How to Improve Emotional Intelligence in Leadership Without More Training
Emotional intelligence at work is often positioned as a key leadership capability for improving communication, engagement, relationships, and performance. Research consistently supports its relevance, particularly in relation to self-awareness, emotional regulation, empathy, and relationship management (Center for Creative Leadership, 2023; Coronado-Maldonado & Benítez-Márquez, 2023; Yale School of Medicine, 2025).
However, improving emotional intelligence does not typically come from additional training alone. The evidence suggests that emotional intelligence becomes effective when it is translated into leadership behaviour, decision-making, and everyday practice, rather than remaining conceptual knowledge (Mayer, Caruso, & Salovey, 2016; Pfeffer & Sutton, 2000).
In leadership contexts, emotional intelligence supports effectiveness when it helps leaders navigate real situations, including feedback, conflict, inclusion, and performance management. From an Include-Performance Framework™ perspective, emotional intelligence is most useful when it operates across individual awareness, relational behaviour, and structural conditions, shaping how work is experienced and delivered.
For leaders and organisations, the practical challenge is not understanding emotional intelligence. It is applying it in ways that create clarity, inclusion, and performance outcomes.
Take the Include–Performance Emotional Intelligence Leadership Self-Assessment™.
Why Improving Emotional Intelligence in Leadership is not always Straightforward
Leaders often seek to improve emotional intelligence because something is not working in practice.
This can include:
repeated performance issues that are not resolved
feedback that is misunderstood or avoided
emotional tension within teams
difficulty balancing support and accountability
uncertainty around inclusion and decision-making
In these situations, leaders are not lacking knowledge. They are navigating complexity. This reflects a consistent pattern in leadership research. Emotional intelligence is important, but leadership effectiveness depends on how it is applied in context, not simply understood (Coronado-Maldonado & Benítez-Márquez, 2023; Mayer et al., 2016).
What the Research says about Improving Emotional Intelligence
Research consistently links emotional intelligence with leadership effectiveness.
The Center for Creative Leadership (2023) identifies emotional intelligence as a core leadership capability, supporting self-awareness, self-management, empathy, and relationship management. Coronado-Maldonado and Benítez-Márquez (2023) highlight its role across leadership and team dynamics, particularly in communication and collaboration.
Yale School of Medicine (2025) reports that emotionally intelligent leadership contributes to more positive work climates, including higher motivation, creativity, and growth awareness. Conversely, lower emotional intelligence in leadership is associated with employees feeling undervalued and experiencing greater burnout.
Gallup’s workplace research further reinforces the importance of leadership behaviour. Meaningful feedback, frequent conversations, and consistent manager engagement are associated with stronger performance outcomes, including productivity, retention, and engagement (Gallup, 2019, 2026a, 2026b).
The key takeaway is not only that emotional intelligence matters, but that it matters when it becomes visible in leadership behaviour.
The Limitation of Emotional Intelligence Training Alone
Emotional intelligence training can increase awareness.
However, awareness does not always lead to behavioural change.
Leaders may:
understand emotional dynamics
recognise team challenges
reflect on their responses
But still:
delay conversations
soften feedback
avoid addressing patterns
hesitate in decision-making
This reflects the well-established knowing–doing gap, where individuals understand what needs to happen but do not consistently translate that understanding into action (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2000).
In practice, emotional intelligence development requires application in real situations, not only conceptual learning.
The Knowing–Doing Gap in Emotional Intelligence at Work
This gap often appears in subtle ways.
A leader understands empathy → but avoids holding someone accountable
A manager recognises tension → but does not address it directly
A senior leader values inclusion → but does not change how decisions are made
A team lead notices repeated issues → but delays the conversation
In each case, emotional intelligence is present as awareness, but not fully expressed in action.
From an Include-Performance perspective, this reflects a disconnect between:
Individual awareness
Relational behaviour
Structural impact
When these are not aligned, leadership effectiveness becomes inconsistent.
How to Improve Emotional Intelligence in Leadership (In Practice)
Improving emotional intelligence is less about learning more, and more about applying differently.
