In a recent LinkedIn poll, we asked local government leaders if their teams’ emotional intelligence was above average, average or below average. The results were not surprising in that most people rated their team below average or average. 

So, what does it take to increase and develop emotional awareness on a team? Developing emotional intelligence in an organization can have numerous benefits, including improved communication, increased teamwork, and better conflict resolution. 

Here are some ways to grow emotional intelligence in your local government:

• Invest in training and coaching: Employees can benefit from workshops, seminars, and coaching sessions on emotional intelligence. These programs can help them develop self-awareness, empathy, and effective communication skills. 
• Lead by example: Leaders play a crucial role in fostering emotional intelligence in their organizations. By modeling behaviors such as active listening, compassion, and empathy,...

All great organizations have one thing in common... they hire smart, good-fit candidates onto their teams.  While easily said, hiring can be a stressful and challenging.   In this LeaderGov blog we'd like to share six ideas to help you supercharge your hiring processes.

1. Hiring Process Input - Do you have a team of people interview each of your final 2-3 candidates or do one or two people do all the interviewing?  We'd recommend that you have up to 5-7 people interview the final 2-3 candidates so you get a well-rounded view of the person.  Making those interviews 1-on-1 also allows each person to get to know the candidates in a more informal setting versus a large room with five people interviewing one person at the same time.  Talk about stress!
2. Reference Checks - Although this is a basic idea, we usually see that these calls are to mainly check on skills.  We want to encourage you to probe not only for skill...