57% of C-suite leaders feel unprepared for the changes ahead. And with more than 75% of companies set to adopt AI, cloud, and big data in the next five years, disruption isn’t slowing down. This means you’ll need a resilient global workforce to make the most of new tech and hit your business goals.
But here’s what often gets overlooked: the emotional impact of change. Data from the 2023 Future of Jobs Report shows we need to pay attention to employee well-being during rapid disruption to jobs and careers. So, for a moment, set aside productivity reports and adoption rates. Instead, consider the emotional processes your teams and leaders go through when rolling out new technology:
- Employees may feel added stress as they learn new skills while managing their workload.
- Some may feel pressure to compete with more tech-savvy employees.
- Leaders, focused on delivering results, may overlook the role of empathy in driving engagement in AI.
These unchecked emotional responses can weaken teams and suppress adoption.
Emotional upskilling can help. When Google launched what became the Search Inside Yourself (SIY) initiative, it wasn’t just another leadership program. SIY became a company model for developing resilient, high-impact leaders and teams using skills development for emotional intelligence, neuroscience, and mindfulness. Today, the programs are delivered to businesses globally, helping leaders to drive real change.
Think your organization might benefit from emotional upskilling? Let’s find out!
In this blog, you’ll learn:
- How emotional intelligence (EI) strengthens teamwork skills and improves performance outcomes
- Why you need to equip talent for the human side of work in an AI world
- How to prepare leaders and teams with the skills they need during organizational transformation
Let’s begin.
AI + EI: Why now?
With rapid disruption, employee well-being isn’t just an HR concern, it directly impacts your bottom line. New chatbots, automation features, and writing tools are frequently released, with mixed feelings and preparedness among employees. And when 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted in the next five years, change management becomes a part of every leader's job description. To adapt, employees need more than technical training, they need emotional resilience. Is your workforce ready?
Consider these top 10 skills gaps identified by the World Economic Forum:
- Analytical thinking
- Creative thinking
- AI and big data skills
- Leadership and social influence
- Resilience, flexibility, and agility
- Curiosity and lifelong learning
- Technological literacy
- Design and user experience
- Motivation and self-awareness
- Empathy and active listening
You’ll see that six of the 10 skills needed to succeed over the next five years are human-centered, demonstrating the importance of emotional components in employee success. The report confirms that while C-suite leaders acknowledge the importance of human-centered skills, AI and technical training remain the priority. So, how do we bridge the gap? With a skills-focused training plan addressing gaps in both technical and human-centered skills.
Another concern? The speed of transformation. To respond, more leaders will invest and scale their AI solutions in 2025, either by redirecting budgets or increasing them.
Key challenges for C-suite leaders include:
- Generative AI
- Geo-economic risks and realignment
- Climate and sustainability
- Hybrid and remote work
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)
Whether you’re navigating geo-economic challenges or evolving DEI requirements, understanding how the brain responds to change is an invaluable advantage. When leaders and teams build resilience, curiosity, and adaptability, they’re better equipped to shape the future—not just react to it.
By helping employees manage their emotional responses, you empower them to embrace what’s ahead with confidence and agility.
Leaders underestimate the emotional impact of change
A study from Oxford Saïd School of Business revealed that a business transformation is 2.6x more likely to succeed if humans, not processes, drive change. This reinforces the importance of human-centered approaches to AI adoption. Yet, traditional change management often overlooks the human impact of mass organizational changes.
There are four ways change management practices fall short:
- Top-down approach: Centralizing decisions at the top ignores how change affects employees.
- Illusion of permanence: Leaders underestimate how digital transformation evolves, making it harder for their workforce to adapt.
- Checklist mentality: Delivering a pre-approved plan is critical to success. But, rigid plans often don’t leave room to adjust as employees’ responses change.
- One-size-fits-all: Approaches to change adoption often ignore behavioral science techniques that prepare employees for what’s ahead.
Positive change also depends on employees’ trust in leadership, and it’s slipping. In 2024, Gallup reported that only 20% of employees strongly agreed they can trust leadership at their organization. This is 3% lower than in 2023.
EI training for leaders can offset the trust gap. Training in adaptive leadership, strategic teaming, and other emotionally informed skills can bridge the disconnect between implementing change and securing team buy-in.
Brain science reveals EI is a business tool
Workplace transformation impacts both our rational and emotional responses. Neuroscience helps us understand how our emotions interact with change and how we can use this knowledge to create a more resilient, adaptable culture. By applying brain science to change management, leaders can create environments where employees navigate disruption and thrive within it.
Consider these facts about how our brains adapt to change:
- Brains love predictability: People are affected by change not only on a rational level but also on an emotional level. For example, our desire for predictability causes us to practice routine behaviors that limit disruptions to our nervous system.
- The brain is social: An organization’s culture at the time of change affects the rate of adoption. Is your workplace competitive and siloed? Then your employee adoption might be slow and poorly tracked. If you have a strong learning culture, employees are more likely to embrace in-demand skills with the help of resources and peer-to-peer support.
- Neuroplasticity is your friend: With training, your employees can become more resilient. How? With the right emotional skills, the structure and function of the brain can be changed and adapted. Research shows that by strengthening these neural networks, the brain can better support a healthy transition during change. These functions include attention, decision-making, a sense of safety, positive emotions, stress response, empathy levels, compassion, and more.
Ultimately, emotions are more than bodily reactions to change — they’re information about how your employees respond to workplace dynamics. Viewing emotional intelligence through the lens of neuroscience allows your team to treat emotions as a core part of your operational strategy, just as you would any other business function. With emotional upskilling, your leaders and teams can develop emotion-driven responses to relieve stress levels and become more adaptable to change.
