Building Emotionally Intelligent Teams with Dr. Vanessa Druskat

What does it take to build a team that consistently performs at a high level? In this episode, Kevin sits down with Dr. Vanessa Druskat to explore what emotionally intelligent teams look like and how leaders can foster them. Vanessa introduces the concept of "team emotional intelligence" and explains why team culture, not just individual skills or personalities, is often the key differentiator between average and high-performing teams. She shares her practical three-part model, based on nine team norms, that top teams use to create environments of trust, psychological safety, and accountability. Vanessa also discusses why emotionally intelligent teams are fundamentally about how people interact, not just how they feel. She reveals what leaders should do in the first meeting of a new team to set the tone for long-term performance, and why nonverbal behaviors and small habits matter more than you think.

Listen For

00:00 Introduction to emotional intelligence and teams
00:29 Welcome and how to join future live sessions
01:02 How to connect with the community
01:25 About the book Flexible Leadership
02:11 Introducing guest Vanessa Druskat
03:09 Vanessa's early experiences with teams
04:09 Workplace realities that shaped her research
05:08 Growing up across cultures and learning to adapt
06:17 Discovering team cultures in organizations
07:20 What sets high performing teams apart
08:07 Exploring the model of team emotional intelligence
09:11 Understanding local team culture
10:04 The role leaders play in shaping micro culture
11:05 How teams can build their own culture
11:56 Why belonging and social needs matter
12:18 Teams as emotional systems
13:14 How emotions influence interactions
14:08 Creating cultures where disagreement is productive
15:17 The three clusters of team emotional intelligence
16:02 Helping individuals succeed
17:13 How great teams interact and improve
18:02 Reaching outside the team for ideas and resources
18:10 Where leaders should start with new teams
19:05 Setting norms intentionally
20:07 Why posted norms fail
21:00 Ownership and mutual understanding
21:21 Ensuring everyone has a voice
22:12 Assessing current norms
23:22 Impact of unintentional nonverbal signals
24:54 How small behaviors change team dynamics
25:53 Example of a team transformation
27:31 Importance of nonverbal cues and inclusion
28:07 Reaching outside the team and avoiding blinders
30:10 Leading in hybrid and remote environments
31:05 Belonging and psychological distance
32:03 Increasing intentional connection
32:50 Using check ins to strengthen relationships
34:04 Applying this in one-on-one conversations
34:27 What Vanessa does for fun
35:33 What Vanessa is reading
37:43 Where to find Vanessa and her resources
38:54 Closing challenge: What action will you take
40:05 Wrap up and invitation to subscribe

Vanessa's Story: Dr. Vanessa Druskat is the author of The Emotionally Intelligent Team: Building Collaborative Groups that Outperform the Rest. She is an award-winning researcher and leading expert on team leadership, advising leaders in some of the world's top organizations. Her three decades of field research examining team cultures that inspire high-performing collaboration produced the Team Emotional Intelligence (Team EI) model. She and her colleagues have used the model globally to teach leaders how to build higher-performing teams. Vanessa is passionate about convincing leaders that under the right conditions, people are wired for collaborative teamwork. So, stop trying to fix people and start building emotionally intelligent team cultures that inspire teamwork. Also, an award-winning teacher, she serves on the faculty of the University of New Hampshire's Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics.