Team EQ: What It Is – Why It Matters – How to Increase It
New book giveaway!
20 copies available!!
Leave a comment on this guest post by Joshua Rosenthal to become eligible for one of 20 complimentary copies of Team Emotional Intelligence 2.0.
Deadline for eligibility is 05/29/2022. International winners will receive electronic version.
Team EQ is:
Team EQ is about noticing when emotions surface and impact the work, and your team’s ability to manage these emotions effectively.
Team EQ is about building healthy relationships within and outside the team.
Team EQ is a higher-order emotional intelligence that is not simply the sum of its individual parts. Largely, two things impact a team’s performance: emotions and relationships.
Team EQ includes four core skills:
- emotion awareness
- emotion management
- internal relationships
- external relationships
Why Team EQ matters:
Collaboration is essential to production — not only one’s individual expertise.
Leaders and individual contributors can demonstrate high EQ, however, the teams they work on might still perform at a low level if collaboration is missing or isn’t as polished as it can be. This is your Team EQ and at times it can be high (when your team is effective) or low (when your team struggles).
3 Strategies for Building your Team’s EQ:
#1. Recognize Your Team’s Triggers.
What causes your team to be distracted or unproductive? Identify the types of people, situations, or conditions that cause strong emotions or poor performance so you can manage their impact when they surface.
#2. Set Team Norms and Enforce them Lightly.
Set behavioral ground rules for how you want to work together that all team members agree to. Define for yourselves what a gentle reminder of these team norms looks and sounds like.
#3. Own Your Mistakes.
When the team fails, own the mistake openly to rebuild trust and model the type of behavior you’d appreciate in return. Discuss and share any lessons learned.
What are some ways you and your team can start building your Team EQ skills today?
Dr. Jean Greaves in her own words:
Joshua Rosenthal is the Director of Training at TalentSmartEQ, the world’s premier provider of emotional intelligence (EQ) training and development, certification, assessments, and coaching. Their book Team Emotional Intelligence 2.0, is a research-driven resource that delivers practical strategies and showcases how an emotionally intelligent team is far more than the sum of its parts. The book launches today. Connect with Joshua on LinkedIn.
Really excellent post! This is a nice guide for navigating through some of the challenges high performing Teams can encounter. Love the taking ownership piece – when one of us comes up short we ‘own’ it, discuss it and hopefully learn from it.
Would love to learn more.
There is a great need for this book, especially amid the great resignation.
EQ is underrated and is equally most required
Im a big believer in EQ and with a young team im helping coach in an international company i am glad you have emailed this to me.
Great job on outlining the Emotional Quotient 4 Core Skills. In The Tricycle Effect, I name one of the back two wheels on the tricycle as the EQ wheel which is all about critical thinking, leadership, relationships, teamwork….so your book does a great job of diving into the EQ wheel. I especially like the EQ Triggers! Emotions and Relationships….messy stuff that few people want to deal with. Practical and useful immediately. Great Job! Trike On!
Can’t wait to read the book!
I am a huge fan of expanding my personal EQ and that of my team. To understand the triggers which can throw off productivity and overall morale is crucial. Excellent outline and I look forward to reading TEAM EQ: WHAT IT IS – WHY IT MATTERS – HOW TO INCREASE IT!!
Individual EQ is important in work and leadership, and the impact can be lost when team EQ is low! It takes both! Individuals who grow their personal EQ and a team that focuses together on the behaviors that lift team EQ!
I see team EQ issues when different teams come together to deliver and you have different levels of EQ amongst them. Following the steps outlined can help to raise the collective level of EQ amongst the wider team which is critical to their success.
Great topic and content. Looking forward to reading the book.
I read the article and thought of my current work experience! Thank you for writing this book…look forward to reading!
EQ is by far one of the most important subjects in the modern personal and professional world. A perfect area to always continue to sharpen the saw in! Thanks for this.
My team is struggling with this very thing! This post is exactly what I needed to help our team through the struggles we are currently experiencing! I am definitely exploring more from Joshua Rosenthal and Dr. Jean Greaves.
With the transition to remote work, an increased number of people relay heavily on virtual meetings for a majority of their social interaction on a daily basis. Increasing EQ awareness and working to improve my team’s skills will be very helpful.
This is so needed. My team has been struggling. Excellent article. Looking forward to a deeper read.
learnt the difference in Individual IQ Vs Team IQ. Thanks Dan
Appreciate this mornng’s post on EQ and how critical it is to understand not just individual emotional response to situations in the workplace but the team dynamic.
I need this book. I have team in transition and this is something that we are working on.
I work at an international school in South Korea and I see so many ways that this book could be useful.
Relationships are essential and each relationship is unique which makes collaboration and team building priorities. EQ awareness and the action steps to move forward with the work are of high interest and importance to my leadership.
