The Love Language of Leadership: Building Loyal Teams in 2025 In 2025, emotionally intelligent leaders who understand and apply love languages can build stronger, more engaged teams by personalizing recognition and fostering deeper connections.

Navigating the constantly shifting landscape of modern business, leaders are finding themselves having to be agile, present, and find time to pause amid the volatility. Amongst this, certain leaders have recognised just how valuable emotional intelligence is, and how it can be pivotal in cultivating the interpersonal connections that forge teams together. In this ever-evolving world we find ourselves in, applying the concept of love languages into leadership may be the key to fostering cultures where teams are engaged, aligned and collaborative.

Where emotional intelligence and love languages collide
Emotional intelligence, sometimes referred to as EI, has been an increasing topic of discussion in the corporate world, especially over the decade. With an increasing focus on areas including employee experience, talent acquisition and workplace wellbeing, leaders have become more aware of how EI intersects significantly with a range of business functions and outcomes. When leaders are better equipped to navigate their own emotions and become more aware and connected to the emotions of those they work with, the potential for engaged and loyal teams increases. With the speed of technological advancement increasing, these skills are becoming increasingly valuable.

The theory of love languages, originally developed through a personal lens by Dr Gary Chapman, can be adapted and applied in a workplace context. When people hear love and workplace in the same sentence, minds often race to office romances and the complexities that come with them. What does love have to do with work? Well, love languages in the workplace is more associated with languages of appreciation, and our ability to understand and flex how we communicate with our team. This personalisation of feedback, appreciation and support can increase connection and make employees feel like their preferences are being considered, which has wide-ranging benefits for teams.

With this in mind, what are the different elements of love languages and what do these look like? Let me share five insights with you:

• Words of affirmation: The language of providing appreciative feedback, encouragement and recognition. Leaders who apply this ensure they verbally acknowledge their teams efforts, achievements and learnings, both in collective settings and one to one. This is done in a sincere way, considering the individual and recognises their specific input.
• Acts of Service: Some employees resonate more with actions. While they may find value in words of appreciation, they desire tangible recognition and support they can see, whether that be practical help like assistance with a challenging task or physical feedback such as a handwritten note.
• Quality time: This language is focused on undivided attention and being physically there with someone. In a hybrid world, where capacity can be challenging and facetime limited, this can feel almost impossible. But don't despair, because quality time is just that. Make the time you have quality by being present in the conversation you have. Actively listen to your teams ideas and ensure they know you are hearing them. Engage in meaningful conversations with your team, and use the small windows of opportunity to get to know them.
• Tangible Gifts: While on the surface, this can sound rather inappropriate for a workplace, we have to remember that small tokens of appreciation can be powerful. Lavishing gifts on employees isn't recommended, but what we do suggest you consider is how you give these small tokens to your team. This could be something physical on their work anniversary or birthday, a monetary bonus or a card for a religious holiday they celebrate. It could be a professional development opportunity such as training or attending an event. It could be as simple as bringing them their favourite warm drink, and the fact you both thought of them and knew what drink to choose. It's so often the little tokens of appreciation that mean the most.
• Physical touch: In my work on male allyship, I'm often looking at when touch is used inappropriately in the workplace. But flipping that, when we consider how tactile our colleagues are, we know whether someone is a hugger, a handshaker or a smile type of person. And when we honour these personal boundaries and preferences, people feel respected and catered too.

Making love languages in leadership happen
There are numerous things to consider when thinking about how we implement love languages into our leadership. Firstly, we need to reflect and identify individuals' preferences for receiving appreciation and support. Past reactions will hold clues, and talking with your team will help validate any assumptions. With this knowledge, you can now diversify your approach, mixing and matching different love languages to ensure you are resonating with all team members, and not falling into your own preference by default.

You can role model your own preferences and be open about them, giving permission for others to share and cultivating increased mutual understanding across the whole team. Consider taking this further by bringing this to life through training, where employees can learn about their love languages and emotional intelligence, and see how to apply this to colleagues. Finally, it's important to remember that preferences can change over time and when people's circumstances evolve, so it's always valuable to stay aware and keep in touch with your team's lives.

The future of leadership
Bringing love languages into leadership can have a tangible impact on workplace culture and employee retention. When employees feel valued and understood, especially in a challenging climate, engagement and loyalty rises. While some leaders feel uncomfortable about bring love into the workplace, it's important to remember that this about professional appreciation, not personal affection. The aim is to create a more compassionate and understanding way of working, not to blur professional boundaries.

It takes time to understand these personal preferences and nuances, but it is well worth the initial investment, and in the future, this personalisation will become even more desired in leaders. The future of leadership, in a world of complexity and uncertainty, is emotionally intelligent, personalised and deeply human. Are you ready to speak the love language of your team?