EQ VS IQ

    Is it better to be smart, or is it smart to be reasonable?  IQ measures how intelligent a person is.  EQ tells us how smart a person's reactions are.  Dental team members need a certain level of intelligence to perform their duties, no doubt about it.  They need a high level of emotional intelligence to be outstanding team members.
    You can be really smart, but have no clue about how to apply your intelligence in a way that benefits the practice.  You may be smart, but also be so impressed with what a genius you are, that you make everyone around you roll their eyes back in their head every time you open your mouth.  Smart is only good when it has emotional intelligence to ride around on.
    An emotional intelligent person thinks before they act.  They understand that what they say and do affects everyone around them, and also determines every result they get.  They are considerate of the desires of others and factor in other people's personality types and patterns.  They have self-control, an attribute that seems in short supply these days.  They don't have the need to tell everything about themselves and they understand that it's ok if others have a different point of view.  They know how to live and let live.  They don't bicker about what's fair and don't worry about who's getting more than them, or who is getting special treatment.  They respect that the dentist is the owner and get's to make the final decision and they know when to make suggestions, when to be silent and when to let go. 
    If you have a lot of conflicts between staff members, you may find that they just aren't demonstrating a lot of EQ.  Can it change?  I think so, once you become aware of it and bring it to their attention.  But, you have to have a plan for change.  Don't bring it up as an accusation, make it a team project.  Describe the difference between IQ and EQ and ask them to think of times when they saw someone on the team display a good EQ.  Then ask them to think of times when their own response to stress was a little low on EQ.  Finally, challenge them to pay attention in the next few weeks and write down instances of high EQ among the team.  They can read out their list at the next team meeting.  You'll notice a lot of emotional intelligence going on, because they'll all want to provide something worthy of report.  Once they see how much better demonstrating EQ is, they'll do it because it feels good.