Behavioral Grooves Podcast The Secret Ingredient of High-Performing Teams | Vanessa Druskat
Dec 15, 2025
Vanessa Druskat, a professor specializing in team emotional intelligence and author of The Emotionally Intelligent Team, delves into the power of shared emotional intelligence within teams. She discusses the importance of psychological safety and outlines nine key norms that drive high performance. Leaders can foster collaboration through rituals like story-sharing and learning together. Druskat emphasizes that optimism is crucial for motivation and team dynamics, showing how hope can be a more effective focus than problem-solving in coaching.
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Environment Enables Emotional Intelligence
- Individual emotional intelligence is not enough to make teams perform well.
- Team routines and norms create the environment that lets EI be used.
Institute Simple Team Rituals
- Do create explicit norms like 'no multitasking' and regular story-sharing to build belonging.
- Use short rituals to let people be known and to demonstrate listening and respect.
Manufacturing Study Revealed Massive Gains
- Vanessa studied a North Carolina plant with 300 teams to compare top and average performers.
- The top teams made about $9.8 million more per year through their interaction patterns alone.