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What is Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional Intelligence, also known as Emotional Quotient (EQ), is the ability to identify, understand, handle and effectively utilize emotions, be it with ourselves or in our interaction with others. It is a set of emotional and social skills that enhances relationships and makes leadership more effective, improves team productivity and increases customer satisfaction.

Emotional Intelligence is important, personally as well as professionally, as it can lead to improved communication, stronger relationships, better conflict resolution, and increased overall well-being. This makes it an exceptionally valuable skill in the modern workplace.

Emotional Intelligence is used in the workplace to foster better relationships, communication, and emotional well-being among employees. This leads to a positive and productive work environment having a positive impact on the organization’s bottom line through increased employee satisfaction, retention, and improved performance.

Courses Overview

• All courses accrue over 8.6K students.
• 9 courses are free or free-to-audit, 1 course is paid.
• 15.1K learners follow Class Central’s Emotional Intelligence subject.

Best Emotional Intelligence Course for Leaders (University of Michigan)

Emotional Intelligence: Cultivating Immensely Human Interactions by the University of Michigan is a free-to-audit course that focuses on cultivating human interactions and developing interpersonal skills essential for leadership effectiveness and team success. The course is based on published research and offers an exploration of the topic including theory, assessments, animated vignettes, and video clips. This is the perfect course to improve your interpersonal skills and become a better leader or team member.

In this course, you will learn:

• How to cultivate human interactions through the different aspects of emotional intelligence.
• Explore the role of emotions in the workplace and how self-awareness can help you connect with others.
• Self-management: harness your emotions to make better decisions and project the image you want others to perceive as ‘you’.
• Social awareness: learning how to make sense of others and overcome the challenges of empathy and perspective-taking.
• Social acceleration: focusing on how to work effectively in a team or being a leader and the importance of transformative mentors and building your own legacy.

Fun Facts

• Dr. Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks is a renowned Behavioral Scientist and expert in group dynamics who has been recognized for his work by major publications. He has given a TED talk about Cultural Exceptionalism.
• Cheri Alexander is a professor at the University of Michigan where she teaches Leadership and Managing Human Capital. She was responsible for all HR outside of North America as the Vice President of HR for International Operations, overseeing and visiting operations in 51 countries.

Best Course on Emotional Intelligence at Work (University of California, Berkeley)

Improve your social and emotional skills and create a more productive and satisfying workplace with Empathy and Emotional Intelligence at Work by the University of California, Berkeley. This free-to-audit course focuses on empathy and emotional intelligence in the workplace. It highlights the importance of positive relationships at work and explores the foundational and related skills of empathy and emotional intelligence. The course is based on research and real-world case studies, it offers practical ways to strengthen empathy, trust, and collaboration among teams.

In this course, learners will:

• Understand the importance of positive relationships in driving personal and organizational well-being and efficiency.
• Gain insights into empathy and emotional intelligence skills, including emotion identification, regulation, understanding varied viewpoints, and guiding constructive social interactions.
• Draw on research and case studies to demonstrate how these skills promote well-being in organizations, improve management, and lead to more effective teamwork, problem-solving, and recovery from setbacks.
• Learn about the psychological and biological roots of cooperative, compassionate behaviors and how to strengthen empathy, trust, and collaboration among teams.
• Immerse in the nuances of socially intelligent leadership and building cultures of belonging and engagement.

Fun Facts

• Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the founding director of the University’s Greater Good Science Center. He is the author of the best-selling books Born to Be Good and The Power Paradox, in addition to more than 100 scientific papers and two best-selling textbooks.
• Emiliana Simon-Thomas, neuroscientist, is the science director of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

Best Short Emotional Intelligence Course for Everyone (LinkedIn Learning)

Improve your emotional intelligence skills and build effective relationships in Developing Your Emotional Intelligence with Gemma Leigh Roberts. This course is more focused on the individual and helps learners become more self-aware and identify triggers that may hijack their performance. The course covers various topics such as disrupting thinking, shifting perspective, empathizing, and communicating effectively. This course also comes with a free certificate.

