HMN 2026: How Proactive employees with high emotional intelligence do a better job

In many organizations, large hierarchical gaps exist within work teams, raising the question of how frontline employees can strive for upward mobility in their careers. A recent study by the Department of Psychology at Lingnan University finds that employees who proactively seek opportunities, are willing to learn and, at the same time, have higher emotional intelligence carry out their jobs far better and are more engaged.

The research team explains that this helps them create more favorable conditions for long-term career development in complex workplace environments. These findings have been published in the Journal of Business and Psychology.

A joint research team formed by Prof. Wang Huatian, research assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Lingnan University and the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, conducted a study from September 2020 to December 2022 in hospitals.

Over a continuous period of four weeks, the study involved a total of 368 medical employees, including registered doctors, nurses and administrative employees, across 42 different departments in three public hospitals in Shandong Province, China. The participants had an average age of 34.9 years and an average job tenure of 9.7 years.

Each week, they were asked to complete rating forms recording their own work performance, including whether they had engaged in proactive behaviors, their level of work engagement and self-rated performance.

The team divided the sample into two groups: high-ranking and low-ranking employees. They then used objective indicators such as the participants’ actual years of service and income to analyze the diversity of social status in the working groups.

Findings showed that in work teams with clear disparities in seniority and income, junior employees who proactively sought guidance, advice and opportunities from senior colleagues or supervisors demonstrated much higher job performance and engagement. In contrast, this result was not as strong among higher-ranking employees.

Furthermore, employees with higher emotional intelligence (EI), such as the ability to read social cues, understand others’ emotions, judge appropriate timing for communication and express themselves in a suitable manner with careful wording to avoid misunderstandings and conflict, were more successful in securing the resources they were looking for.

Wang explained, “In the context of cross-team collaboration within the workplace, although junior employees may find themselves at a disadvantage, often lacking influence and resources, they can turn this around by leveraging strong emotional intelligence and proactively creating opportunities (i.e. job crafting).

“By reframing the hierarchical gap with senior colleagues as a resource for learning, they can accelerate their growth, accumulate work experience more rapidly and expand their professional networks. This can enhance their visibility and value within the team, paving the way for more favorable conditions in their future career development.”

He added, “Although this study was conducted in a health care setting, the analytical results provide valuable insights applicable to various workplace environments. Taking Hong Kong as an example, its work culture is generally characterized by distinct hierarchies, diverse team backgrounds and a strong emphasis on operational efficiency, commonly seen in large corporations, public institutions, financial services and professional service industries.

“Many employees in these sectors also face intense internal competition, which poses even greater challenges for junior or early-career staff. Therefore, proactively seeking guidance, actively acquiring new knowledge and skills, and cultivating the ability to understand others’ emotions can help employees accumulate experience more effectively, create broader development opportunities, foster stronger synergies and achieve sustained growth in a diverse and inclusive workplace.”

Wang suggests that enterprise managers should encourage junior employees to seek advice and that EI training could be incorporated into team development programs to strengthen employees’ social and adaptive skills.

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