Leaders, if you want employees who will adapt to disruption, not cause adverse disruption, you’ve got to start upskilling your workforce more quickly in soft skills, especially emotional intelligence. Right now we have too many adult workers creating chaos. Many of them probably haven’t had much (or any) formal education in emotional intelligence. EI training helps individuals become more self aware, learn how to manage their emotions better and show  empathy for others.

Why upskilling now? For several years, organizations have realized the value of workers having more effective soft skills. Workers with higher emotional intelligence are better able to regulate themselves, collaborate with others, and think more critically. These skills are highly valuable in a work world with greater staff diversity and more uncertainty, complexity, and disruption.

New hires right out of school who have learned SEL (social emotional learning) skills as part of their regular schoolwork are starting to join the workforce. This means we’ll have a growing skills gap as pre-K through high school students with SEL skills enter the workforce and encounter work colleagues who don’t practice these skills at the same level.

These young people may have empathy for their elders but it’s unfair to ask the younger generation to take all the responsibility for training older adults in emotional intelligence. And what about the adults who don’t yet believe in the business case for SEL-type skills? Talk about work conflicts!

In this Forbes Coaches Council article, Want to see emotional intelligence at work? Students can lead the way, I share the challenges I’m experiencing in this area as well as suggestions on how to address them. And yes, I’m ringing an alarm bell.