In an era of increasing demands on healthcare professionals, emotional intelligence (EQ) has emerged as a critical competency for success in academic medicine. Unlike the intelligence quotient (IQ), which measures cognitive ability and remains relatively stable throughout life, EQ measures the ability to recognize, understand, and manage one’s emotions and the emotions of others.(1) Because EQ is dynamic, it can improve over time. This makes EQ especially relevant during medical training and professional development.
In medicine, EQ bridges technical expertise with the human side of healthcare, impacting communication, teamwork, organizational commitment, teaching, mentorship, leadership, shared decision-making, patient satisfaction, and clinical outcomes.(2–5) It also enhances job satisfaction, supports well-being, increases resilience, and mitigates burnout.(1,2,6)
THE FOUR PILLARS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
EQ consists of four pillars: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.(1) Each pillar plays a pivotal role in the day-to-day activities of physician leaders in academic medicine.
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is the recognition and understanding of one’s emotions.(1) It enhances teaching, research, clinical decision-making, and leadership by allowing physicians to assess how their emotions influence judgment and interactions.(3) For example, a physician aware of feeling overwhelmed can mitigate stress by taking a break or seeking support from a colleague. The physician’s division chief can remind the team to be mindful of stress, encourage collaboration among colleagues, and take intermittent breaks.
Recognizing one’s explicit and implicit biases also informs self-awareness as we engage with people of different ages, genders, races, and cultures.(7) Self-awareness allows physicians to recognize emotional triggers, leading to behavior change that prevents conflict and promotes healthy team dynamics.(2,8)
Self-management
Self-management is controlling one’s response to emotionally charged situations.(1) This is essential in high-stress environments such as healthcare, where leaders often face conflict. The division chief who wishes to encourage self-care may feel pressure from hospital administration to increase productivity, raise revenue, and improve patient satisfaction scores. These pressures may conflict with reducing stress among colleagues.
How the leader navigates opposing pressures from different stakeholders determines the culture of the work unit.(8) Will the atmosphere feel toxic or supportive? Leaders with poorly developed self-management skills may exacerbate the conflict between administration and providers, resulting in low morale, increased burnout, and provider attrition, which lead to more challenges for the institution. Highly developed self-management skills allow the leader to effectively engage all stakeholders, leading to common ground that benefits the enterprise.(8)
Social Awareness
Social awareness is the ability to recognize and understand the emotions of others.(1) Social skills, such as situational awareness, active listening, communication, and collaborative teamwork, are fundamental to academic medicine.(2) Multidisciplinary teams can improve clinical management and patient outcomes by establishing a common goal and avoiding conflict.(3) Social awareness strengthens the interpersonal relationships needed to drive the team forward.(2–4)
Research and administrative units depend on social awareness to achieve peak performance, and social skills are critical in learning environments where educators must engage and support learners at all levels of training.(3)
Social awareness is best achieved when leaders step away from their offices and spend quality time with the teams they manage. Many leaders are former team members, but dynamics change, and witnessing current joys and challenges firsthand is essential for effective management. Physician administrators who spend time in clinical units gain insight into how the team functions, and the individual team members are more likely to feel valued, understood, and supported.(8)
Relationship Management
Relationship management is the ability to use awareness and understanding of one’s emotions and the emotions of others to influence behaviors and interactions.(1) Understanding the emotions of others leads to empathy, which is a powerful tool in managing relationships.(1) Empathy is crucial for building trust with others.(2,3) Physicians who demonstrate empathy during clinical encounters can improve adherence to treatment plans and boost patient satisfaction.(2)
Empathy also plays a critical role in teaching and mentoring, allowing educators to connect deeply with learners and mentees as they foster personal and professional growth.(3) The division chief experiencing opposing pressures from administrators and colleagues will need to view the conflict through the lens of each side. This results in empathy for both groups of stakeholders, which is essential for managing relationships and finding common ground.
INTEGRATING EQ INTO ACADEMIC MEDICINE
Emotional intelligence influences every domain of academic medicine. Strong EQ has a positive impact; poor EQ has a negative impact.
Integrating EQ into Teaching
Educators with highly developed EQ foster positive learning experiences. They model professional behavior, recognize the learner’s emotional state, consider the learning environment, and tailor teaching and feedback accordingly.(3)
For example, an on-call anesthesiologist conversing with a student over coffee between late-night surgical cases might use this opportunity to casually probe the student’s knowledge of alpha-agonists and fill in gaps where needed. Another faculty member may pause a challenging simulation to check in with a distressed resident, promoting psychological safety.
