A recent study of more than 7,000 educators by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence found that educators who viewed their school leaders as skilled in emotion regulation and providing greater emotional support reported higher personal well-being, according to an essay in Education Week written by Marc Brackett, founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, James Floman, an associate research scientist at the center, and Robin Stern, senior adviser to the director of the center.
How a principal manages emotions—their own and those of their staff—is about being emotionally skillful. Research shows this skill set is a game-changer for teacher retention, job satisfaction, and school sustainability.
When principals struggle to regulate their emotions, their staff struggle. Educators working for school leaders who are emotionally disconnected or unsupportive miss more work, feel less engaged, report more health issues, and are more likely to want to quit.
Emotionally intelligent school leaders—those who regulate their emotions and offer meaningful emotional support—create teams with less emotional exhaustion and more positive emotion, lower intent to leave, and greater job satisfaction, according to the Yale research.
Emotional support can be listening to teachers without judgment, acknowledging the emotional weight of their job, or creating a culture allowing educators and staff to speak honestly because they trust their emotions won’t be used against them.
To train and cultivate emotionally intelligent principals, state and district leaders must:
- Model emotional intelligence at every level: Modeling includes how leaders respond under pressure, how they handle disagreement, and how they repair after conflict. Investing in their own emotional growth shows that emotional intelligence is not just for students or teachers—it’s a leadership imperative.
- Prioritize emotional intelligence in leadership standards: Emotional intelligence should be embedded in the competencies expected from all educational leaders. They should require proficiency in emotion regulation, empathy, and relationship-building.
- Fund evidence-based training: Districts must allocate resources for professional development at all levels that’s grounded in science. This means ongoing training, not one-off workshops, that is scaffolded and builds leaders’ capacity to recognize, understand, and regulate emotions.
- Include emotional intelligence in hiring and evaluation: Emotional intelligence must be a factor in both selecting and assessing school leaders. Interviews should probe for self-awareness and past behavior under stress. Evaluations should go beyond test scores or budgets to measure how leaders foster a positive school climate and respond to emotional needs.
Sustainable schools where both educators and students thrive must invest in emotionally intelligent leadership—through training, funding, and systemic support.
Education Week
