Workplace EQ is a strategic, interpersonal skillset applied with intention. It is not empathy, self-awareness, or even emotion recognition.

The Uncomfortable Truth

We needed a new definition.

Workplace EQ is the value-chain understanding of emotions in the workplace: how their scientifically-proven inputs create certain interpersonal outputs which directly crystallize a positive collective good (milestone, goal, achievement etc.) Inputs. Outputs. Impact.

Workplace EQ is the skill which must first be understood in order to develop an EQ Strategy for an individual, a team, a company, or product.

The truth is EQ shows up differently in the workplace than it does in articles and academic research. It is time to provide a tailored framework to reflect that corporate reality. It is only in getting pragmatically crystal clear about how to operationalize EQ in the business context, that leaders can tap into its value.

Those with high EQ are near impossible to learn from. If we are lucky, we witness a clever word choice here and there. But their strategy, their larger interpersonal context, is completely opaque to us. Only they know how that certain word choice said in that particular context, that tiny grain of sand, will move a mountain.

——-Nancy Phelps

The 4 Pillars of EQ Excellence

  • Thorough assessment to identify critical conflicts & synergies in values between two people in the workplace.

  • Advanced analysis of hierarchical contexts. Leveraging or changing such differentials to achieve better outcomes.

  • Advanced human-centric systems thinking.

  • The ability to adapt one’s presence with specific cues to create a more desirable interpersonal dynamic in a particular situation.