How AI training fueled a 330% increase in AI tool usage at Atlassian
4 components of emotional upskilling
Emotional intelligence doesn’t have to be an abstract concept. As a key competency for leadership and transformation, these four dimensions cover the full suite of learning objectives you’ll need to train and track your EI learning program.
1. Self-awareness
Empowering your leaders and teams to look within themselves is an essential first step to improving interpersonal skills. Examples of this are teamwork and conflict management.
Self-awareness skills include:
- Emotional self-awareness
- Awareness of biases
2. Self-management
These skills represent an employee’s ability to self-regulate their emotions, increase focus, and improve decision-making.
Self-management skills include:
- Adaptability
- Focus and attention
- Resilience to change
- Emotional regulation
- Achievement/results orientation
- Decision-making
- Growth mindset
3. Social awareness
We often associate empathy with innate personality traits, but the reality is that empathy is a skill. When you train employees on interpersonal knowledge, this will also extend to how your employees interact with customers and partners.
Social awareness skills include:
- Empathy and compassion
- Team awareness
- Organizational awareness
- Customer focus
4. Social Interaction
Social interaction skills are also highly trainable, including how to exercise and demonstrate psychological safety in the workplace. This can be freeing for employees and leaders alike and build trust where it has been lost.
Social interaction skills include:
- Influencing
- Psychological safety
- Coaching
- Conflict management
- Trust
- Teamwork and collaboration
This year, the rate of organizational change is only going to increase, with 72% of C-suite members expecting significant change. Fortunately, emotional upskilling is teachable and trackable, giving employees the tools needed to adapt to change.
Strategies to upskill your workforce for emotional intelligence
When cloud application provider SAP Business Suite introduced emotional upskilling with SIY Global, the program yielded a 200%+ ROI and a 6% increase in employee engagement. How did they do it? They trained leaders and teams in a range of formats, like microlearning, in-person workshops, mentoring, and more.
Want to replicate their success? Introduce emotional training to your workforce with these strategies:
Blended learning = training + connection
The nature of hybrid, remote, and shift work means emotional upskilling programs must be just as flexible as the workforce itself. Blended learning does just that. It combines digital learning experiences with face-to-face instruction, creating a more dynamic and effective learning process.
Combine eLearning courses with:
- Team retreats and activities
- Worksheets and exercises
- Employee resource groups
- Live discussions and webinars
It’s also important to combine these group and peer activities with optional learning. Some employees may want to improve verbal communication, while others focus on cultural sensitivity. Employees benefit from a wider library of emotional skills to choose from when they need them most.
Develop an emotional upskilling program
Every organization has its own unique goals. Selecting targeted topic areas will build resilience among your workforce.
Examples of programs for teams:
- Self-reflection courses: Increase emotional intelligence levels through neuroscience-backed practices.
- Effective teams: Create psychological safety and inclusion in teams to drive high performance.
- Adaptive resilience: Accelerate change and create a more adaptive workforce by increasing resilience.
- Bridging conflict: Turn conflict into productive discussions that create advances for the business.
- Exploring bias: Understanding the biases, beliefs, and patterns that influence decisions and actions.
- Intro sessions: Live sessions to introduce the value of emotional intelligence.
Examples of programs for leaders:
- Trust retreats: Equip your leaders to drive business transformation by creating high levels of trust.
- Strategic teams: Encourage innovation by equipping leaders to create a culture of psychological safety and trust.
- Inclusive innovation: Tap into diverse teams for problem-solving and creative solutions.
- Adaptive leadership: Speed up change by focusing on the emotional side of change management.
Improve emotional skills with microlearning
For self-guided learning to be effective, the experience must be interactive, time-conscious, and actionable. The answer? Microlearning.
Micro-courses for EI
Micro-courses are short lessons that take 10 minutes or less. Each course addresses a specific learning objective so the learner is clear on what they should retain by the end.
Examples of micro-courses include:
- Spot and prevent burnout: How to spot burnout early and address the symptoms.
- Inclusive hybrid teams: Five practices to help overcome hybrid work challenges with inclusivity and connection.
- Intro to belonging: How to foster a sense of belonging to boost engagement.
Micro-practices for EI
Micro-practices are tools to sustain the skills that increase levels of awareness. They help us understand what makes us feel stuck in our emotions through journalling prompts, breathing practices, and more.
Examples of micro-practices include:
- Minute to arrive: Collect your attention before meeting and task-switching.
- Compassion: Build empathy for others by shifting perspectives with exercises.
- Three breaths: Briefly meditate to adjust your mindset to make better decisions.
When you tailor your training for both leaders and teams, you’re more likely to meet your goals for change readiness, improved focus, and overall engagement.
Is your workforce emotionally prepared for the future of work?
Emotional intelligence isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s a necessity. The data shows that the most in-demand skills are human-centric, yet many organizations have yet to make EI training a strategic priority. Those who do will create a more resilient, adaptable, and engaged workforce that’s ready for organizational change.
If you’re ready to introduce emotional upskilling, the next step is to identify what human-centric skills you’d benefit from most. From there, you’ll need a strategic learning system to deliver an end-to-end learning experience for your employees.
Why use Absorb LMS for emotional intelligence training?
- Easy program administration: Process automation makes program sign-up, scheduling, reminders, and other notifications effortless.
- World-class learning experience: The modern and intuitive design creates an engaging learner experience.
- Secure and accessible: Compliance with all GDPR security and designed for all abilities.
- Integration options: Integrate with your existing LMS or HRIS platform.
- Branding: Fully customize the platform to match your organization’s branding.
If employee trust in your leadership is falling, emotional upskilling can help. Once you’ve identified your organization’s human-centric skills gaps, the next step is to plan how leaders and teams can work better together.
