Coaching Corner is a collaboration between the Canadian Physician Coaches Network and the Canadian Society of Physician Leaders to highlight the value of coaching for physician leaders, including how they may effectively use coaching skills in their own interactions. This third article in the series tackles the topic of emotional intelligence. The coach works with the physician leader to identify opportunities to enhance their leadership skills through the lens of emotional intelligence. Using a fictional dialogue, our coach again supports the physician by moving from overwhelm toward clarity, prioritization, and intentional action.

KEY WORDS: physician leaders, coaching, leadership development, professional development, emotional intelligence

Tsai E. Why emotional intelligence is important for physician leaders. Can J Physician Leadersh 12(3): 183-188. https://doi.org/10.37964/cr24817

In the previous article in this series, Dr. Vargas, a newly appointed department chair, had started working with a coach to support them during their transition into a formal leadership role. The coach helped Dr. Vargas prioritize which aspects of the complex situation they were facing — which included navigating interpersonal conflict, staffing instability, and unclear priorities in a changing department — they would first like to tackle. Dr. Vargas also reflected on how they wanted others to see them as a leader and chose an action plan that was aligned with their strengths and values.

We begin with a fictional dialogue between the coach and Dr. Vargas at their next session.

Coach: What would make this conversation valuable for you today?

Dr. Vargas: Since our last session, I met one-on-one with four people as I had planned — two senior surgeons and two newer surgeons. As you may recall, I am concerned about the negative climate in our department and want to smooth out the conflict before any other surgeons decide to leave. The good news is that the conversations with my two senior colleagues went well, and neither of them plan to leave. Unfortunately, my meetings with the two newer surgeons both ended pretty acrimoniously, and I’m worried that I made things worse.

Coach: What would you like to walk away with by the end of our session?

Dr. Vargas: I would like to have a game plan for the next time I meet with the two newer surgeons. I’ve set up another meeting with both of them together for next week. I think my goal should be to repair any damage that I may have caused to our relationship during the one-on-one meetings.

Coach: I sense that having good relationships is important for you.

Dr. Vargas: Yeah, I don’t want to be a leader who simply tells people what to do.

Coach: What do you think you need to address during our session in order to come up with a successful game plan?

Dr. Vargas: I think it would be helpful to explore what I did wrong, and maybe what I could do differently, so that the three of us end up feeling like we want to work together by the end of the meeting.

“We are not thinking beings who feel,
we are feeling beings who think.”
— António Damásio¹

This statement aligns with the ground-breaking work of Reuven Bar-On, a psychologist who coined the term “emotional quotient” (EQ) in his 1985 doctoral dissertation.² This shifted understanding of human capability away from viewing “emotions” and “intelligence” as being contradictory. Although the concept of “emotional intelligence” was popularized by Daniel Goleman’s 1995 bestseller of the same name, the historical roots of this construct can actually be traced back to the nineteenth century.³ Since that time, various psychologists have come to a consensus that the conventional concepts of an “intelligence quotient” (IQ) revolve around a narrow band of linguistic and mathematical skills that predict success in the classroom, whereas “personal” or emotional intelligence is crucial to leading life successfully.⁴

Today, it is widely accepted that effective leaders need people skills to achieve organizational goals. It is noteworthy that three of the seven habits of highly effective people described by Stephen R. Covey⁵ are related to interdependence: interpersonal leadership, empathic communication, and creative cooperation. Professionalism and interpersonal skills are also associated with positive impacts on patient health outcomes and physician well-being,⁶ and a strong correlation has been observed between perceptions of competence and interpersonal skills when it comes to the physician–patient relationship. Furthermore, the risk of receiving medico-legal complaints is associated with negative perceptions by patients about the quality of the interactions with their physician.⁷

Although a number of frameworks and assessment tools for emotional intelligence exist, there are three major conceptual models (Table 1).