jobs for rational reasons – they engage because something about the job, the organization, and its leadership appeals to them emotionally.  Leadership today is all about harnessing the team’s emotions to create engagement, which drives productivity and assures success.  By developing the EI skills of the organization’s leaders, HR professionals can bridge the empathy gap, foster a culture of psychological safety, and combat unconscious bias. These are crucial to building a truly inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued and supported.

Our Genos Emotional Intelligence assessment can help HR professionals by measuring the six critical skills their leaders need if they are going to create a culture of inclusiveness within their organization:

1. Self-Awareness is being aware of the way one feels and the impact their feelings can have on decisions, behavior, and performance. It’s about being aware of the behavior they demonstrate, their strengths and limitations, and the impact they have on others.

2. Awareness of others is the skill of being able to perceive, understand, and acknowledge the way others feel. This skill helps us to identify things that make people feel valued, listened to, cared for, consulted, and understood.  When leaders demonstrate this skill effectively, they come across as being empathetic.

3. Authenticity is openly and effectively expressing oneself, honoring commitments, and encouraging this behavior in others. It involves honestly expressing specific feelings at work, providing feedback to colleagues about the way they feel, and expressing emotions at the right time, to the right degree, and to the right people.  Leaders possessing this skill are often described as genuine.

4. Emotional reasoning is using the information in feelings (from oneself and others) when making decisions. It involves considering one’s own and others’ feelings, combining the information of those feelings with other facts, and communicating this decision-making process to others.  When this type of emotional information is combined with facts and technical information, leaders make expansive, creative, and well-thought-out decisions.

5. Self-Management is managing one’s own mood and emotions, time, and behavior as well as continuously improving oneself. A leader’s mood can be very infectious and therefore a powerful force in the workplace, either productively or unproductively.  Leaders who possess this skill are often described as resilient and able to manage high work demand and stress.

6. Influence is positively influencing the way others feel through problem-solving, feedback, and recognizing and supporting others’ work. It involves creating a positive working environment for others, helping others find effective ways of responding to upsetting events, and effectively helping people resolve issues that are affecting their performance.  Leaders who adopt a more inspiring influence style are seen as empowering others to perform above and beyond what is expected of them.

Managers and Leaders demonstrate these EI skills help employees feel they belong, that their individual contributions are valued, and their work is meaningful and aligned to the organization’s purpose and mission.