Emotional Intelligence

Example 1
Emotional Intelligence is the quiz I am using in this discussion as it aligned with my
expectations, however brought up the areas I need to improve on. I scored 56, which is
categorised as an emotionally intelligent (EI) person. However, this score is on the boundary
between the top and middle categories. I agree with this score as it shows I have the ability
to improve on my EI and through the questions it identified the areas where I know I can
improve on.

EI consists of self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills (Spano-

Szekely et al., 2016). I have done courses through work and personal study to increase my
self-awareness and self-regulation, which is where I scored the highest within the quiz.

I have always known that my attention and listening have been a weakness within my social
skills and require deliberate focus and awareness to be present when I am busy. This area is
what I require the most development in as I see a need to maintain awareness while
assisting junior nurses. It is my role to be conscious of being emotionally intelligent as it is
vital to increase the positivity amongst nursing staff and therefore increasing retention and
nursing resilience (Heckemann et al., 2015).

My role within critical care involves providing leadership and guidance to the nurses on the
floor. At times I get very busy and I lack connection with my EI, and I lose my empathy and
social skills. This is an area I would really like to improve on and develop as it is used with
transformative leadership provides an empowering concept throughout the nursing
staff (Spano-Szekely et al., 2016). A constant theme throughout the literature was the
constant ongoing leadership development and education that is required to constantly
rethink your position and strategy as an effective leader. I think this shows humility and
dedication to your role as a nursing leader (Tyczkowski et al., 2015).

Heckemann, B., Schols, J. M. G. A., & Halfens, R. J. G. (2015). A reflective framework to

foster emotionally intelligent leadership in nursing. Journal of Nursing Management,
23(6), 744-753. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12204

Spano-Szekely, L., Quinn Griffin, M. T., Clavelle, J., & Fitzpatrick, J. J. (2016). Emotional
Intelligence and Transformational Leadership in Nurse Managers. JONA: The Journal
of Nursing Administration, 46(2), 101-
108. https://doi.org/10.1097/nna.0000000000000303
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. https://doi.org/10.1097/naq.0000000000000094

Example 2
I scored 56/75 on the emotional intelligence quiz which illustrated my need to
continue improving and working on myself. Alshammari et al. (2015) identified that leaders
with emotional intelligence positively impact the organization and can manage the
emotions of the people they work with. It has been demonstrated that the emotional
intelligence of a leader enhances their ability to motivate the staff and achieve a better
work environment and better patient outcomes (Majeed & Jamshed, 2020). I have
experienced this in my workplace, with my clinical nurse manager providing exemplary
patient care while remaining available to guide and mentor staff, thus, motivating everyone
to go above and beyond. I endeavour to one day develop my skills to that level and inspire
other people.

The result of the quiz was not surprising as it was congruent with what I consider my
strengths and weaknesses. I always seek feedback to increase my self-awareness. I think of
myself as a rational and logical person, not driven by emotions which I have found helpful in
crises in the past. I pride myself on my ability to deal with the problem such as a patient
deterioration and then debrief on the situation and process my emotions after resolution. I
am good at compartmentalising and getting things done regardless of my feelings, also
described as self-regulation. I have developed strategies to process feelings and emotions
away from the workplace to build resilience and prevent emotional exhaustion and burnout.
A burnout nurse leader cannot maintain a positive work environment and motivate staff
(Wu et al., 2020). Continuous development and setting goals are part of motivation and
burnout prevention.
This quiz was very accurate in the aspect of celebrating small wins as a means of
motivation. I can be very particular about getting organized and I find checkboxes for
completed tasks very satisfying. Additionally, it has been shown that leaders are more
effective if they are self-motivated (Gilbert & Kelloway, 2018). Moreover, it is important to
develop new goals, as Gilbert & Kelloway (2018) have noted a drop in motivation to remain
an effective leader once the original goal was achieved. I have experienced this myself, in
my role as a training manager with ambulance volunteers. I have recognized the need to
maintain the motivation and develop goals to continue growing, as an achievement of the
title itself should not be the end goal. Emotional intelligence can be improved over time and
effective leaders should always seek to gain leadership skills (Beydler, 2017).
In terms of other areas to develop, this quiz identified some areas for improvement
with the lowest scores in empathy (10) and social skills (10). Sometimes, I have found it
challenging to relate to some of the problems that people come to me with. I must be
careful to not come across as dismissive or minimizing their concerns. As shown by Majeed
& Jamshed (2020), a nursing leader perceived as not interested in staff’s concerns may lead
to staff dissatisfaction and negative ward culture. Further supported by other authors, the
leader’s emotional intelligence correlates with staff turnover (Wang et al., 2018). This
highlights the importance of my continued development in this area. Sometimes, I find it
challenging to relate and empathise with mundane problems, as due to the scope of human
tragedy and suffering we get exposed to, everyday problems sometimes seem insignificant. I
acknowledge the need to utilize active listening to understand what an impact a particular
situation may be having on a person to gain insight into their problem. Strategies such as
not mentally forming counterarguments, rephrasing what the speaker said and watching
one’s body language are discussed by Beydler (2017), and I have relied on those in the past.