In this course, you will:

• Explore what emotional intelligence actually is, including its different components and how it affects our emotions and reactions.
• Delve into the concept of self-awareness and how it helps you manage your thoughts and mindset.
• Find your “flow” in different situations.
• Learn strategies for dealing with stressful situations and how to shift your perspective in order to shape your behavior.
• Master practical tips for managing relationships such as playing to your personal strengths, collecting feedback from others, and communicating your intentions and impact.

Fun Facts

• Dr. Gemma Leigh Roberts, a chartered psychologist, is the author of  Mindset Matters: Developing Mental Agility and Resilience to Thrive in Uncertainty. Over 600,000 people subscribe to Gemma’s Mindset Matters LinkedIn newsletter.

Also Great Emotional Intelligence Course for Leaders (Case Western Reserve University) 

Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence by Case Western Reserve University will help you, as a leader, to handle interpersonal relationships empathetically. In this free-to-audit course, you will be able to build a great leadership relationship effectively through the ability to connect emotionally and lead with emotional intelligence. And it’s on Class Central’s Best Online Courses of All Time list.

In this course, you will learn:

• Resonant Leadership: Marked by shared vision, hope, and mindfulness, along with its neuroscientific foundations.
• Stress Dynamics: Comprehending how stress impacts openness to ideas and emotions.
• Emotional Intelligence: How it impacts leadership.
• Inspiring Change: Strategies for personal and organizational transformation.
• Positive emotional attractors (PEA) and negative emotional attractors.
• Coach people using compassion and other positive emotions to inspire sustained learning.
• Real Self vs Faux Self: Discerning genuine self-awareness and its significance in leadership evolution.

Fun Facts

• The course instructor, Richard Boyatzis, is an organizational theorist and distinguished university professor in the Departments of Organizational Behavior, Psychology, and Cognitive Science at Case Western Reserve University. He was ranked #9 Most Influential International Thinkers by an 11,000 HR Director Survey in the HR Magazine.

Also Great: Achieve Success with Emotional Intelligence (Taylor’s University)

In the present day, employers are aiming to find employees who are self-aware while also being able to manage themselves and their relationship with other people. People need to cultivate traits, habits, and skills for their self improvement and development helping them to achieve success and happiness. This is what this free course, Success – Achieve Success with Emotional Intelligence by Taylor’s University, will explore.

In this course, you will learn:

• Definition of Success: Understanding its broader connotations beyond mere achievements.
• Positive Thought Patterns: Techniques to nurture optimistic thinking through language selection.
• Brain Rewiring: Daily exercises to foster gratitude and change neural pathways.
• Linking EI with Success: Drawing connections between emotional intelligence and personal accomplishments.
• The SUCCESS Model: Techniques for effective brain utilization in ideation.
• Goal Setting: Establishing SMART goals and crafting personal mission statements.

Fun Facts

• Mushtak Al-Atabi delivered the first MOOC in Malaysia and helped to develop the CDIO Initiative (Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate).
• Dr. Jennifer DeBoer is currently on the executive committee of the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES) and the International Studies Special Interest Group in the American Education Research Association.

Emotional Intelligence for Optimal Performance (NPTEL and Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur) 

Emotional Intelligence by NPTEL and Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur is designed to explain the power of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and discover how it often takes precedence over Intellectual Quotient (IQ) in driving creativity and performance. This free course shows how to foster emotional intelligence in an organization for achieving health, happiness and optimal performance at work.

In this course, you will:

• Gain a foundational understanding of emotional intelligence concepts, theories, and applications.
• Discover how EQ principles guide our behaviors and responses in various life contexts.
• Recognize the profound impact of EQ on various facets of personal and professional life.

Fun Facts

• Rabindra Kumar Pradhan, the course instructor, is currently working as an associate professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Pradhan has been awarded with the Best Trainer Award by ISTD, Hyderabad in 2012 and the Best Teacher Award by ISTD, Kolkata for outstanding contribution in Training & HRD in the year 2013.

Best Emotional and Social Intelligence Course (University of California, Davis) 

Emotional and Social Intelligence focuses on the set of skills that contribute to emotional and social intelligence (ESI). This free-to-audit course will provide you with the tools needed to be socially and emotionally present in the workplace.