We are working to develop teams in an industry where solo operators dominate. This gives good suggestions on how to encourage people to change their mindsets. Thank you!
Interested to learn more about team EQ! I have read about individual EQ for years and find it a fascinating study.
You truly need to take care of the team and be aware of their needs in any successful organization.
Great and helpful insights with practical applications in the workplace and beyond–TY for sharing and helping our awareness develop relationally.
I work with many different teams as part of the Learning and Development department and this was a great find. Very interesting and I’m looking forward to reading the book. Thank you for sharing this great article.
All these “soft skills” are what gets the job done.
This post made my day! EQ is super important and is all too often overlooked by leadership. I am thinking of a particular team of teachers that I supervise. I need to study this topic more to help me help them!
Team EQ is so important these days and employees have so many opportunities to choose where they work. It’s not all about dollars and flexibility, it is about the work culture we are creating for them. Without a higher EQ, we will lose talented and dedicated employees to organizations who are prioritizing EQ and Culture.
If only I had focused years ago more on #1 and acted on #2, particularly a subordinate manager whose EQ was low, to the point where their actions were a continual disruption to the team. I wear that one.
This is a very relevant topic for me right now and I would love to check out this book! Thanks!
Very interested in learning more about Team EQ. Love the focus on the WAY you work. I always say “it’s not just WHAT we do but HOW we do it that matters”. I attribute that to Sam Johnson.
I would be excited to read this text to build a better team for kids at my school.
Any team member can benefit from this book – even a seasoned leader needs to be reminded of the basics. Building strong relationships, exhibiting authenticity, and treating others how you want to be treated are the cornerstone for effective collaboration and team success. I would love to win a copy of this book!
This is exactly what my PhD dissertation subject was about related to healthcare and the leaders role with her team of followers. Teams can develop EQ and want to read the book. Teams can accomplish much and this is awesome to discuss!
I would love to read this book.
I’m excited to see this book. I have read Emotional Intelligence 2.0, and I’m sure the teams edition is just as good.
I work in an environment where this is sorely lacking. My supervisor is awesome but others on the team seem to be lacking in this area so we all miss the mark with tasks. We’d benefit from this for sure.
So true! We need to be aware of our EQ!
i think this is very good. i have been a manager at the same store for 27 year. i like to think we have a lot of eq but i will be using the one at our next store meeting
I have Emotional Intelligence 2.0 on my desk as we speak! I would love to get my hands on this book as I am expanding my EQ work with teams within the next two months!
Love to hear more about doing productive 1:1’s and using EQ. Thanks1
I’ve got Emotional Intelligence 2.0 on my desk at this moment! Would love to get my hands on this book ASAP as I’m currently prepping to expand work with teams within the next two months.
This is very good! This is beneficial for each team member. Would love to read this book!
This is so timely! I’m working with a new team that I’m hoping will be able to work collaboratively and productively. What a great resource!
Thank you for all the information. They always seem to be timely. thank you again. Best regards, Jackie
As a healthcare educator, we discuss emotional intelligence quite a bit. Great post on cultivating emotional intelligence as a team!
This is the hardest thing to try to teach new managers. I have a young, green supervisory team and trying to put EQ into words has been a challenge. This post has been helpful in providing some new language for me to try to use.
Never before for the need of such a book on EQ.
A, B , C of TEAM EQ is ‘Always Be Collaborative’. Every entity is a Knowledge Node.
TEAM is the GRID. TEAM EQ is the journey from Node to Grid for Collaboration
without friction. Welcome the Book.
Great topic. I work with teams as a volunteer disaster response chaplain. Great focus on Emotional Intelligence as a great step to improve your management sucess.
This post reaffirms and reminds me that the development of our teams, and our recognition of our individual and team EI/EQ is key to forward progress! Thanks for the post and the info on the new book
I was recently promoted into a Manager position and looking for tools to help me build a strong and cohesive team. This seems like the perfect starting point.
Excellent topic. The team leader sets the overall tone, but it takes the entire team working together to create a healthy environment where everyone truly feels that they belong.
I cannot wait to read this book. I feel this book could be used as a great tool!
There are few topics more important than this one these days, as not understanding how we are different and can work in a complementary style is right up there with other ineffective means of working, such as allowing for busyness over true priorities, the myth of multitasking, etc.
Great article! I am hoping to share this book with my boss, who values EQ but needs to see where he could improve, to help the team improve.
You got me right at the beginning – what are your team’s triggers? Oh, I hadn’t thought about that. Before I can even get to addressing the team, I need to get back to base zero – what are my triggers. Thank you for the reminder. Looking forward to reading your book.!t
Good information and, I am sure, a good book. Setting norms also requires the setting of boundaries and discouraging team members from bringing unnecessary conflict and division into the workplace. This can only damage relationships and distract from the mission. It also highlights the necessity of hiring emotionally mature people who aren’t “triggered” by every perceived slight and miscue. An effective workplace requires adults, not overgrown toddlers.
