Emotional Intelligence:

Aligning Intent & Impact

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My Assumptions

Physicians are leaders

Practicing medicine is different than studying it

You accept that you need other humans in order to achieve your professional goals

Humans have the ability to change thoughts and behavior

» Their own

» Those of others

Industry change is occurring at an unprecedented speed and amount

“Physician leaders are working in rapidly evolving systems and must respond to increasing and changing

demands. Emotional Intelligence correlates significantly and positively

with job performance beyond that which can be explained by cognitive ability and other personality factors.”

(Monroe & English, 2013)

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional Intelligence is not about being nice all the time—it is about being honest.

Emotional Intelligence is not ‘touchy feely’—it is about being aware of your own feelings and the feelings of others.

Emotional Intelligence is not about being emotional—it is about being smart with your emotions.

“We are being judged by a new yardstick; not just how smart we are, or by our

training and expertise, but also how well we handle ourselves and each other.”

--Daniel Goleman, Ph.D.

How’s your day?

What do you notice about differences between ‘good’ days and ‘bad’ days?

Elements of Good Days

Compassion—Genuine connection with others

Capacity—The ability to manage the planned and the unexpected

Clarity—Of goals & direction

Compassion

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A Physician’s Impact

Being ‘on stage’

Having the loudest voice

Setting a tone

Changing a mood

Creating ‘truths’

Modeling what is acceptable

Mood Contagion

Unintentional imitation of mood behavior

Induces mood state

Induces behavioral congruence

The person with the most power sets the tone

(Neumann & Strack, 2000)

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

IQ and technical skills are considered ‘threshold capabilities’— they are entry level requirements, or “what helps you get the job”

EI is proving to be the strongest indicator of success in the work world – contributing to leadership success as much as 85-90%

*Nadler, Reldan S., Leading with Emotional Intelligence

PERSONAL

COMPETENCE

Self

Awareness Self Management

SOCIAL

COMPETENCE

Social

Awareness

Relationship

Management

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

Learning Emotions

Growing up

Medical school

Practice

Life events

Emotional Abundance

Empathy—Creating understanding & support

Humor—Creating space for learning and growth

Courage—Taking risks and sticking with it

Vulnerability—Revealing and making mistakes

Optimism—Encouraging hope & innovation

Emotional Avoidance

Creating distractions- Mindless behaviors, addictions, electronics, crammed schedule

Choosing a default- Anger, joking, sadness, blame

Shutting off- Disconnecting from any emotion

Cultivating Compassion

Perform an emotional check up

Clarify & own your desired impact

Seek feedback

Admit that you’re a leader

Enact forgiveness toward yourself and others

Capacity

Carrying Capacity

Carrying Capacity

The maximum population of a given species that can survive indefinitely in a given environment

Dependent on the conditions and resources available in the specific area, and the consumption habits of the species

Measures sustainability within these changing conditions

Change Capacity

Your ability to sustain a changing environment given the current conditions and resources

» Time, effort, skills, motivation, heartiness, personality, focus

At Risk

One-third to one-half of physicians meet burnout criteria

Physician job dissatisfaction is the most powerful predictor of departure

Work hours or a lack of career fit to one's values, life goals, or passion increases risk of dissatisfaction

1. Shanafelt TD, West CP, Sloan JA, et al. Career fit and burnout among academic faculty. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169:990–995.

2. Shanafelt TD, Boone S, Tan L, et al. Burnout and satisfaction with work-life balance among U.S. physicians relative to the general U.S. population. Arch Intern Med. 2012;172(18):1–9.

At Risk

Physician satisfaction is strongly linked to patient satisfaction as measured through standardized patient satisfaction surveys

Physicians professional fulfillment positively correlated with patient adherence to medication, exercise, and diet regimens

1. Shanafelt TD, West CP, Sloan JA, et al. Career fit and burnout among academic faculty. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169:990–995.

2. Shanafelt TD, Boone S, Tan L, et al. Burnout and satisfaction with work-life balance among U.S. physicians relative to the general U.S. population. Arch Intern Med. 2012;172(18):1–9.

“The capacity of an entity—such as a person, an institution, or a system—

to withstand sudden, unexpected shocks, and (ideally) to be capable of

recovering quickly afterwards. Resilience implies both strength and flexibility; a resilient structure would bend, but would be hard to break.”

—Jamals Cascio

On Resilience

Optimism! Learned helplessness

“We are what we repeatedly do.” --Aristotle

Are you a human being…

Or are you a human doing?

Building Your Capacity

Recognizing what is in and out of your control or influence

Taking care of your basic needs—food, water, shelter

Maintaining energy, optimism and forward movement; don’t dwell

Assessing your will and skill—start small with incremental changes

Clarity

Cultivating Attention

Attention is constantly under assault from internal and external stimuli

Effective leadership is based on knowing what to focus on

Cultivating the ability to harness one’s attention is a differentiator

Focused leaders can command a full range of their own attention

You can’t be mindful if you’re mindfull

Imagine if you could…

Be in touch with your internal world,

Control your impulses,

Be aware of how others see you

Weed out distractions

What would be possible?

The Dangers of Distraction

In 2011, 1.3 million auto accidents in the U.S. involved cell phones – about 23% of all crashes, killing 3,331 people

For drivers 15-19 years old involved in fatal crashes, 21% of the distracted drivers were distracted by the use of cell phones.

Text messaging while driving makes the chance of an accident 23 times more likely.

Sending or receiving a text takes a driver’s eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds; at 55mph, that’s the equivalent of driving the length of an entire football field, blind.

(Disalvo, 2013)

What causes distractions?

Our inability to manage interruptions

24/7 access to technology/each other

Unclear boundaries

Lack of focus on a reasonable number of items/people/tasks

All goals become urgent or emergent

Constantly shifting priorities

An epidemic

Medical errors would rank 5th on the list of top ten causes of death in the US

Lack of effective communication and collaboration as leading contributor to medical errors

A contributing factor to ineffective communication is distractions (speed, multiple priorities, etc.)

(Joint Commission, 2005)

If you don’t know what’s important, how will anyone else?

Barriers to collaboration

Working in silos

Autonomy

Low trust

Poor communication

Power

Unclear roles/responsibilities/accountability

Disruptive behavior

Which best describes you & your team?

Renters Clock

punchers/watchers Use words like ‘they,’

‘them’ and ‘management’

Say ‘that’s not my job’ Meet minimum

standards Expect leaders to fix

things and have all the answers

Owners View work as goal-

based Use words like ‘we’

and ‘us’ Serve as connectors

within the organization and ambassadors of the company

Pursue excellence Develop solutions

Providing Clarity

Ensure priorities are clear on a regular (daily, weekly, monthly) basis

Provide people with a clear path to a brighter future

Make ownership desirable

Model and celebrate the wins

Can EI be learned?

An Equation for Change

Willingness + Ability = Change

A Sucker’s Choice

You don’t have to choose between thinking & feeling

Value both forms of intellect

Learn to integrate and leverage strengths of both

This will just be a little uncomfortable…

Building EI Muscles

Minimize distractions through cultivating mindfulness

Perform a brief emotional check up Check in with others directly and through

observation Air, food, water, shelter Engage optimism Watch yourself from the outside Find an outlet Take accountability Exercise forgiveness & empathy

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The ideal destination…

The ideal destination…

journey

Is not always the ideal

journey…

desintation

desintation

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Thank you!

Lisa Goren lisa@lisagoren.com