Emotional Intelligence Essentials: Change Management
The Inside Path to Change Management
Essential Emotional Intelligence Resources
Change is “the new normal,” yet old models of change management (which are about creating and executing a change plan) fail. With a little neuroscience and emotional intelligence, we can design a change management process that puts PEOPLE AT THE CENTER and makes change more successful.
What is change management?
Change management is the process for designing and implementing a process of of transformation toward strategic objectives. Despite decades of study of change management and transformational process, most organizations are bad at it. At a personal level, some 90% of change efforts fail, and when it comes to organizations implementing a change management process, 70% of change efforts fail to meet their objectives.
Why does change management fail today?
The vast majority of change management efforts fail due to a lack of attention to people. Change efforts tend to be planned outside of daily operations, and then imposed from outside or above. As a result, the people affected by the change are not brought along in the process, and those responsible for change management are caught between a pressure to reach short-term results and a lack of buy-in from those “being changed.”
How does emotional intelligence help change management?
The obstacles, above, are largely emotional. If those leading change management processes bring additional emotional intelligence to bear, they recognize the emotional barriers and opportunities. They are more effective at building coalition and bringing people into the possibility of change. The essential step is a methodology that puts people at the center of the change process and works WITH emotions rather than against them .
Most change efforts fail. Read stories of leaders who used emotional intelligence to lead change successfully.
Methods to Make Change Management More Effective with EQ
Top Change Management Articles & Cases
Recommended Products Related to Change
Read more about Change Management & EQ
Leading Change in Times of Uncertainty: Why Managing Transitions Matters More Than Strategy (12/28/2025) - Leading change in times of uncertainty requires more than strategy. Learn why emotional transitions, trust, and purpose drive sustainable change. ...
Emotion AI: A Leader’s Guide to Use Emotional Intelligence for Effective AI Adoption and Change Management (12/2/2025) - AI adoption challenges are emotional before they’re technical. Learn how fear, curiosity, and emotional intelligence shape whether AI succeeds in your workplace. ...
Leading Your Team Through Change (11/10/2025) - When facing challenges leading team change, increasing trust, vitality and purpose are key factors to success. ...
Three Essential Skills for High Performing Leaders: Research on Leadership, Emotional Intelligence & Performance (7/6/2025) - What are the links between emotional intelligence and leadership performance? New research shows 66% of the variation in scores on leadership outcomes are predicted by five key leadership drivers – and people with higher emotional intelligence are seven times as likely to earn high scores on these factors. ...
Harnessing Emotional Intelligence: How Sara Canna Supports Employees and Transforms People’s Lives at the World Health Organization (WHO) (9/25/2024) - Emotional intelligence is more than just a buzzword—it’s a transformative tool that can reshape how we navigate challenges, build relationships, and thrive in demanding environments. Discover how Sara Canna brought EQ to the World Health Organization, empowering employees to manage change, stress, and personal growth. ...
Emotional Intelligence + Coaching = ? How EQ makes coaching work better (7/3/2024) - How do emotional intelligence and coaching go together to create a framework for transformation? Examining 'what is coaching,' why clients seek coaching, and 'what is emotional intelligence,' a story emerges about how we meet the moment more effectively. ...
The Upside of Uncertainty: Neuroscience for Coaching (1/30/2024) - How bad is uncertainty for you, for your clients, for the world? Uncertainty is a problematic feeling – yet it’s also essential in coaching because it signals learning and growth. Here's how. ...
The Neuroscience of Chai: Overcoming My Own Obstinance (1/15/2024) - Why do we sometimes take risks to learn, but other times we're so determined to stay "right"? Zooming into the neurobiology, in a sense we have a tug-of-war between the striatum and the amygdala, between opportunity and risk. It's just like trying Chai for the first time on the steamy streets of Kuala Lumpur. ...
When Change Fails: Tips for Coaching with Emotional Intelligence (1/3/2024) - Sometimes change is easy, but when we get stuck, big, difficult feelings emerge. While some coaches are ill-equipped to engage those challenging feelings, it’s a prime opportunity for transformational coaching. ...
The Neuroscience of Change: How to Make New Year’s Resolutions Stick (12/28/2023) - Why do New Year’s resolutions nearly always fail? And what can we do to make them stick? Explore the neuroscience of change and motivation. ...Return to the introduction to emotional intelligence – or explore more key topics