A colleague challenges your idea during a meeting. A project changes direction just before the deadline. A short message from your manager leaves you wondering whether something is wrong. Your professional knowledge matters in each situation, but so does your ability to understand emotions and choose how to respond.
This is where emotional intelligence comes in. Often referred to as EI or EQ, it helps you recognise what you are feeling, consider other people’s perspectives and communicate effectively under pressure. For graduates starting their careers and professionals moving into leadership, these abilities can make everyday workplace challenges easier to navigate.
What is emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognise, understand and manage emotions in yourself and others, and use that understanding to guide your actions.
The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence identifies five emotional skills through its RULER framework: recognising, understanding, labelling, expressing and regulating emotions.
In practice, this might mean noticing that you feel defensive during feedback, identifying why the comment affected you and asking a useful question before responding. It could also mean recognising that a teammate seems frustrated and checking what is happening rather than assuming they are being difficult.
Emotional intelligence does not require you to stay cheerful, avoid disagreement or hide your feelings. You can be empathetic and still set boundaries. You can feel disappointed and still respond constructively.
Why is emotional intelligence considered a top 10 skill
The connection comes partly from the World Economic Forum’s earlier forecasts about the skills employers would need by 2020. Its more recent research continues to highlight the importance of emotional and interpersonal abilities, although the categories have changed.
In the Future of Jobs Report 2025, the top 10 core skills include:
- Resilience, flexibility and agility.
- Leadership and social influence.
- Motivation and self-awareness.
- Empathy and active listening.
These categories overlap with emotional intelligence, but they are not interchangeable with it. The report does not rank EQ as a single, standalone skill. Instead, it shows that several abilities associated with understanding yourself and working with others remain central to employers’ needs.
For jobseekers, the practical message is clear: technical expertise needs to be supported by the ability to listen, handle pressure and collaborate.
READ: The MBA Journey of Self-Discovery
How does emotional intelligence help at work
Emotional intelligence can influence how you approach situations that qualifications alone do not prepare you for.
Receiving feedback. If a manager questions your presentation, self-awareness can help you separate the discomfort of being criticised from the value of the feedback. You can then ask what needs to improve rather than immediately defending every decision.
Managing conflict. Two colleagues may disagree about a deadline because they have different priorities or information. Listening carefully can help you identify the underlying problem and negotiate a realistic next step.
Leading a team. A manager introducing a new process needs to explain the change, hear concerns and distinguish between resistance, confusion and an excessive workload. Each calls for a different response.
Communicating online. A brief email can sound harsher than its sender intended. Checking your interpretation before replying can prevent a small misunderstanding from becoming a larger dispute.
Research supports a relationship between emotional intelligence and workplace outcomes. A 2022 meta-analysis found positive associations with job performance, job satisfaction and organisational commitment. However, the findings do not mean that EQ guarantees success or accounts for a fixed percentage of everyone’s performance. Results depend partly on how emotional intelligence is defined and measured.
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Four ways to develop emotional intelligence
You can practise emotional skills through ordinary conversations, group projects and workplace decisions. Start with a specific behaviour you want to improve, then look for opportunities to use it.
1. Build self-awareness by identifying your triggers
It is difficult to manage a reaction you have not noticed. Pay attention to situations that repeatedly leave you defensive, impatient or discouraged.
After a challenging interaction, ask yourself:
- What exactly was I feeling?
- What happened immediately before that feeling?
- What did I assume about the other person’s intentions?
- How did my response affect the conversation?
Try to use precise language. Feeling overlooked is different from feeling confused, embarrassed or overloaded. Identifying the emotion more accurately can help you decide what to do next.
For example, if an unexpected task makes you irritated, the underlying issue may be uncertainty about priorities. A useful response could be: “I can take this on, but which of my current deadlines should move?”
2. Practise empathy without assuming you can read minds
Understanding other people’s emotions starts with curiosity. Facial expressions, silence and tone of voice can offer clues, but they do not tell you the whole story.
If a teammate becomes unusually quiet, ask an open question rather than deciding they are disengaged: “How are you finding the project so far?” Give them time to answer, then check your understanding.
Active listening also means resisting the urge to prepare your reply while someone else is speaking. Summarising their concern: “So the main issue is the timeline rather than the task itself?” - can help you establish whether you have understood correctly.
This is particularly useful in international study and work environments, where people may have different expectations about directness, disagreement and emotional expression.
3. Regulate your response before choosing your words
Managing emotions does not mean suppressing them. It means creating enough space to respond deliberately.
If a message makes you angry, pause before sending a reply. Separate what you know from what you are inferring, and consider whether a conversation would work better than another email.
Suppose a colleague misses an agreed deadline. Instead of writing, “You never send things on time,” describe the specific issue and its impact: “I haven’t received the figures we agreed for Tuesday, so I can’t finish the report. Can you confirm when they will be ready?”
You are still addressing the problem. You are also giving the other person a clear opportunity to explain and act.
If you react badly, take responsibility. Acknowledging that your tone was unfair and returning to the issue constructively is another opportunity to practise emotional intelligence.
4. Ask for feedback and practise during change
Your intentions and your impact may differ. Feedback from someone you trust can help you notice habits that self-reflection misses.
Ask a focused question such as: “When we disagree, do I give you enough space to explain your view?” or “How do I come across when a deadline is approaching?”
Choose one behaviour to work on. You might stop interrupting, ask a clarifying question before disagreeing or explain changes earlier.
Periods of change offer useful practice. When a project shifts direction, acknowledge your reaction, identify what remains within your control and ask what information you need. Adaptability is a separate skill, but emotional awareness can help you respond to uncertainty more thoughtfully.
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How can students develop emotional intelligence
You do not need a management role to start. University life offers plenty of situations in which to practise listening, managing disagreement and taking responsibility.
During a group assignment, discuss expectations before dividing the work. If someone falls behind, ask what is blocking progress and agree on a concrete next step. In a student society or volunteering role, seek feedback on how you communicate and respond when plans change.
When comparing MBA or Master’s programmes, look for opportunities to practise these behaviours through team projects, coaching, mentoring and structured peer feedback. Ask how students receive feedback on their contribution to a team, as well as on the result.
These experiences can also give you stronger examples for job interviews. Rather than simply claiming to have high emotional intelligence, explain a situation, how you responded and what changed as a result.
Emotional intelligence develops through repeated attention to how you and others experience a situation. Start with one conversation or one habit: listen more carefully, check an assumption or pause before responding. These small choices are practical steps towards becoming a more effective colleague and leader.
Originally published: 21 February 2020
Updated: 9 November 2026
