
Developing Emotional Intelligence in Healthcare
Working in a healthcare setting produces the unique challenge of providing high quality patient services whilst also managing typical workplace situations and stressors, such as staff shortages, team conflict and employee engagement.
Emotional intelligence (EI) has become an increasingly important skill for addressing this challenge and developing effective leaders, cohesive teams and supportive workplace cultures.
What is emotional intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is a set of emotional and social skills that shape how we understand and express ourselves, relate to others, and respond to challenges.
It influences how we:
-
Communicate and build relationships
-
Respond to pressure and change
-
Manage conflict and difficult conversations
-
Lead and motivate teams
-
Support collaboration and engagement
This is a valuable skill, with high levels of emotional intelligence being a proven predictor of job performance, transformational leadership, wellbeing, and resilience.
Why emotional intelligence matters in healthcare
The NHS faces a range of workforce and leadership challenges that require more than clinical or technical expertise alone. Developing emotional intelligence in your organisation can help to:
-
Support staff wellbeing and manage stress
-
Enhance patient care
-
Improve communication and decision making
-
Strengthen leadership effectiveness
-
Navigate organisational change
-
Manage conflict constructively
-
Build trust and positive working relationships
-
Increase employee engagement and retention

How to develop emotional intelligence in the NHS

The EQ-i 2.0 & EQ 360 assessments can be used to measure emotional intelligence across 15 subscales, providing people with rich insights and areas for development.
There are a number of reports available including leadership, group, or multi-rater reports.

Our EQ-i 2.0 & EQ 360 accreditation course certifies you to administer the EQ-i 2.0 & EQ 360 assessments and provide feedback to people within your organisation.
You can attend one of our public courses, or we can deliver an in-house course for your team.

The Emotional Intelligence Development Programme includes the EQ-i 2.0 assessment, feedback, a development workshop and access to EQ Extra.
This programme is designed to support ongoing emotional intelligence development.
Why choose Psysoft?
For over 15 years, we have supported organisations to understand their emotional intelligence strengths, identify development opportunities and apply these insights within their day-to-day roles, using assessments, development programmes, training and coaching.
Our experienced consultants have worked with a range of NHS organisations, including:
-
NHS England
-
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
-
Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust
-
Hywel Dda University Health Board
-
Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Trust
-
South East Coast Ambulance Service
-
NHS South, Central and West CSU
-
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
Download our healthcare case studies to read more about how other NHS organisations are using psychometric assessments to recruit and develop talented individuals.

Contact us to learn more
Book a free, discovery call with one of our consultants to explore how developing emotional intelligence could support your organisation.
Alternatively, you can complete the contact form below and we will be in touch to answer your questions and discuss your objectives in more detail.
For details on how we handle your personal data, please see our Privacy Policy.


