Emotional intelligence

What are your thoughts???

Emotional intelligence by definition is “the nurse’s ability to identify people’s emotions from their expressions, including body language, facial expressions, and spoken word” (Whitney, 2020). Being able to perceive nurses and understand their emotions can help in acknowledging and helping them find an answer to a question or problem. There are five key elements in emotional intelligence which include self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. Self awareness is understanding people’s emotions and how they affect others (Whitney, 2020). Nurse leaders and managers must understand and develop all of these key elements to run a successful team. Being able to control and manage a person’s own emotions is key in developing skills to help others. A leader is someone that people follow to accomplish a common goal, work together to be successful and to being aware of a person’s strengths and weaknesses. A person with a high degree of self-awareness is confident but not cocky, encourages feedback and looks to improve a team and not self destruct it. Being self-aware of their own emotions while recognizing another person’s emotions and able to give positive criticism while encouraging discussions and questions are important in being a successful leader. An example of self awareness is having a difficult conversation with somebody about their insufficient care, and having the best intentions of helping that person and supporting them with any comments or concerns of why they were not providing great care like they normally do. Being able to recognize and have the best intentions of finding out why whether it was a bad day or if they need something from their leadership team. Self-awareness is key in managing emotions and a person’s character, time management and balancing work and family life (Whitney, 2020).