Emotionally intelligent themes in medical leaders' decision-making during COVID-19.

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.