Background Spiritual intelligence (SQ) – ‘The intelligence with which we address and solve problems of meaning and value’ (Zohar & Marshall. Spiritual Intelligence: the ultimate intelligence. 2000).There is a growing awareness in the commercial world of the benefits of a spiritually intelligent workforce, and a number of training courses are now available. However, in a hospice setting SQ has yet to gain a wide understanding. Such an understanding can be useful in developing the healthcare workforce (Price. Nurs Manage. 2008; 15(5): 28–33), help clinicians deliver good spiritual care (Karimi-Moonaghi, Gazerani, Vaghee et al. Iran J Nurs Midwifery Res. 2015;20(6):665–9), and enable leaders to take a soul-centred approach to their work, functioning from a sense of inner peace (Wright. Nurs Stand. 2012; 26(41):18–20). SQ has been shown to improve the efficiency of organisations and it is thought that, within a hospice, it has the potential to help the workforce focus on a shared purpose, bridge the clinical/non-clinical divide, improve job satisfaction (Heydari, Meshkinyazd, Soudmand. Iran J Psychiatry. 2017;12(2):128–133) and make burnout less likely (Khosravi, Nikmanesh. Iran J Psychiatry Behav Sci. 2014;8(4):52–6). Spiritual Intelligence could be seen as a reimagining for the twenty-first century of the spiritual roots of the hospice movement.

Aim To raise awareness of SQ and to grow a more spiritually intelligent workforce within a hospice setting.

Methods We have built the concept of SQ into our spiritual care training of staff and volunteers.

The Head of Spiritual Care uses the concept in inductions for staff.

Conclusions SQ has proved to be extremely helpful in explaining what spiritual care is, a notoriously difficult thing to define. Clinicians have grown in confidence in delivering spiritual care and in understanding distinctions between different support services. Referrals to the Spiritual Care Team come more regularly from those who have been exposed to the concept of SQ. SQ as a working model has improved the job satisfaction of the Spiritual Care Team enabling them to have more clarity about what they do.