I recently took a New York Times quiz gauging how well I could read emotions. The quiz gives a series of pictures focused on a person’s eyes and asks you to identify, out of four choices, the emotion that best describes what they are feeling.
The quiz got me thinking about the importance of reading people. In healthcare, body language and expressions help us connect to the people we serve. Understanding and connecting with patients and their families is at the core of our field. When we get these people to open up in such vulnerable situations, we are able to do our jobs even better.
In my current role, I have the opportunity to work with people from all walks of life. It can be both a treasure and a challenge, but being able to read people allows me to be a better manager and coworker.
Beyond healthcare, reading emotion is a great skill in business and in life. It’s something that’s necessary to be a truly effective leader. My advice for any professional is to take the time to work on this – focus more on the people around you and less on yourself. Whether it’s a supervisor, or someone you supervise, a coworker, a patient or a customer, having the ability to gauge emotions is a skill worth honing.
In the meantime, take the New York Times quiz here and let me know how you did.
Until next time.
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