Discussion: Using Emotional Intelligence and Appreciative Inquiry to Promote Quality

Through communication—inquiry and dialogue—every person makes a contribution, and by being involved in the process, people can shift their attention and action away from a problem-oriented focus to dreams that are worthy to them and to productive possibilities for the future.
—Watkins & Mohr, 2001

Without a doubt, promoting health care quality and patient safety presents a meaningful aim.

To achieve this goal, nurse leader-managers need to be able to evaluate a situation from many different viewpoints and frame questions that elicit valuable insights. They must be able to promote skillful problem solving and interdisciplinary teamwork.

In this Discussion, you examine how you can use emotional intelligence and appreciative inquiry to facilitate positive changes that lead to improved quality and safety.

To prepare:

• Review the information on emotional intelligence and appreciative inquiry presented in this week’s Learning Resources.
• If you have not already done so, follow the instructions in the course text, Emotional Intelligence 2.0 to complete the online assessment.
• Consider the results of the assessment. Review your strengths and opportunities for growth related to self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. What insights, questions, or concerns arise as you think about these results?
• Think about how your identified emotional intelligence strengths and opportunities for growth relate to your current role as a leader-manager and to the professional contributions that you hope to make now and in the future. Give focused attention to patient safety and health care quality. How and why is emotional intelligence valuable for promoting optimal patient outcomes and creating systems-level change?
• As indicated on pages 53–55 of the Bradberry and Greaves text, develop a plan for improving your skills in one area of emotional intelligence. Evaluate strategies for applying your strengths in the workplace. Identify at least two that you can use to add value to a team or workgroup to improve quality and safety.
• Also review the information on appreciative inquiry in this week’s Learning Resources. Have you used appreciative inquiry before? If so, how? How does the application of appreciative inquiry relate to your role as nurse leader-manager and/or to efforts to promote health care quality?
• Reflect on your experiences working in health care and identify an issue or problem that required, or requires, a change. Consider how you could apply emotional intelligence and appreciative inquiry strategies to this situation to facilitate positive results that lead to improved quality.

By Day 3

Post a brief description of an issue or problem in a health care setting that required, or requires, a change. Explain how you, as a nurse leader-manager, could apply both emotional intelligence and appreciative inquiry strategies to address this issue and facilitate positive results that lead to improved quality.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

Learning Resources

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Readings

Bradberry, T., & Greaves, J. (2009). Emotional intelligence 2.0. San Diego, CA: TalentSmart.
Chapter 1, “The Journey” (pp. 1–12)
Chapter 2, “The Big Picture” (pp. 13–22)
Chapter 3, “What Emotional Intelligence Looks Like: Understanding the Four Skills” (pp. 23–50)The first three chapters of this book introduce foundational concepts related to emotional intelligence, and provide the background for the online assessment that you will take in preparation for this week’s Discussion. In addition to these chapters, you should read the rest of the book once you have completed the assessment.

Note: You must purchase a new, unopened copy of this book in order to acquire the access code that you will need to complete the online assessment.

Sadeghi, S., Barzi, A., Mikhail, O., & Shabot, M. M. (2013). Integrating quality and strategy in health care organizations, Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Chapter 1, “Understanding the U.S. Healthcare System” (pp. 1–30)
This chapter sets the context for understanding quality-related issues within the U.S. health care system (macroenvironment). The authors discuss health care access and costs, which may be viewed as part of a triad with quality.

Ingram, J., & Cangemi, J. (2012). Emotions, emotional intelligence and leadership: A brief, pragmatic perspective. Education, 132(4), 771–778.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Nel, H., & Pretorius, E. (2012). Applying appreciative inquiry in building capacity in a nongovernmental organization for youths: An example from Soweto, Gauteng, South Africa. Social Development Issues, 34(1), 37–55.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

This article examines how appreciative inquiry can be used to foster meaningful change in organizations. It outlines the principles of appreciative inquiry and the four phases: discovery, dream, design, and delivery.

Sadri, G. (2012). Emotional intelligence and leadership development. Public Personnel Management, 41(3), 535–548.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Emotional intelligence has been proposed as a key element of leadership. This article examines that argument, with attention to how and why it has been challenged.

Copperrider, D. L., & Godwin, L. N. (2010). Positive organization development: Innovation-inspired change in an economy and ecology of strengths. Retrieved from http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/intro/comment.cfm

The authors present a framework for Innovation-Inspired Positive Organization Development (IPOD), which draws from appreciative inquiry.