Yes. Emotional-intelligence training can support leadership development by helping people practice specific behaviors, such as pausing before a defensive reply, asking what a colleague needs, or returning to repair a tense exchange. Workplace reviews find improvement in measured emotional competencies. That evidence supports skill development; it does not show that an EQ score measures leadership potential or forecasts future effectiveness. Use training to improve an observable interaction, then review the behavior and feedback in context.
Can training improve skills that leadership uses?
It can improve measured emotional competencies, which gives a manager or aspiring leader a reasonable basis for practice. Emotional intelligence (EI) is not one uniform skill: measures may assess emotional abilities, self-perceived tendencies, or broader competencies. The useful training target is therefore a behavior tied to a real demand, such as hearing frustration in a project handoff and asking a clarifying question before assigning blame.
Mehler and colleagues’ 2024 workplace systematic review and meta-analysis examined 50 studies before and after training, plus 27 controlled trials. Across the controlled trials, emotional competencies improved by a moderate average amount, and effects were still present at follow-up periods beyond three months. The review combined training in EI, empathy, and emotion regulation, so its finding supports emotional-skill development broadly rather than one leadership technique. The authors also report substantial differences between studies and low methodological quality overall, calling for stronger randomized trials. In the 50-study analysis, 34 studies used self-report measures, nine included peer reports, and seven used ability tests. That mix matters: a reported shift in how people see their habits and a change on an ability task are related research questions, but not identical outcomes.
A second meta-analysis by Hodzic and colleagues covered 24 studies and 28 samples of healthy adults. It also found a moderate pre-to-post improvement in EI, with results varying by the model measured and training design. Taken together, these reviews support practicing emotional skills at work. They do not establish that a course will improve every leadership behavior, or that a better score automatically transfers into better decisions. For a specific development goal, choose one interaction to work on and look for the behavior itself to change.
Sources: Training emotional competencies at the workplace: a systematic review and metaanalysis; How Efficient Are Emotional Intelligence Trainings: A Meta-Analysis
Why doesn’t an EQ score measure leadership potential?
The two kinds of evidence answer different questions. Training studies ask whether measured emotional competencies change after an intervention. Leadership-association research asks whether EI and leadership effectiveness vary together. Neither question, by itself, tests whether a person’s EQ score predicts how well they will lead in a future role.
A 2018 meta-analysis by Lv, Han, and Wang combined 98 papers, 110 effect sizes, and 27,330 participants. It reported a moderate positive correlation between leaders’ EI and leadership effectiveness (r = 0.39). Correlation means two measured things tend to vary together; it does not show that one caused the other. The relationship also differed by EI model, leadership level, organizational setting, and the way effectiveness was assessed. The result is relevant to understanding leadership, but it is not a cutoff or a forecast for an individual who has not yet held that role.
This distinction matters when someone considers a baseline assessment, a post-course retest, or promotion. A rise in a training measure can show improvement on that measure. It does not, without further evidence, establish stronger leadership performance, readiness, or potential. A self-report profile can help someone notice how they describe their habits; a judgment on a written scenario can prompt reflection about a choice. Neither output alone observes how that person leads across changing responsibilities and relationships. Keep EQ scores in a developmental conversation, not in a ranking or promotion decision.
Sources: Training emotional competencies at the workplace: a systematic review and metaanalysis; The relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness: A meta-analysis
What should you track after training?
Track conduct in the situation where it matters, then ask whether it helped the work move forward. Suppose a disagreement in a project review tends to turn into a debate about who caused the delay. A focused practice goal might be: before responding, name the concern you heard and ask one question about the constraint behind it. After the meeting, note whether you did that, what happened next, and what feedback you received. The next attempt may call for a different question or a clearer boundary.
This is a practical development loop, not a validated way to calculate leadership potential. The workplace review found measured gains, but high heterogeneity means outcomes differed across interventions; its analysis cannot promise that one person will show the same change. Leadership also depends on the role, the team, authority, workload, and opportunity to practice. If a colleague cannot meet a deadline because priorities conflict, better emotional awareness may make the disagreement clearer, but it cannot resolve the competing demands on its own. Feedback is most useful when it names a behavior and a moment: “You summarized my concern before suggesting a fix” gives something to repeat or examine. A broad judgment such as “you have strong EQ” gives little direction for the next conversation.
An EQ profile can still help you choose what to reflect on. The Emotional Skills Profile at EQ Test is a private 32-item self-reflection tool about emotional habits and judgments in authored situations. It does not provide a norm-based leadership rank or future-performance estimate. Treat its prompts as a starting point for selecting a behavior to observe, then rely on repeated examples and specific feedback to decide what to practice next. The clearest verdict is modest and useful: train a skill because it matters in the work, and judge progress by what happens in that work. Before your next difficult handoff, ask a colleague, “Could you tell me whether I made space for your concern before proposing a fix?”
Sources: Training emotional competencies at the workplace: a systematic review and metaanalysis
Questions readers ask
Can emotional intelligence be improved through training?
Meta-analyses report moderate average improvements in measured emotional competencies after training, including workplace interventions. The findings support skill practice, while variation and study-quality limits mean they do not guarantee an individual result or a leadership outcome.
Can an EQ score tell whether someone has leadership potential?
No. Research has found an association between leaders’ EI and effectiveness, but that is not the same as testing whether an individual score predicts future leadership. Use an EQ profile for reflection on skills, not selection or promotion.
Sources
- Training emotional competencies at the workplace: a systematic review and metaanalysis
Supports average measured gains after workplace emotional-competency training and documents heterogeneity and study-quality limitations.
- How Efficient Are Emotional Intelligence Trainings: A Meta-Analysis
Supports moderate pre-to-post EI change in adult training studies and variation by EI model and training features.
- The relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness: A meta-analysis
Supports an average association between leaders’ EI and effectiveness, with moderators; it does not test individual future potential.
Apply it to the real situation
Choose one emotional skill to practice at work
From this guide: The evidence can support practicing emotional competencies, but it cannot tell you which habit is most useful in your own difficult conversations.
The private 32-item Emotional Skills Profile offers a structured way to reflect on recent emotional habits and judgments in authored situations. Use the report to identify a question for self-reflection, then connect it to a real interaction and feedback from someone involved. It is a starting point for personal development, not a leadership score or forecast.