Ep.10 Emotional Intelligence: taking responsibility for our emotions

Relationship Matters

22-11-2023 • 50 mins

In this episode, Katie talks with CRR Global faculty members Judy Van Zon and Irith Koster about Emotional Intelligence or EQ and how it can help us take responsibility for our emotions. This conversation touches on a range of topics, including:

  • What is emotional intelligence and why is it so fundamental to the ORSC approach
  • What happens when our EQ is lacking? Or is not balanced with the other intelligences?
  • How to use emotional intelligence to take responsibility for our own emotions
  • The link between EQ and locus of control
  • The benefits of building emotional intelligence in coaching, leadership and life


Irith Koster trained as an organizational psychologist (MA) and specializes in coaching partnerships and teams, and individual leaders. By studying, working, and living in Amsterdam, Jerusalem and Los Angeles, Irith learned to look at situations from multiple perspectives, which added to her drive to help people do the same. Alongside being a Certified Organization and Relationship Systems Coach since 2013 and a front-of-the-room leader for CRR Global, she is an ICF-accredited Professional Certified Coach and a Certified Team Performance Coach by Team Coaching International. She is also a facilitator of the War to Peace Methodology, created by Halcyon Global, and a Co-active Coach and is a lifelong student of the Gremlin Taming Method by Rick Carson. Her secret mission is that the people she works with take these tools and insights home into their families. Irith is based in the Netherlands with her husband and three daughters. She loves to run in the forest of Amsterdam and to read everything she can about human beings and their relationships. She is fluent in Dutch, English and Hebrew.


Judy van Zon has lived and worked in several countries and speaks the language of people who are crossing a border, physically as well as emotionally. In short, she works with people who are going through personal or professional change. One of the things that sets her apart is her inclusion of spirituality to help her clients better connect to their own inner wisdom and power. In her team coaching, Judy believes that working with the ORSC model is a very powerful way to build bridges in relationships. It goes far beyond familiar skills like empathy and active listening. It offers a whole new way of looking at people and how we live and work together. Her focus is on working with corporate leaders and teams. Training others in this allows her to spread this energy throughout the world. For the last 25 years, she has lived and worked in six countries on three continents, the last 3.5 years in India and the region around. She is now back in the Netherlands and, as well as being a senior faculty member, was the former Director of Certification at CRR Global. Judy speaks Dutch, English, German, Spanish, and French.



For over 20 years, CRR Global has accompanied leaders, teams, and practitioners on their journey to build stronger relationships by focusing on the relationship itself, not only the individuals occupying it. This leads to a community of changemakers around the world. Supported by a global network of Faculty and Partners, we connect, inspire, and equip change agents to shift systems, one relationship at a time

We believe Relationship Matters, from humanity to nature, to the larger whole.