Uncovering a Team’s Emotional Reality The leader who wants to create an emotionally intelligent team can start by helping the team raise its collective self-awareness. As some of the examples discussed earlier illustrated, this is the true work of the leader: to monitor the emotional tone of the team and to help its members recognize any underlying dissonance. Only when a team can confront that emotional reality will it feel moved to change. By acknowledging a shared sentiment as simple as “I don’t like how it feels around here,” a team makes a critical first step in the change process.
