Foundation inEmotional Intelligence
Discover the impact of emotional intelligence on your decision-making, relationships, and performance. A comprehensive, accredited programme with globally recognised certification.
Emotional intelligence is not about feeling good.
It is about understanding yourself and others well enough to make things better.
Build the emotional intelligence foundations that improve every decision, relationship, and performance outcome
Emotional intelligence helps you combine thought and feeling to build relationships and make authentic decisions. Unlike IQ, it can be developed at any stage of life and career. Research consistently shows that emotional intelligence and IQ are unconnected, meaning anyone can build and improve it.
This course introduces practical ways emotional intelligence can be used at work. It explains what emotional intelligence is and is not, explores the key models, and tests your own emotional intelligence. You will learn the benefits and limitations of emotional intelligence and discover common mistakes to avoid.
The course is ideal for professionals, managers, leaders, and anyone interested in personal growth. You will need an open mind, a willingness to learn, and a commitment to developing emotional awareness.
Since 1947, The Institute of Leadership has been at the forefront of leadership research and development, dedicated to raising standards and helping people grow. Their Institute Approved accreditation is awarded only to programmes that demonstrate a clear learning purpose, improved leadership practice, and consistently high development standards.
Your enrolment includes your first year's Student Membership of The Institute of Leadership at no additional cost. On successful completion of the course, you will receive a recognised certificate from The Institute of Leadership alongside your Ei4Change certificate, recognised across 50,000+ members in leadership roles worldwide.
What you will learn
Recognise the importance of understanding the emotions that you experience and their impact on others.
Discover how to improve your relationships and performance by gaining insights into the emotions of other people.
State what actions you can take to work with emotional intelligence in real situations.
Examine how to practise and develop emotional intelligence as an ongoing professional skill.
Identify why you react to situations with a focus on how your feelings and emotions impact your performance.
Describe simple, practical solutions for improving emotional intelligence and applying them in everyday life.
What you will study
Tools that make your learning personal
Most online courses contain videos and quizzes.
This course gives you 7 interactive tools and resources, developed exclusively for Ei4Change learners.
Here are two examples of what you will find inside.
Assessing your Emotional Intelligence
A structured assessment that helps you examine how you use your emotional intelligence in practice, combining your own perspective with feedback from someone who knows you well.
- Explores key areas of emotional intelligence through self-rating and external feedback
- Highlights differences between how you see yourself and how others experience you
- Encourages discussion, reflection, and practical insight rather than fixed scoring
- Used at the start of the course and revisited to track changes over time
- Helps you identify where focused effort will lead to meaningful improvement
The Emotionally Unintelligent Leader
An insightful exploration of what low emotional intelligence looks like in leadership, helping you recognise the patterns, understand their impact, and identify a more effective path forward.
- Examines the behaviours and patterns that characterise emotionally unintelligent leadership in practice
- Helps you recognise these patterns in yourself and in the leaders around you
- Explores the real impact of low emotional intelligence on teams, relationships, and performance
- Reframes each pattern as a development opportunity, pointing the way toward more emotionally intelligent leadership
Built for real learning, not just completion.
Every element of this course is designed to move you forward.
Content, tools, and resources that meet you where you are and take you further.
HD video lessons
All video content professionally produced and recorded in HD 1080p
7 interactive tools
Exclusive tools and resources built for Ei4Change learners
Knowledge checks
Interactive quizzes to consolidate and test your understanding
Practical activities
Structured exercises that embed your learning in real situations
Ei4Change Certificate
Shareable certificate of completion from Ei4Change
30 day guarantee
Full refund if you are not completely satisfied, no questions asked
Lifetime access
Return to the course whenever you need it, with free updates included
IoL Student Membership
First year's membership of The Institute of Leadership included
Lightbulb Moments Cards
Beautifully designed summary cards capturing key insights from each course. Print them, keep them on your desk, and refer back to them whenever you need a reminder of what you have learned. Learners report that these are among the most useful resources in the course.
Globally recognised accreditation.
On successful completion of the course, you will receive a certificate from The Institute of Leadership alongside your Ei4Change certificate. Your enrolment also includes your first year's Student Membership, giving you access to:
- MyLeadership+, the Institute's eLearning platform for building leadership skills
- EDGE, the Institute's quarterly digital magazine featuring global thought leaders
- Expert-led events and webinars for networking and professional development
- A global community of over 50,000 members in leadership roles worldwide
This course is one of three approved by The Institute of Leadership. Discover which level is right for you.
Explore the full Institute of Leadership seriesWhat learners say
Robin Hills is the founder of Ei4Change and a recognised authority in emotional intelligence, with more than 45 years of experience as a business psychologist, trainer, and facilitator.
Emotional intelligence is not one topic among many in his work. It is the central focus. His teaching is built on a clear principle: emotional intelligence only matters when it is applied in real situations that shape decisions, relationships, and performance.
Through Ei4Change, Robin has developed one of the most established global platforms for emotional intelligence learning and development. His courses have reached over 600,000 learners across more than 200 countries, spanning a wide range of roles, industries, and levels of experience.
His approach is grounded in psychological research and informed by practical experience. Rather than offering quick fixes or surface level insight, he focuses on helping people think clearly under pressure, handle difficult situations, and make better decisions in the moment.
Robin's work reflects the reality that emotional intelligence is not about feeling good. It is about understanding what is happening within yourself and with others, and responding in a way that improves outcomes.
Ready to build the emotional intelligence
that transforms how you lead, relate, and perform?
Join learners who are using the Foundation in Emotional Intelligence to develop a skill that improves every aspect of their personal and professional life, with globally recognised certification included.
Enrol in Foundation in Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence