Abstract
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges for leaders in healthcare requiring decision-making and crisis response that can often be tricky without the right level of trust. Trust is fostered and facilitated with emotional intelligence (EI); thus, a critical examination of medical leaders' reflections was essential to understand how leaders perceived their leadership responses during the initial response to COVID-19. This exploratory study used an EI lens to investigate leaders' perceptions of their decision-making during COVID-19.
METHODS: A purposeful sample of seven leaders in medicine who experienced leading during COVID were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews.
RESULTS: Four themes around leadership response during the uncertain times of the COVID-19 were identified. The themes included communication, interprofessional collaboration including decision-making and strategic planning, internal and external awareness, and finally, trust and psychological safety.
CONCLUSIONS: Incorporating EI competencies into crisis leadership education for healthcare professionals could enhance medical leaders' preparedness to adapt, collaborate and communicate effectively in a crisis.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 76-79 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | BMJ Leader |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 24 Mar 2025 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Humans
- COVID-19/epidemiology
- Leadership
- Emotional Intelligence
- Decision Making
- Female
- Male
- SARS-CoV-2
- Adult
- Trust
- Interviews as Topic
- Middle Aged
- Pandemics
- Communication
- Qualitative Research