The Quiet Killer of Team CultureRecognizing Low Emotional Intelligence Before It Damages Your Team
Find highlights in DE and EN at the end
Welcome to your fresh DesignChange edition, delivered every 2nd Tuesday at 8am.
Many of you worked with me years ago on stress management, strategic awareness, or team dynamics. You built new skills. You created change.
What’s different now?
Perhaps those challenges have evolved. Or maybe you’re facing something entirely new: a difficult team member, a cultural shift, an emotional dynamic you can’t quite name.
Today, I want to talk about something I see often in coaching conversations. Something that damages teams quietly, slowly, and almost invisibly.
🌿 The Silent Saboteur
When people can’t understand feelings, they eventually stop understanding each other.
Low emotional intelligence doesn’t announce itself. It shows up as:
- Meetings that feel tense
- Teams that function but don’t connect
- Leaders who deliver results but lose people
The damage accumulates until one day, your best performers are updating their CVs.
💡 LeadershipLab Tip: 5 Signs of Low EQ
Based on the 12 indicators of low emotional intelligence, here are the five I see most often:
- Defensiveness disguised as explanation Feedback arrives. The response is “let me explain why …” instead of “tell me more.”
- Control masquerading as high standards Delegation happens, but trust doesn’t. Every detail needs review.
- Overpoliteness replacing authenticity. Everyone is “fine.” Every meeting is “productive.” Real concerns stay unspoken.
- Escape into expertise When emotions surface, the conversation shifts to data, processes, systems.
- Missing curiosity Team members’ motivations and concerns remain unexplored. Assumptions replace questions.
Your 3-minute practice:
Before your next team interaction, ask yourself:
- What feeling might be underneath this person’s words?
- What am I avoiding by staying stoically logical?
- What would change if I showed genuine interest instead of offering solutions?
🌿 The Connection: When Hurry Kills Emotional Intelligence
Low EQ can come from overwhelm and hurry. When people are rushing from meeting to meeting, it’s hard to access emotional awareness. Your nervous system is hyped up and you’re often in survival mode. So, what’s the solution when there is so much to do?
One Rewind Practice: Build in Buffer Time
Before your next meeting, give yourself 5 minutes of nothing. No phone. No prep. Just a short stare into transition space ;)
This isn’t wasted time. It’s where emotional intelligence lives. Where you can start to feel focussed and sense what’s happening beneath the surface. Where you remember to ask yourself questions and listen instead of only “reacting” fast.
🤖 MirandAI: Between-Session Support
It’s not a secret: Personal development happens between coaching sessions, not just during them. That’s one principle driving MirandAI, my hybrid AI coaching tool now in beta testing.
MirandAI extends human coaching expertise into everyday moments of reflection and practice. It’s designed for continuity, personalization, and ethical awareness using German-built, modular AI infrastructure.
One beta tester shared that after learning how to engage with MirandAI, he discovered a novel solution to his challenge that he hadn’t considered before. The bot didn’t give him the answer. It prompted to find it himself.
🎉 Speaking of Engagement …
I just returned from the ICF (International Coaching Federation) conference in Stuttgart, themed “Celebrate Good Times.” What a gift to reconnect with coaching colleagues face-to-face!
In challenging economic times, celebration isn’t trivial. It’s necessary. It reminds us we’re social beings who thrive and need real joyful connection with other humans.
So here’s my question for you: What are YOU doing now to celebrate good times?🎊
Book a free “alumni” coaching consultation here.
Thank you for reading!
Best wishes,
Karla Schlaepfer and the ⚡ DesignChange team
DesignChange Highlights
- 5 EQ Blindspots: Signs of low emotional intelligence that leaders often miss in themselves and teams
- Hurry Kills EQ: How overwhelm and rushing prevent emotional awareness
- Rewind Practice: Build buffer time between meetings to restore emotional presence
- MirandAI Beta: Extending coaching expertise into everyday moments, with positive early tester feedback
- Alumni Check-In: What’s your biggest leadership challenge right now?
- Celebrate Good Times: Reflections from ICF Stuttgart conference on finding joy in challenging times
- Core Coaching: Stress management, strategic awareness, team effectiveness, emotional intelligence
NEU! DesignChange Highlights auf Deutsch
- 5 EQ-Blindflecken: Anzeichen niedriger emotionaler Intelligenz, die Führungskräfte oft übersehen
- Eile tötet EQ: Wie Überforderung und Hektik emotionales Bewusstsein verhindern
- Rewind-Übung: Pufferzeit zwischen Meetings schaffen, um emotionale Präsenz wiederherzustellen
- MirandAI Beta: Coaching-Expertise in alltägliche Momente erweitern, positive frühe Tester-Rückmeldungen
- Alumni-Check-in: Was ist Ihre größte Führungsherausforderung?
- Celebrate Good Times: Reflexionen von der ICF-Konferenz Stuttgart über Freude in herausfordernden Zeiten
- Kern-Coaching: Stressmanagement, strategisches Bewusstsein, Teameffektivität, emotionale Intelligenz
Creating space for emotional intelligence isn’t optional. It’s how you stay human while leading.