Furthermore, I am still working on my confidence when addressing a group of

people. I am comfortable teaching or talking in front of a group from a position of authority,
however, in peer-group situations, I tend to step back and listen more than contribute to
the conversation. It may take me longer to form relationships with my peers as I am not a
people-person naturally. Leaders that can build rapport with individuals allow for the team
to work more efficiently and increase motivation (Beydler, 2017).

In my nursing practice, I have applied many of these approaches by taking the lead in
a deteriorating patient situation and remaining assertive. Additionally, I have mentored and
oriented new staff to the hospital and supervised students, have to develop flexibility with
ensuring tasks get completed.
References
Alshammari, F., Pasay-an, E., Gonzales, F., Torres, S. (2020). Emotional intelligence and
authentic leadership among Saudi nursing leaders in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Journal of Professional Nursing, 36(6), 503-509.
https://doi.org.10.1016/j.profnurs.2020.04.003

Beydler, K. W. (2017). The role of emotional intelligence in perioperative nursing and

leadership: developing skills for improved performance. AORN Journal, 106(4), 317-
323. https://doi-org.ezproxy.ecu.edu.au/10.1016/j.aorn.2017.08.002

Gilber, S., & Kelloway, E. K. (2018). Self-determined leader motivation and follower
perceptions of leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(5),
608-619. https://doi-org.ezproxy.ecu.edu.au/10.1108/lodj-09-2017-0262

Majeed, N., & Jamshed, S. (2020). Nursing turnover intentions: the role of leader emotional
intelligence and team culture. Journal of Nursing Management, 00, 1-11. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.ecu.edu.au/10.1111/jonm.13144

Wang, L., Tao, H., Bowers, B. J., Brown, R., Zhang, Y. (2018). When nurse emotional
intelligence matters: how transformational leadership influences intent to stay.
 Journal of Nursing Management, 26(4). 358-365. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.ecu.edu.au/10.1111/jonm.12509

Wu, X., Hayter, M., Lee, A. J., Yuan, Y., Li, S., Bi, Y., Zhang, L., Cao, C., Gong, W., Zhang, Y.
(2020). Positive spiritual climate supports transformation leadership as means to
reduce nursing burnout and intent to leave. Journal of Nursing Management, 28(4),
804-813. https://doi-org.ezproxy.ecu.edu.au/10.1111/jonm.12994

RESPONSE
Firstly thank you for this insight into yourself. I enjoyed reading your discussion post and
found it valuable. I chose to write about a different quiz, but I scored similar results to
yourself on this one. I also appreciate lists and small wins and am proud that I can stay
assertive and calm when required to lead a team with an unwell patient.
It's not easy to have enough insight and be aware of weaknesses, and areas where you lack
emotional intelligence. I have seen in my own practice what you describe in having a true
leader creating a better team, and it makes sense that emotional intelligence would create a
better leader. It was well documented by Kinkanloo et al. (2019) in a study of emotional
intelligence academic stress and professional competence. It is clear the psychological
response to stress is improved with emotional intelligence, which would benefit you in
those stressful, patient deteriorating situations (Kinkanloo et al., 2019). Additionally, Crown
et al. (2017), though relevant to nursing homes and small sample size, they found a
significant relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership,
and that educating nurses in emotional intelligence was more effective than training in
personal leadership development.
You stated that you sometimes have a lack of empathy, I wondered if you, like most health
professionals – myself included – have suffered from empathy fatigue? Also called
compassion fatigue, a state of emotional, physical, and even spiritual exhaustion from giving
all day to patients that can negatively impact your professional life (Hunt et al., 2016). By
managing so much grief and trauma, it can then be hard to give any empathy in your
personal life, Stebnicki (2017) offers a tool for identifying this in yourself and others, and
resources to assist which may be useful.
From your reflection, it sounds like you have many important skills of a good leader. I hope
this response and the articles cited can assist you in your own insight of emotional
intelligence and compassion fatigue, and in recognizing it in your team as you become a
leader yourself.

References
Crowne, K. A., Young, T. M., Goldman, B., Patterson, B., Krouse, A. M., & Proenca, J. (2017).
Leading nurses: Emotional intelligence and leadership development
 effectiveness. Leadership in Health Services, 30(3), 217-
232. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhs-12-2015-0055

Hunt, P., Denieffe, S., & Gooney, M. (2019). Running on empathy: Relationship of empathy
to compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue in cancer healthcare
professionals. European Journal of Cancer
Care, 28(5). https://doi.org/10.1111/ecc.13124

Kinkanloo, A. A., Jalali, K., Asadi, Z., Shokrpour, N., Amiri, M., & Bazrafkan, L. (2019).
Emotional Intelligence Skills: Is Nurses' Stress and Professional Competence Related
to their Emotional Intelligence Training? A quasi experimental study. Journal of
advances in medical education & professionalism, 7(3), 138–
143. https://doi.org/10.30476/JAMP.2019.74922

Stebnicki, M. A. (2016). From empathy fatigue to empathy resiliency. The Professional

Counselor’s Desk Reference. https://doi.org/10.1891/9780826171825.0082