Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the possibility of developing emotional intelligence (EI) as conceptualized in Boyatzis et al.'s competency model. Design/methodology/approach: Designing a context-based EI training program, the study utilized a sample of 68 fully-employed members of five branches of a public bank in Iran; each branch underwent an eight-week (each session 120 minutes) EI training program. Pre- and post-tests were conducted to assess EI development using emotional competence inventory (ECI-2), a 360-degree measurement tool. Findings: Only one EI cluster out of four improved significantly and only some of the specific dimensions showed this significant improvement, while others did not have a clear change and even some self assessments deteriorated. Research limitations/implications: Lack of a control group, small sample size, and short training program are the main limitations of this study. Practical implications: Detailed explanation of the method could be a guide for service organizations that wish to improve EI. Originality/value: Because of the lack of empirical studies in this field of research, the paper reports the results of a pre-/post-study on EI training and development and sets out to add to this narrow literature. (Contains 1 table.)