Smells like Team Spirit: How to Create a Winning Culture Through the Use of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a quality that is deeply ingrained in the fabric of the Great Britain women’s hockey team.

Head coach Danny Kerry is a staunch advocate and has worked tirelessly to enlighten his players with regard to its extraordinary benefits – making believers out of them all.

The many facets of EI are now etched into the make-up of each player, running through their brains like a stick of Blackpool rock.

Kerry appreciates, like all good leaders do, that the ability to identify, use, understand and manage your emotions can be a golden ticket.

And so it proved for Great Britain in The Rio 2016 Olympic Games, when the players held their nerve in the final to make history by beating the Netherlands in a dramatic penalty shoot-out.

In previous articles in the series, we have flagged up particular components of EI and shown how these can facilitate personal performance gain.

In part five – using the example of GB Hockey, among others – we take the same approach, only this time, the focus is on examining the valuable impact EI can have on team dynamics and culture.

We will discover how utilising empathy, relationships and social awareness as a coach can help accelerate the development of your group of players and transform them into a single driving force.