Emotional Competence

Objectives Understand the benefits of emotional competence Identify the stages of emotional competence Recognize emotionally incompetent behaviors Determine ways to assess your personal reputation

The interpretation and translation of personal feelings into the processes of the workplace. Nature of Emotional Competence Managing the soft side

Benefits of Emotional Competence in Health Care Decreased cost of turnover Increased productivity Managing up Teams that recognize the interconnectedness of members and acknowledge their unique contributions are able to make substantial contributions to the organization. Specifically, improved outcomes, shorter implementation time, easier application of new knowledge, and more creative problem solving.

Emotional Competence Characteristics and Behaviors

Self-awareness Cognition (processing) Competence (ability) Emotion (feeling) Intelligence (reasoning) Volition (choosing)

Contradictions and uncertainty create opportunities for mentors to explore perspectives that differ from theirs and to be confronted with new ideas and feelings. Appreciation for Ambiguity and Paradox

Openness to New Ideas Listen to what others are saying and integrate what is important into the collective wisdom of the organization.

Four Types of Experiences That Drive Belief Type One Experience Type Two Experience Type Three Experience Type Four Experience Clearly Understood Minimal Interpretation Clearly Misunderstood Maximum Interpretation A meaningful event leading to immediate insight; needs no interpretation An experience which needs to be interpreted in order to form desired results Experiences that won’t have an impact on prevailing beliefs because they are perceived as insignificant Experiences that will always be misinterpreted regardless of the amount or quality of the interpretation

Valuing Knowledge Emotionally competent mentors make decisions readily and enthusiastically, not because they believe they are always correct but because they understand that there is always a risk of error and that progress cannot be made without taking action.

Feedback Profiles Does Not Share Perspectives Open to Others Perspectives Inviting Open to feedback from others and willingly provides feedback Intimidating Openly shares their own perspectives but relatively closed Immovable Closed to others’ perspectives and sparingly shares their own views Influenceable Open to feedback but less willing to share their own perspectives Openly Share Perspectives Closed to Others Perspectives

Compassion It’s hard to dislike someone whose story you know.

Be available to show you’re connected and willing To participate Presence

Mindfulness Be aware of recurring situations, past reactions and implications Be able to identify patterns of behavior Develop skills to understand Past behavior predicts future behavior

Non-verbal Emotional Competence 10 % spoken 50% body language 40% tone of voice

Passionate Optimism View all situations as blessings and opportunities Pessimism sucks the life out of everyone

Resilience The capacity to cope with unanticipated problems or events and…. Bounce Back

Impulse Control Self-regulation Ability to temper negative feelings Share feelings appropriately Maintain dignity

Related Concepts to Consider Emotional intelligence –Self-awareness: recognizing the emotions of others –Self-regulation: managing your emotions –Motivation: passion beyond money and status –Empathy: understanding emotional make-up of others –Social skill: managing relationships proficiently Character: how you behave when no one’s looking Integrity: being morally upright, acting openly and honestly, consistently acting on your own values in all situations

Emotional Risks of Mentoring

It is only as we develop others that we permanently succeed. Henry Firestone

Developing Emotional Competence Novice - detached observer Advanced Beginner – active participant Competent – integrated with the process Proficient – therapeutic engagement Expert – dialogic engagement

Position Dictates Perspective

Emotionally Incompetent Behaviors Acting as the devil’s advocate Displaying a bad attitude Displaying a superior attitude Tolerating errors Failing to balance work and relaxation

Measuring Emotional Intelligence

Reputation Assessment and Management Survey 1.Am I trustworthy? 2.To what extent do I trust others? 3.Do I practice what I preach? 4.Do I tell people why I’m acting a certain way? 5.Am I dependable? 6.Do I listen nondefensively? 7.Am I able to find the grain of truth embedded in a criticism? 8.Am I visible and available when things are not going well? 9.Am I perceived as a hard worker? 10.Do I value the contributions of team members?

The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. Socrates

References Conners R, Smith T. Journey to the emerald city Prentice Hall Press. Porter-O’Grady, T., Malloch, K. Quantum Leadership: A resource for health care innovation. 2 nd ed Jones and Bartlett Publishers.