From awareness to behavioural clarity: Emotional awareness helps leaders understand what is happening. Behavioural clarity helps people understand what happens next. Instead of stopping at understanding, leaders translate awareness into clear direction.
From empathy to compassionate accountability: Empathy supports understanding.
Compassionate accountability connects that understanding to expectations and action. This means holding both: care for the individual and clarity about what needs to change
From avoidance to useful conversations: Avoiding difficult conversations can feel protective. In practice, it often creates: ambiguity, repeated issues and uneven expectations Emotionally intelligent leadership involves having conversations that are clear enough to move work forward.
From reflection to aligned action: Reflection is valuable, but it is not sufficient. Leaders improve emotional intelligence when reflection leads to: decisions, conversations and changes in behaviour.
From individual skill to relational and inclusive practice. Emotional intelligence is often treated as an individual capability.
In practice, it is shaped by:
how relationships are experienced
how trust is built or eroded
how influence is created
how decisions are communicated and received
This is where emotional intelligence connects directly to relational leadership and shared impact. For a deeper exploration of this relational dimension in leadership practice, see:
Take the Include–Performance Emotional Intelligence Leadership Self-Assessment™.
Emotional Intelligence in Leadership Practice
In everyday leadership, emotional intelligence can be observed in:
how feedback is delivered
how expectations are communicated
how conflict is addressed
how decisions are made
how inclusion is enacted
how pressure is managed
For example: Instead of avoiding a difficult conversation: “I’ll leave this for now” A more effective approach could be: “I’ve noticed a pattern. Let’s look at what is happening and what needs to change” This reflects emotional intelligence as behaviour, not just awareness.
Applying the Include-Performance Framework™
From an Include-Performance Framework™ perspective, emotional intelligence operates across three levels:
Structural: How systems, processes, and decision-making frameworks are designed
Relational: How leaders communicate, listen, challenge, and support
Individual: How leaders notice, regulate, and respond to emotions
When emotional intelligence is only developed at the individual level, its impact can be limited.
When it is integrated across relational and structural levels, it becomes part of how organisations function. This is where inclusion and performance become connected. This approach is developed further in the Include-Performance Facilitator work.
What this Means in Practice for Leaders and Organisations
Leaders and organisations could strengthen emotional intelligence by focusing on application:
Make feedback clearer, not softer
Emotional intelligence supports clarity, not avoidance
Treat empathy as a starting point
Understanding informs action, but does not replace it
Notice repeated patterns
Recurring issues often indicate systemic or relational gaps
Connect emotional intelligence to inclusion
Consider whose perspectives are included or excluded
Link leadership behaviour to outcomes
Evaluate whether actions support clarity, contribution, and performance
For structured development across teams, leadership team development programmes support this work at scale.
Practical questions for leaders
Where am I using understanding to support action, and where might I be using it to avoid it?
What conversation am I delaying?
Where are expectations unclear?
Whose perspectives are not being included?
What would a response that balances care and standards look like here?
Take the Include–Performance Emotional Intelligence Leadership Self-Assessment™.
Improving Emotional Intelligence means Improving Leadership Practice
Emotional intelligence matters in leadership, but it does not improve performance simply because leaders understand emotions. It improves performance when it becomes visible in how leaders communicate, make decisions, give feedback, manage tension, and create inclusive conditions for contribution.
The most useful framing is this:
Emotional intelligence is not a leadership outcome.
It is a capability that supports leadership effectiveness.
When emotional intelligence is connected to relational leadership, clear communication, and inclusive decision-making, it becomes part of how organisations operate.
To apply this in practice, you can explore: Inclusive Leadership: Navigating Organisational Complexity, Leadership Coaching, Inclusivity in Action Masterclass, Inclusive Leadership 101 and Leadership in Tune: Cultivating Impact Through Connection.
Key Takeaways
Emotional intelligence supports leadership effectiveness, but it is not sufficient on its own
It becomes effective when translated into behaviour and decision-making
Awareness without action can limit impact
Empathy without clarity can create ambiguity
From an Include-Performance Framework™ perspective, emotional intelligence works best across structural, relational, and individual levels
Take the Include–Performance Emotional Intelligence Leadership Self-Assessment™.