Poorly developed EQ can also impact learning. These educators may have difficulty connecting with learners, set unrealistic expectations, and fail to provide psychological safety. They may put students on the spot during clinical rounds and shame them for incorrect answers. These behaviors can result in student disengagement and hinder learning.
EQ is essential for medical educators as they engage difficult learners, face criticism, navigate setbacks, and face academic pressures without succumbing to stress and frustration.(3)
Integrating EQ into Research
Emotionally intelligent researchers build collaborative teams that innovate and adapt. EQ enhances communication among team members and supports resilience when facing grant rejections or project failures.
Principal investigators with highly developed EQ acknowledge frustrations, navigate interpersonal conflicts, and maintain a positive, productive work environment.(2,4) They celebrate small wins and encourage team members to pivot their focus when frustrations mount. These actions boost morale and keep the team on track. Those with poorly developed EQ might cast blame or doubt the team’s ability, leading to poor job satisfaction, burnout, and reduced resilience when a project fails.
The research environment is also prime for mentoring junior investigators. EQ-driven mentors seek to understand their mentees’ challenges and emotions. They model healthy behavior despite the setbacks and failures commonly experienced with the scientific process and encourage their junior colleagues to do the same.(2,4) Emotional intelligence is also essential when research teams collaborate with investigators at other institutions.
Integrating EQ into Patient Care
Patient care lies at the heart of medicine, and emotional intelligence is indispensable in this domain. Physicians with strong EQ form meaningful relationships with patients and their advocates. This leads to trust, shared decision-making, improved treatment compliance, high levels of patient satisfaction, and better clinical outcomes.(2,3)
Empathy improves communication, helping patients feel heard and understood.(2) A pediatrician who senses parental anxiety during a complex diagnosis can use active listening and clear communication to bring understanding and treatment adherence.
EQ is also important in clinical areas with less direct patient care. For example, a radiologist with poorly developed EQ might become defensive when an ER physician questions an X-ray reading. This might shut down communication, prevent collaborative learning, and negatively affect patient care.
Physicians with highly developed EQ are better equipped to manage emotions during challenging encounters, such as delivering bad news or responding to a medical emergency. This maintains professionalism, reduces burnout, and provides an opportunity to role model healthy behavior to learners and colleagues.(2,3,6)
Integrating EQ into Service
Emotional intelligence is essential for service roles such as department chief, committee chair, and hospital administrator. Physicians in these roles must navigate complex systems, align diverse stakeholders, manage conflict, and foster a culture of empathy and inclusion.(2,8) Emotionally intelligent leaders create environments where staff feel valued and supported, increasing job satisfaction, reducing burnout, and minimizing staff turnover.(2,6)
In academic medicine, leaders must balance the demands of teaching, research, and patient care. Those with highly developed EQ successfully balance opposing pressures and make decisions that align with their institution’s cultural, operational, and strategic frameworks.(2,6,8) Those with poorly developed EQ risk pushback that can escalate to a critical level.
When academic faculty feel unheard and devalued, they are more likely to experience low morale and burnout. This negatively affects productivity and diminishes support for the institution’s mission. They may also seek employment elsewhere, creating additional challenges at the division, department, and enterprise levels.
CALL TO ACTION
Despite its value, EQ remains underrepresented in medical training. Medical curricula should include didactic sessions, self-assessment, role-playing, simulation, reflective writing, and structured peer feedback to raise awareness and strengthen EQ. Available tools for assessment and feedback include the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i 2.0), 360-Degree Feedback, and DiSC Assessment.(9)
Faculty development programs should integrate EQ skill-building, emphasizing its role in teaching, research, patient care, service, and leadership. Institutions should identify EQ champions who model emotional intelligence and advocate for its inclusion across departments. Embedding EQ into promotion criteria, mentorship programs, and wellness initiatives ensures it is rightly valued as an essential professional competency.
EQ is an essential skill that empowers physicians to lead with empathy, communicate effectively, and foster resilient, collaborative environments. It affects each pillar of academic medicine and should be a core component of medical education and faculty development. Institutions must prioritize EQ through formal training, leadership modeling, and cultural integration. By doing so, we cultivate academic physicians who thrive in their roles and positively affect learners, patients, and systems.
References
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