As organizations grapple with declining employee engagement, burnout, and leadership challenges, emotional intelligence (EQ) is gaining renewed attention as a core workplace capability. Core Factors has introduced updated editions of three emotional intelligence guides designed for coaches, HR professionals, and learning and development (L&D) teams, offering structured resources to support leadership development, employee wellbeing, and workplace communication.
Employee engagement, leadership effectiveness, and workplace wellbeing have become closely interconnected priorities for organizations navigating rapid workforce transformation. While businesses continue investing in AI-powered HR platforms and workforce analytics, many experts argue that human-centered skills such as emotional intelligence remain essential for building resilient teams and effective leaders.
Reflecting this trend, Core Factors has released updated 2026 editions of three emotional intelligence booklets aimed at HR professionals, executive coaches, and learning and development (L&D) practitioners. The publications—Understanding Emotions: Making Emotions Work for You, Emotions and Health: Turning Emotional Awareness into Healthier Choices, and Emotions and Leadership: How Leaders Turn Emotional Information into Trust and Commitment—are authored by Roger R. Pearman, Ed.D., an emotional intelligence researcher and developer of the Core Factors EQ Accelerator.
The revised titles, published as part of the company’s Portable People Skills® series, build on editions first introduced in 2015 and are intended for use in leadership workshops, coaching engagements, team development sessions, and self-directed learning.
The release comes amid growing concern about workforce engagement and organizational resilience. According to Gallup, global employee engagement declined to 20% in 2025, its lowest level since 2020, while manager engagement fell significantly over the previous three years. Gallup estimates that low employee engagement costs the global economy approximately $10 trillion annually, or about 9% of global GDP, through lost productivity.
Additional research referenced by Core Factors suggests emotional wellbeing may also be deteriorating. A global study involving approximately 28,000 adults across 166 countries reported a 5.79% decline in emotional intelligence scores between 2019 and 2024, describing the trend as an “emotional recession” linked to burnout, resilience challenges, and employee retention.
Rather than positioning emotional intelligence as an innate personality trait, the three guides approach EQ as a set of practical skills that can be developed through reflection, structured practice, and workplace application.
The foundational guide, Understanding Emotions, focuses on helping individuals recognize emotional signals, interpret their meaning, and apply emotional awareness during difficult conversations, decision-making, and everyday workplace interactions. The publication encourages readers to develop consistent practices for managing emotional responses while strengthening interpersonal relationships both professionally and personally.
The second title, Emotions and Health, explores the relationship between emotions and physical wellbeing. It examines how emotional responses trigger physiological reactions that influence stress, recovery, and long-term health, while encouraging readers to build sustainable habits that support resilience during periods of high workload and organizational change.
The third booklet, Emotions and Leadership, addresses emotional intelligence from a leadership perspective, emphasizing trust, communication, feedback, and employee commitment. The guide highlights how leaders interpret emotional cues and shape workplace culture through everyday interactions, positioning emotional awareness as a key leadership competency rather than a soft skill.
Collectively, the resources reflect a broader evolution in leadership development. Modern organizations increasingly complement technical training with programs focused on communication, empathy, resilience, coaching, and emotional awareness. As hybrid work, distributed teams, and AI-assisted workflows reshape organizational dynamics, many HR leaders are placing greater emphasis on interpersonal capabilities that strengthen collaboration and employee engagement.
Enterprise HR technology providers including Microsoft, Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle, Salesforce, and Google Cloud continue integrating AI into talent management, employee listening, learning, and workforce analytics platforms. While these technologies improve visibility into workforce trends, leadership experts increasingly argue that interpreting employee sentiment and building trust still depends heavily on human leadership capabilities.
Research from Gartner identifies leadership development and manager effectiveness among the highest priorities for HR executives, while McKinsey & Company continues to highlight coaching, adaptability, and organizational resilience as critical capabilities for navigating workplace transformation. These findings have contributed to growing demand for practical learning resources that support continuous leadership development between formal training programs.
Core Factors positions the booklets as flexible resources that can be used independently or alongside coaching and workshop programs. Each guide concludes with structured reflection exercises intended to encourage discussion, reinforce learning, and provide practical application over time. The company also offers readers a discounted introduction to its EQ Accelerator assessment, which evaluates interpersonal competencies and provides personalized development recommendations.
For HR teams and L&D professionals, the release reflects an ongoing shift toward continuous learning rather than one-time training events. Organizations increasingly seek scalable learning materials that establish a consistent leadership vocabulary across coaching engagements, workshops, and enterprise development programs while supporting measurable improvements in communication, employee engagement, and leadership effectiveness.
As businesses continue balancing technological transformation with workforce wellbeing, emotional intelligence is emerging as a complementary capability that helps organizations translate data-driven workforce insights into stronger leadership behaviors and healthier workplace cultures.
Market Landscape
The leadership development market is increasingly blending AI-powered workforce analytics with human-centered learning focused on emotional intelligence, coaching, and resilience. Organizations are investing in employee listening platforms, digital learning systems, leadership coaching, and wellbeing initiatives to improve engagement and manager effectiveness. As AI automates administrative work, interpersonal capabilities such as communication, empathy, trust-building, and emotional awareness are becoming increasingly valuable across enterprise leadership programs.
Top Insights
- Core Factors has released updated emotional intelligence guides designed for HR professionals, executive coaches, and learning and development teams.
- The publications focus on emotional awareness, leadership effectiveness, workplace wellbeing, and practical emotional intelligence development.
- Gallup research continues to link declining employee engagement with significant productivity losses and increased organizational challenges.
- Emotional intelligence training is increasingly complementing AI-powered HR technologies as organizations strengthen leadership development strategies.
- Structured coaching resources help organizations create consistent leadership practices while supporting communication, resilience, and employee engagement.
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