Introduction
To work with patients in the healthcare environment successfully, it is essential to be aware of the features of such a concept as emotional intelligence. This term implies the ability to recognize people’s reactions to certain situations guided by the observation of facial expressions, gestures, and other manifestations of feelings. This practice may allow maintaining close contact with patients and understand what this or that person experiences. Moreover, the theory of emotional intelligence can be a valuable mechanism for the formation of leadership skills that are necessary for the team. This concept is the means of achieving recognition among colleagues and patients, and its opportunities open up broad prospects for the development of important communication attainments.
Influence of Personal Emotional Intelligence Level
Effective leadership is the ability to assess the state of things in a team adequately and make competent personnel and strategic decisions that can positively influence the interests of a particular organization. When speaking about the healthcare sphere, it is essential to pay attention to those unique features that are typical for this area, in particular, the importance of communication among employees, increased attention to errors, and other manifestations of cautious work. The personal level of emotional intelligence is the indicator that can form an individual as a good or, conversely, bad interlocutor.
Communication with colleagues is often not only professional but also emotional since some people need open and frank dialogues. According to Tyczkowski et al. (2015), “less than 12.5% of nurses aspire to leadership roles, noting lack of support and stress as major factors in their decision not to pursue this area of practice” (p. 172). However, despite such statistics, the skills of emotional intelligence may help to win respect in the team because the correct interpretation of the interlocutor’s behavior can be unknowingly perceived as the ability to understand important issues well. As Spano-Szekely, Griffin, Clavelle, and Fitzpatrick (2016) argue, there is a direct relationship between psychological contacts among people and the opportunities that emotional intelligence gives. Therefore, if this concept is properly implemented in practice, it will help not to hinder but, on the contrary, enhance effective leadership in the healthcare environment through close contact among employees.
Quiz Results Discussion
When analyzing the results of the quiz passed, I can note that my level of emotional intelligence is not perfect since I have made several mistakes. Even though I answered most of the variants correctly, I did not manage to recognize some similar emotions like embarrassment, shame, sadness, and compassion. Nevertheless, improving such skills constantly and communicating with people regularly may certainly help to achieve better results. This quiz is quite fascinating for me and, at the same time, is a useful tool to test my degree of emotional intelligence and to assess how well I understand interlocutors’ facial expressions.
Conclusion
The concept of emotional intelligence may be a good tool to maintain communication with colleagues and patients in the healthcare environment and, at the same time, enhance personal leadership qualities. An opportunity to interpret the emotions and feelings of interlocutors correctly opens up wide prospects and allows gaining credibility through the correct assessment of working situations. The quiz passed is an interesting and valuable tool that helps to assess the personal level of emotional intelligence and determine which particular feelings are the most difficult to recognize.
References
Spano-Szekely, L., Griffin, M. T. Q., Clavelle, J., & Fitzpatrick, J. J. (2016). Emotional intelligence and transformational leadership in nurse managers. Journal of Nursing Administration, 46(2), 101-108. Web.
Tyczkowski, B., Vandenhouten, C., Reilly, J., Bansal, G., Kubsch, S. M., & Jakkola, R. (2015). Emotional intelligence (EI) and nursing leadership styles among nurse managers. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 39(2), 172-180. Web.