Mentoring for Minds: Can We Teach Leaders Emotional Intelligence?

Prummer, K., Human-Vogel, S., Graham, M. A., & Pittich, D. (2024). The role of mentoring in developing leaders’ emotional intelligence: Exploring mentoring types, emotional intelligence, organizational factors, and gender. Frontiers in Education, 9, 1393660. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1393660

Introduction

Prummer and colleagues (2024) examined how mentoring contributes to the development of emotional intelligence (EI) among vocational education and training (VET) leaders in South Africa. Emotional competencies such as awareness, regulation, empathy, and resilience are essential to 21st-century leadership. While previous research has linked EI to effective leadership and well-being, less is known about how EI develops. The authors explored whether structured mentoring could enhance EI in educational leaders and how gender, occupational role, and organizational context might influence this relationship.

Methods

A quantitative, between-groups design compared 48 mentored leaders with 91 non-mentored leaders and lecturers. Participants completed the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SREIT), validated for the South African VET context. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed six EI factors: social engagement, empathy difficulty, resilience, emotional perceptiveness, emotional regulation, and trustworthy visionary. Additional analyses examined mentoring type effectiveness, mediation by perceived importance of EI, and moderation by gender.

Results

Peer group mentoring emerged as the strongest driver of EI development, outperforming both individual and key performance area mentoring. The mentored group showed significantly lower empathy difficulty—indicating stronger empathy—than non-mentored participants. Leaders’ perceptions of EI’s importance for their job, organization, and sector mediated five of six EI factors. Gender moderated these effects: men scored higher on trustworthy visionary and empathy measures.

Discussion

Findings highlight mentoring, particularly peer-based formats, as a promising mechanism for cultivating leaders’ emotional competencies. Mentoring’s relational and reflective structure appears to promote empathy and resilience—key traits for effective leadership and well-being. The results challenge gender stereotypes in EI and underscore how organizational context shapes emotional development.

Implications for Mentoring Programs

Programs should prioritize peer mentoring as a means to foster collective learning, emotional awareness, and organizational well-being. Embedding emotional competence development in mentoring structures can prepare leaders to navigate complex educational environments with empathy and adaptability.

Read the full paper here.