What do you do if your emotional intelligence skills as a patient advocate need improvement?

Some tips to get you started 1. Try predict how you might feel in a situation that makes you uneasy. Face the situation, and see how you respond, and if your body's response is aligned with what you perceived would happen. 2. Do this same process, but with another person. A friend, a partner, a family member. Set them up with a task, hypothesise how they might feel doing this task, and ask them upon reflection how they experienced the task. This 2 step process is a great assessment for recognising how emotionally intelligent you may be right now.

The quickest path to EQ (or EI as referred here) is to gain insight into you your own emotions react in situations you're intrigued about how they impact others. In order to observe these reactions, however, requires reflection as well as observation in the moment. Notice how the body tenses up, what the body feel like (heavy / tense / butterflies / etc.), and take a moment after to reflect upon this once again, and notice how the body feels upon reflection. The brain records information beyond what you're conscious of. Reflection allows you to access this information. From there, the depth of understanding you will have in how another may react will be vastly greater.

The pause, also referred to as "the medical pause", is a moment in time taken where you recognise what's present to you right now, and then you bring your attention back to the task at hand, and continue. This, pause, enables one to take stock on how they're feeling, and gain deeper insight objectively about how the person they are interacting with may be feeling. Notice how their body and face is in reaction to how you're interacting with them. Notice their speech patterns. Reflect; "how do I feel when I act that way / speak that way?". As with any form of intelligence, that which has repetition, grows. Build this as a habit.

Learning from those whom you deem "emotionally intelligent" is a fast-track way to enhance your own intelligence on this matter. Observe how they interact with the world, and ask them questions about what they see in you that you don't yet see. Example; "how do I come across to you emotionally? And, what signs are you reconising that is indicating that?".

Absolutely! ?? Improving your emotional intelligence isn't a one-and-done deal; it's more like a journey. Taking time to reflect on how you're doing, celebrating your wins ??, and facing your challenges head-on is crucial. Keeping a journal ?? or using other tools to track your progress can really help. And don't forget to share your journey with others—getting support and recognition from peers, mentors, or supervisors can make a big difference! Just remember, it's all about the journey, not just the destination. ??

Build a habit around this. Set a goal for one new emotionally focused interaction per day. The way I practiced this myself (before I started interacting with people like this daily as a professional), was to speak to a new person every single day. I would go to the gym or the supermarket, or even a cafe, and find new ways to interact with strangers. I would observe how they reacted to me (a stranger), I would observe how I felt, and I would gain a greater pool of data to reflect upon when delving into applied emotional intelligence. A great next step would be to engage in deeper conversations, or even invest in a therapist. In doing so, you'll learn more about yourself, and how others engage in emotionally intelligent conversations.