I heard a speaker last week say “You’re hired for your IQ and fired for your EQ.” Looking forward to reading this book!
It’s honestly crazy the number of times these daily posts reflect something I’m dealing with in real time.
Sometimes we forget we are all only human and we ask too much of ourselves at once. So do our employees. I really thought about the word collaboration and how sometimes its overlooked. It is a crucial part of us as humans regardless of our job or skills but if we don’t have it , life can get harder and productivity in whatever you do has no way of balancing out.
I’ve had a team that worked together for several years and now having some turnover so this will be important as we work through that and people are getting to know eachother.
I can’t wait to read this book! EQ is SO important. Especially in today’s world. So many challenges could be prevented or mitigated if they were identified earlier on with EQ awareness and skills. I’ve always focused on this personally and absolutely love the idea of focusing on from a team perspective. Thanks for sharing!
EQ on individual and teams levels is so important. “Recognize Your Team’s Triggers” immediately caught my attention. This is something I need to work on identifying. Looking forward to reading this book.
EQ is what makes a great leader a great leader. Everyone can have Vision, but the ability to build the relationships necessary to execute on the vision – that is the gold!! Thanks for sharing!!
Understanding team EQ is a way to multiply results!
“Expressing how you feel is actually quite a contribution to the work at hand.” 18 min of video. This is so powerful and far to many times we have lost the ability to do this. Especially in our teams. Teams that can express their feelings to each other, be vulnerable, curious and courageous are teams I wish to build and be on. This sounds like a book I need to add to my collection. I know there are gems I can pull out to share with the leaders at my work.
I’d love a copy! I am always looking for ways to learn and grow as a leader and personally.
When managing collaborative teams, trust is always at the heart of successful work. It seems that the best way to support high levels of trust is to understand the fundamentals of team EQ. Great post!
As polarized as society is getting, increasing one’s own EQ and better understanding the team EQ in any formalized business setting only makes sense. It can help to defuse any situation internally or externally.
Helpful perspective regarding EQ and teams. Having positive trusted relationships as a foundation almost always enables us to work thru issues that pop up in the heat of the moment, when folks under pressure often resort to binary thinking (yes/no, either/or). Over and over, I find that building trust enables real collaboration which generates better solutions & outcomes for everyone. Thanks.
This post was great!!! It is not only about individuals practicing and fostering EQ, but collectively as a team. Even if individuals in the team practice EQ skills, it does not equate to overall Team EQ. Thanks for these continued posts and helping us all learn
Oh, boy, could a few teams I’ve been on benefited from some EQ introspection and training, emotional awareness being the key missing piece. I’m in a much better place on my current team, but I see EQ as something you’re never finished learning about and integrating into your life (professional and private). So, we could all use additional guidance from experts in the field. Thanks for the opportunity!
Very important skills now that schools have swtiched back to in person and not on Zoom. Students and teachers need to work together but recognition our emotions. Would love to read the book with my staff.
I am enthusiastic to receive a complimentary electronic copy ; I felt those words and have the courage to deep dive into the strategies described. Currently, our team is like a sponge saturating ourselves with all emotions that drives us to deliver our goals in balance. The ability to listen and acknowledge the changes of each mind’s perspective put us in stable emotions.
Wonderful guide for building the capacity for teams and school leaders. A missing piece that needs to be recognized and addressed with the school community now more than ever.
Love the practical advice!
EQ is so important for teams to be successful.
Fascinating work! I’m looking forward to reading the book.
I LOVE EQ and I am so excited for this book. We talk about EQ vs IQ in the workplace and in our personal lives with other colleagues – thank you
Very provocative post! Would love to read the book!
I read the original EQ book years ago and am excited about seeing what has been added from a Team perspective.
EQ is a nebulous term; it’s helpful to have concrete examples and case studies – I hope this book contains those elements.
The original EQ book really opened my eyes and helped me understand people in the workplace and life so much better, looking forward to this new release!
This book would be incredibly useful when navigating difficult issues within and outside of our leadership team! I can’t wait to add this to my professional library.
Our team could use this book! In fact we have an employee we are now attempting to get back into their groove, when we would have been more cognisant of their emotional crisis had we had this book to enlighten us sooner…
It is so important to use emotional intelligence in how you build project teams.
This would be so helpful not only for me but also my managers and their teams as we all negotiate trying to get back to a new normal down here in NZ. Covid has made such an impact and we seem to have become a less tolerant society. Establishing new techniques that help all of us cope and understand better would be fantastic.
Good addition to all new manager coming in since the old school thinking will drag you in it. New tools always good.
