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Building Burnout Resilience at NHS through EQ Coaching Program

Exhausted healthcare professional: ‘Genuinely, the best development course I have had the privilege to be part of.’

Overview

Situation: Leaders at the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) faced extraordinary pressure with an understaffed and exhausted workforce.

Solution: Facing these immense challenges, Aqua, a membership organisation within the NHS, decided to invest in emotional intelligence coaching for its leaders to better equip them to support their people – and avoid burning out themselves.

Results: Participants in the coaching program experienced significant personal and professional growth, including a 35% improvement in emotional intelligence skills and a 27.6% increase in wellbeing scores.

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“When I first joined the program, I didn’t 100% know what to expect, and whether I would really gain anything from taking part. My experience of this program, and the coaching specifically has been absolutely transformative, not just in my work life but in my personal life also. I have a deeper understanding of myself and my emotional patterns, and a whole new language to communicate needs and reactions. I can recognise my feelings much more quickly. Which has ledto me being more level-headed and less reactive when stressful situations arise. All of the tools and techniques I have learned will benefit me greatly in my personal and professional life.”

– Quality Improvement Leader, NHS

Situation

All around the world, people are struggling. We’ve entered a global emotional recession, according to the world’s largest study of emotional intelligence. Global averages for emotional intelligence and wellbeing have declined more than 5% since 2019 – a significant and concerning drop. Burnout is on the rise in most industries, and healthcare is no exception. The challenge is particularly acute in the NHS, where resources are often stretched thin. A survey of more than 2,500 NHS workers last year uncovered high levels of stress (79%) and burnout (55%) among staff. A large majority (78.5%) have considered quitting in the past three years. In this context, NHS / Aqua partnered with Charlotte Moore, Founder of 7level7energy and a Certified Emotional Intelligence Coach, to design and run a program for senior leaders in the NHS.

Solution

The program consisted of 1:1 coaching sessions and use of the Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence assessment (SEI®), a normed and scientifically validated toolthat offers insights into respondent’s Emotional Intelligence (EQ) competencies, as well as related life success outcomes such as effectiveness at work, personal and professional relationships, wellbeing, and quality of life. The NHS leaders took the SEI and were debriefed on the results in a completely confidential environment. Each leader then participated in a series of coaching sessions with Charlotte over a period of six months where they had space to reflect on their results and real world implications. Coaching sessions provided an opportunity to build individual competencies and really personalise EQ growth. They then retook the SEI to compare the pre- and post- results.

Results

The data showed substantial increases in core emotional intelligence skills for all the program’s participants, as well as increases in the self-reported life outcomes also measured by the SEI.

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IMPROVED EQ

Participants increased 35% on average in overall emotional intelligence scores

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HIGHER WELLBEING

Participants increased 27% on average on the outcome of Wellbeing

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CLEARER PURPOSE

Participants reported a 44% increase in Pursue Noble Goals, or connection to purpose

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Full Case Study: EQ Coaching at NHS

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Products & Services Delivered

EQ Skills

SEI – Six Seconds’ Emotional Intelligence Assessment is a validated psychometric tool for measuring emotional intelligence, used with over 250k people worldwide.