In this course, you will learn:

• Introduction to ESI: Evaluate your existing ESI competencies and get acquainted with its foundational 4 quadrants.
• Emotional Self-Discovery: Discover your own emotions and cultivate strategies to enhance your ESI acumen.
• Self-Management & Stress: Identify areas of self-improvement, and understand the influence of stress on ESI application.
• Empathy: Explore the three stages of empathy and the contrast between empathy and sympathy while learning how to strengthen your empathy skills.
• Mastering Relationship Management: Learn the art of building lasting connections, honing your listening skills, and communicating effectively at your workplace.

Fun Facts

• Laurie Cozart is the founder of Brain Squared Solutions, an organization dedicated to using neuroscience to help create thriving organizational cultures.

Also Great: Emotional Intelligence at Work (Coventry University)

Explore how emotional intelligence influences not only our relationships with others but also with ourselves through this course, Emotional Intelligence at Work. This free-to-audit course will ultimately help you understand how emotional intelligence improves performance in the workplace.

In this course, you will:

• Get to know about the origins of emotional intelligence while also learning about the key theorists who have attempted to define, develop and discuss this fascinating construct.
• Learn about the traits, abilities, mixed models and metrics of emotional intelligence.
• Explore the criticisms of EQ research along with how EQ can be applied in organizational settings and interventions.

Fun Facts

• Coventry University is a modern, forward-thinking university offering over 500 courses across 15 different schools.

Also Great Emotional Intelligence Course to Inspire Others (Pluralsight)

Interpersonal relationships have a great impact on employee satisfaction and performance. The lack of soft skills in employees has a serious impact on how well companies perform and the culture of the organization. Leading with Emotional Intelligence on Pluralsight is a paid course which will leave you with the skills and knowledge of the emotional intelligence necessary to lead, manage and inspire people.

In this course, you will learn:

• General introduction on what emotional intelligence is through self-awareness and awareness of others.
• How you can make better decisions in high pressure situations through self-regulation and social skills.
• How you can improve coaching and relationships through a better Emotional Quotient.

Fun Facts

• The course instructor, Jason Alba, founded and manages JibberJobber.com, a platform that helps job seekers organize and manage contacts, target companies and jobs applied to.

Best Emotional Intelligence with Mindfulness Course in Spanish (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)

Mindfulness is a training of the mind to be attentive to the present moment as life unfolds in the moment. It is a way of living and being in the world and this online course proposes the beginning of a journey towards yourself and the peaceful nature of the mind. Introducción a la Regulación Emocional basada en Mindfulness aims to bring your attention, through meditation, to your own reactions and habits that are the reason for your emotional suffering and stress. This free-to-audit introductory course is delivered in Español.

In this course, you will:

• Explore how emotional intelligence is influenced by mindfulness.
• Understand how to deal with difficult emotions and control them.
• Learn how to cultivate healthy emotions in yourself as well as your interpersonal relationships.

Fun Facts

• The Universidad Autónoma de Madrid is a Spanish public university located in Madrid, Spain. Among its notable alumni is the current King of Spain, Felipe VI, who studied Law and is the president of UAM’s alumni society.

Why You Should Trust Us

Class Central, a Tripadvisor for online education, has helped 80 million learners find their next course. We’ve been combing through online education for more than a decade to aggregate a catalog of 250,000 online courses and 250,000 reviews written by our users. And we’re online learners ourselves: combined, the Class Central team has completed over 400 online courses, including online degrees.

How We Made Our Picks and Tested Them

Trying to find “the best” can be daunting, even for those of us who live and breathe online courses. Here’s how I approached this task.

First, I combed through Class Central’s Catalog and the internet to find a variety of free and paid courses.

Second, when choosing courses, I considered the following factors:

• Renowned Institutions: I picked the most recognized institutions in Self Development.
• Instructor experience: I looked for instructors with extensive experience in Emotional Intelligence.
• Course content: I looked for courses that covered a wide range of topics, from the basics to more advanced techniques.
• Student reviews: I read student reviews (when available) to get a sense of the quality of each course.

To evaluate each course, I watched some of the course videos and read the course syllabus. I also looked at the course’s rating and reviews on Class Central.

Ultimately, I used a combination of data and my own judgment to make these picks. I’m confident these recommendations will provide you with the knowledge and skill to improve your Emotional Quotient (EQ).

Pat revised the research and the latest version of this article.