I have a brand new handpicked high performing team ( every leader’s dream!), I keep asking myself and the team how do we keep this dream alive?, how do we make sure new member ‘know how it’s done here’, how do we maintain and continue to build on the team strength, collaboration and performance? This book sounds like a welcome resource to support us.
Got #3 down pretty well, working on 1 now, 2 is the hardest. To easy to match emotions.
Great reminder of the importance of managing people and not just statistical performance.
This resonates . . . an effective team understands why Team EQ is critical and works to be accountable for its development. Can’t wait to read & learn more!
I am so excited for this book, especiallywhile trying to manage through the great resignation.
I look forward to picking up a copy of the book and using within my team and also with clients!
I would love to win a copy.
I am also looking forward to pick up a copy of this book, this will definitely help me in my current role.
One of the best interviews I’ve experienced. Thank you! Particularly fascinating to me is the concept of cross-functional teams not being the best at “team”. I work in health care, and multi-disciplinary rounds are the collaboration tool for patient care. I wonder if they struggle? Or if there is something to learn from that model….(I have not been in health care for very long….)
Emotional Intelligence is something that every leader should factor in when building a high performing team. You need tech skills, you need good processes, but without EQ the team performance will not reach its max. In modern world we need teams that have trust, empowerment, collaboration and EQ is the ingredient to cultivate all of them.
An interesting, thoughtful post!
Liked 4 essential skills and 3 strategies to manage Team EQ effectively. Basically, a team leader needs to have a good human touch with intimate relationship with individual members.
It’s an art which can be learnt to accomplish the goals with the team’s involvement and high commitment.
If anyone said 30 hears ago that emotions and relationships are the things that impact a team’s performance. would have been laughed at. We have come a long way in our understanding, but perhaps not so much in our practice. Sounds like a great book.
A great interview. Thank you.
And I really appreciate your almost throw-away line: ‘Don’t try to be too smart, just try to be useful.’ A stunning challenge. Thank you
Question about #2. When you have a disruptive team member with emotional outbursts that is limiting the team’s effectiveness, enforcing lightly just doesn’t seem to change the behavior. How do you maintain expectations when stepping outside of those behavioral boundaries only gets a light “slap on the wrist”?
Hi Lyna,
That’s a great question. Here are a couple thoughts.
1. Be sure that team norms are developed by the team.
2. Define team norms in behavioral terms. For example, we don’t interrupt each other.
3. Determine the team’s response when norms are violated – as a team. For example, when someone interrupts someone they put $5 in a penalty jar that the team uses to buy treats.
It feels like you’re carrying the load by yourself. When teams consist of competent people, they should set their own norms. If they are novices, some training about high functioning team behavior is called for, before establishing norms.
I have never thought about a team having EQ — mostly about how individuals bring their own EQ skills (or lack there of) into the mix. But of course community is a powerful human force and can sway individuals into better or worse performance. Interesting as I think about our individual teams actually demonstrate good EQ. It’s the management team, though, where we struggle more. And maybe that’s because there’s a certain amount of power struggle that goes on so we get a lot of behaviors like interrupting, etc.
BTW: If interrupting is designated an “anti-norm”, how do you manage the opposite pattern of dominating the floor?
Thanks so much for this very timely post. I’m currently working with a team that is being pulled in multiple directions and aligning interests is so critical to getting at the EQ.
Grateful for your thought leadership. Indeed, TEAM IQ is successful stewardship of your business and employee wellness. As I like to impart to our team – If you are not engaged, you are unusable! I would say that is a proverb for life is it not? Let us all purpose to be intentionally engaged with everyone we encounter to impact hearts and lives. Thank you for guiding me to be the best I can be.
EQ is very much needed in today’s work place. I would like to learn more about it.
This is a timely post when we experience great resignation and continuous cycle of hire-train-lose-rehire-retrain.. Having guiding norms are essential to continue to provide even there is turnover.
This book will be very helpful for our current team situation where a couple of my non-performing team members’ attitude are affecting the morale of well performing team members to the point of resignation.
I love learning and would love a copy of this book!
Great Insight. I would love a copy to continue on learning.
I am excited to read this book and use the strategies to build the capacity of my team.
I have been talking recently with my leadership team of the importance of EQ. This book would be an excellent source for a book study and practical application of the principles.
What a great, thought-provoking interview! Dr. Greaves insight into the “employee A talks to employee B about employee C” situation rang true about a dynamic that I am too often a part of. I’m ready to approach this differently. Can’t wait to read the entire book.
Another awesome and timely blog. Also enjoyed the video chat with Dr Greaves. Using the right tool from our toolkit resonated with me. Being able to share this resource with my team would support our focus on team building and knowing more about yourself. Dan, I often use your blogs with my team (from Australia – primary school teachers) and have shared with my principal colleagues.