Shanil Haricharan
“She has a way of making every person she works with feel valued and important – her own behaviour is exemplary.” That’s how a colleague described Dr Rolene Wagner, chief executive of the Frere Hospital, a public hospital in East London.
This is the kind of emotionally and socially intelligent behaviour that makes a leader like Dr Wagner exemplary. Dr Wagner was one of 35 public service executive managers in my doctoral research on the impact of emotional intelligence (EI) on leadership effectiveness. The research results provide evidence that an executive manager’s EI or EQ matters when it comes to their leadership performance. The study showed a positive relationship between a manager’s EI ratings and their leadership effectiveness. Typically, exemplary leaders like Dr Wagner received the highest EI competency ratings and also the most number of nominations for outstanding leadership from their colleagues and clients.
Emotionally intelligent leaders possess strengths in most of the EI competencies. They are aware of their own emotions (self-awareness) and they effectively manage their emotions (self-management). In addition, these leaders are aware of the emotions of others (social awareness) and are adept at managing the emotions of others (relationship management). These capabilities essentially define the concept of EI.
However, for most of the 20th century the “secret” to great leadership lay ostensibly in the leader’s intellect or IQ. It was not until the early 1970s when David McClelland, head of psychology at Harvard University, questioned the “validity of so-called intelligence tests” in predicting success at work or in life-outcomes.
Instead, he recognised the importance of other types of intelligence, related to emotional and social competencies, to understand the relationship between human capability, behaviour and outcomes. It was only in 1995 that Daniel Goleman (once a psychology student of McClelland) popularised what is today commonly known as emotional intelligence.
In a transforming, complex and turbulent South African public service, the study found that leaders who were inspirational, emotionally self-aware, adaptable, positive, empathetic, and coached and mentored others were regarded as the most effective leaders.
All these attributes represent EI competencies. Dr Wagner abundantly displays these EI competencies – not only in the study but also in her daily management and leadership roles.
Since her appointment in December 2012, she has guided the hospital’s 2 058 employees towards a vision of “patient-centred health services” through a range of clinical and operational change initiatives. She had inherited a hospital that was the focus of negative media publicity due to the poor quality of service – known as “the hospital where babies die”.
This led to former deputy minister of Health, Nozizwe Madlala- Routledge describing the stillborn birth rate at Frere Hospital as a “national emergency”. On her first full day as the chief executive, 1 000 or so toyi-toying managers, clinical professionals and workers greeted her – on strike demanding outstanding salaries and benefits.
The anger and resentment towards the hospital management was palpable. Together with her management she started a process of consulting with the strikers and trade union leaders. In her engagements she was mindful of the strikers’ emotions, listening attentively, understanding their perspectives, aware of their feelings, and recognising their pain and how it affected their lives. These behaviours illustrate her deep sense of empathy – a crucial social awareness competency.
It is now known that empathy nurtures compassion and caring.
Dr Wagner was also attentive to her own emotions and feelings. She calmed herself prior to her meetings as it helped her not to react impulsively or defensively.
She was mindful of what was within and outside her control, and her areas of strength and weakness. These behaviours are an indication of her strong competence in emotional self-awareness and emotional self-control – two key EI competencies.
Additionally, competence in self-awareness is expected to enable leaders to sustain their emotionally and socially intelligent behaviour over time, despite setbacks and the challenges and turbulence within their environments. In turn, self-awareness cultivates one’s empathy. Iconic leader Nelson Mandela realised the importance of self-awareness while on Robben Island. In 1975, he penned: “(I)nternal factors may be even more crucial (than)… external factors such as one’s social position, influence and popularity, wealth and standard of education… in assessing one’s development as a human being (and development) is inconceivable without serious introspection, without knowing yourself, your weaknesses and mistakes”.
Dr Wagner’s emotional and socially intelligent behaviours are guided by her strong set of beliefs in social justice, fairness, equity, respect, humility and compassion.
Her EI behaviours and values were engendered during her childhood, spent mostly in Lotus River on the Cape Flats, after the Group Areas Act displaced her family from Harfield Village. She is grateful to her parents, Roland and Cheryl Wagner, who played a major role in instilling the values and behaviours that guide her democratic leadership styles.
Her time as a pupil at Harold Cressy High School further influenced her yearning for social justice. The young Rolene studied for a medical degree at UCT and a Master’s in Public Health at UWC. She also excelled in sports, attaining provincial colours in swimming, softball, varsity athletics and table tennis, and held national swimming records in breaststroke and freestyle. She also held various leadership roles at school and at varsity level within the sporting fraternity. Prior to the chief executive position, Dr Wagner worked at the Mitchells Plain Community Health Centre and then served in the Eastern Cape Department of Health for 16 years, rising through the ranks from a medical officer in primary health care to a senior and executive manager.
Last week, the inspirational chief executive received a standing ovation from her private and public sector hospital peers at the Hospitals Association of SA Quality Improvement Summit in Cape Town. Dr Wagner and the Frere Hospital have come a long way since the distressing events of her first week.
She shared a multitude of impressive achievements in their transformation journey over the past few years – the envy of many other public or even private hospitals: significant reduction in child mortality, state-of-the-art clinical facilities, a three-fold decrease in patient complaints, a four-fold increase in patient compliments, reduction in pharmacy waiting times from four to six hours to 45 minutes, 91 percent in-patient and 85 percent out-patient satisfaction scores – the list of quality improvements towards a “patient-centred health service” is endless.
A well deserved standing ovation, indeed. In recognition of her dynamic leadership and the positive changes at Frere Hospital, Dr Wagner received the 2014 Business Women’s Association Regional Achiever Award in the Women in Government category.
The doctoral study results also indicated that a leader’s EI competence plays an important role in how they cope within the perplexing and turbulent public service environment.
Leaders with high EI competence positively influenced the well-being, motivation, creativity and performance of their subordinates and teams. In particular, EI strengths in relationship management, such as inspirational leadership, teamwork, and coaching and mentoring, are crucial for building strong and inclusive social bonds in the workplace. For instance, the inspirational Dr Wagner focused on “engaging and inspiring people”, promoting a culture of teamwork, valuing employees and encouraging their sense of affiliation. To this end, during her first year, 91 percent of the outstanding salaries and benefits were paid to Frere employees. In a complex and uncertain 21st century environment, the transformational journey of Dr Rolene Wagner and her colleagues at Frere Hospital bears testimony that EI matters.
EI is important for everybody and in our daily lives, not only for leaders and in the workplace. The good news is that each one of us has the ability to acquire and improve our emotional intelligence – an essential part of the whole human.