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Hone your emotional intelligence and leadership

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, January 5, 2010

Many of us set New Year resolutions, most of them personal goals. Now would be the perfect time to list your professional goals for 2010.

One of the most important leadership qualities is what psychologist Daniel Goleman calls emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is loosely defined as the subjugation and channeling of irrational and emotional energy to rational, sensitive, relationship-building purposes. The five incremental elements of emotional intelligence are:

• Self-awareness
• Self-regulation
• Motivation
• Empathy
• Social skill

Clearly, leading a group of physicians who are trained to function independently—in a healthcare environment of perpetual stress, pressure, and financial frustration—requires that leaders have a healthy dose of emotional intelligence.

Related to this concept is what Goleman refers to as a primal leadership, or the realization that leaders’ moods and behaviors drive the moods and behaviors of everyone else in an organization. A difficult and moody boss creates a toxic organization filled with negative underachievers who ignore opportunities and are more likely to pursue positions elsewhere. On the other hand, an inspirational, optimistic, and steady-state leader generates followers for whom challenges are relished and viewed as surmountable.

The above excerpt is adapted from The Hospitalist Program Management Guide, Second Edition, by Kenneth G. Simone, DO, and Jeffrey R. Dichter, MD, FACP, published by HCPro, Inc., Marblehead, MA.

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