A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that reveals itself to be true depending on the nature of its behaviour that includes the act of making the prediction itself. A false definition of the situation evoking a new response which makes the initially false conception comes true (Merton, 1948 ). Robert Merton drew his inspiration from William Thomas, who said: “If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.” An example of a self-fulfilling prophecy is the tale of Oedipus Rex. Oedipus abandoned to die by his father. In a twist, he was rescued and lived with the king at some point he was confronted by the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his widowed mother. To evade the prophecy, he moves to another tow. Ironically the predict still comes to light as he defeats the sphinx and kills his father, becoming the king of Thebes and ends up marrying his widowed mother. Another classic example is well-endowed in Shakespeare play, Macbeth.
Self-fulfilling prophecies can have an array of effects on social interactions and relationships, depending on how we communicate with another, so are these effects enhanced. In a case where we have certain expectations internal beliefs or even In cases where we make predictions about someone, we often create a certain stereotype and behave towards them in a way consistent with those expectations and beliefs. Someone’s behaviour towards you will ultimately make you respond to him with that same energy, whether positive or negative. For instance, before meeting a new person and we hear a positive thing about them, we are likely to make sure to be friendlier than usual, talk more than usual and even ask lots of questions. Similarly, when they sense our interest in them, they will most likely return that interest and engage fully in answering the questions. Therefore their behaviour automatically follows our actions. When people get treated as unfriendly or intellectually inferior, they are more likely to act in a hostile manner or to doubt their intelligence and keep their more profound thoughts to themselves (Aaronson, 2005)
Emotional barriers
Emotional barriers to communication caused by a lack of psychological alertness or control; it is often known as emotional intelligence. When we understand our inner emotions, we can communicate more effectively with others. Effective communications are not about just speaking but also active listening. Examples of emotional barriers include; anger, pride and anxiety. When one is angry, they are likely to solve any problems and tend to reject any explanations given even when they are correct explanations. Anger may also cause a reaction from people around you. That is why it is a barrier to effective communication. Pride in connection creates a barrier since proud people want to have the last laugh even when they are wrong, and it may cause much disagreement. Satisfaction is a considerable barrier too because proud people always want to have the last word .they never take sincerely other peoples opinion. When pride gets in the way of communication, nothing resolved, and everyone ends up with their solutions. Finally, there is the issue of anxiety being a barrier. It comes in different forms; social anxiety and panic disorder. People who experience such anxiety find it hard even to grow career-wise. Meeting new people or also speaking in front of a multitude becomes a big issue for them. They get limited by trying out new challenges.
Importance of emotional intelligence in nursing
In healthcare, a trusting environment, effective leaders with a valuable team, are so crucial in the development of the patients. Research shows a viable correlation between emotional intelligence and patient outcomes. Nursing retention is also essential and is associated with emotional intelligence(EI) (Codier & Codier, 2017; Raghubir, 2018). Increase of EI will have not only a positive effect on the patients but also the nurses who stand to benefit in several ways. A high level of EI coincides with burnout. Burnout is a crucial problem more so in the nursing profession. Burnouts and stress are correlated. Burnout causes frustrations, lack of interest in work. In the long run, it may cause illness, emotional suffering and even interpersonal conflict. But when the level of EI is high, the nurses easily understand and adapt to the needs of their patients. They also cope well with stress emotionally leading to long-term benefits in their occupational health.
Part 4
Even though emotional intelligence is crucial in communication, as it is the ability to read your own and other people’s emotions, it’s not enough to guarantee successful interpersonal communication. Two ways that may improve emotional connection are facilitation and understanding emotion.
Facilitating of emotion was well defined by Kidwell and Hansford when they said, to facilitate emotion, you must be able to evaluate different emotions in a situation and be able to put them together in a useful way. For instance, If faced with an aggressive person, likely, you could also act and become angry because you don’t like getting treated that way. But when you have control of your emotion, you’ll find another way to let the person know that you dislike the aggressive approach. When you have identified your emotions; what triggers you to be happy, sad. It becomes easier to control yourself and act in a way that will give the best possible outcome. Even when having trouble with close relations, this method will help you maintain a cool head and make you come to a mutual understanding.
Emotions do not remain fixed over time. As Kidwell and Hasford point out, emotions tend to evolve. The best way to, therefore, understand emotion is to see it as having this transient quality. It has to change. One cannot be happy or mad for a long time. From there, it becomes easy to engage in correct “affective forecasting.” affective forecasting refers to the ability to predict what your emotions will be in the future. The better you are at predicting your emotions in a future situation, the wiser the decisions you make will be.
Explain your plan to improve emotional communication
In reflecting on my communication patterns of thought and behaviour, regarding the emotional conversation, I am going to commit to managing my emotions to improve my effectiveness as a team member. I aim to contribute to the company’s mission and vision positively. Having insight emotions while at the same time being able to regulate them, and I will also share what’s going on inside of me with my colleague. With this, I may avoid burning out in the dispensation of my duties. And also enjoy smooth interactions with my colleagues and patients. It might be a difficult feat, but to attain self-regulation of emotions will help me go along way even health-wise. Managing my emotions will cut down my impulsive instincts and will help in instances like when I take care of a nagging patient and when dealing with stressful workmates.manging my feelings will help me not to lose my cool.while throwing temper tantrums.
Part 5
Importance of communication in teamwork/workplace success
Good teamwork Is vital in any organization, healthcare industry, education industry even in business. It makes part of the daily growth in an institution. With an excellent partnership, even the work distribution becomes easy and help amongst colleague is present and therefore healthy for an organization. It becomes much easy to achieve a different goal and beat the company targets. Conflict will always arise anywhere, but where there is excellent communication among the team, it becomes easier for one to air out their dismay and get heard. It becomes easier to to find solutions and move ahead together (Kinsey, 2019). A team with excellent communication and understanding will feel more energetic for overcoming hurdles. A culture of celebrating among peers and employees is brought about by excellent communication. Such an environment help employees bring out their best.
Ways to Foster psychological safety in the workplace
Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmonson, who coined the phrase, defines it as “a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.” When Google researched to know what makes a company most effective. The leading answer by most workers was that psychological safety is the most important, followed by dependability, structure and clarity. Some ways that may help in fostering philosophical safety include; encourage respectful disagreement, shutting down negativity, admit when wrong, be silly at times to make the staff enjoy being at work and always be ready to listen to each person while leading by example. Treat others as they’d like to get treated; that is the golden rule of fostering proper psychological safety in the workplace.
How to overcome emotional barriers to effective communication
When we talk, we tend to put up barriers that obstruct our ability to communicate. Some of the communication barriers during conversation include The use of complicated, unfamiliar and technical terms. Physical disabilities such as hearing impairments or speech difficulty, language difference and misunderstanding of strange accents, and also jumping into conclusion without proper understanding.it is essential to avoid such barriers. Such barriers can be avoided by; preventing the use of slang during a speech, being respectful towards other people culture and trying to understand them .remaining open-minded for any questions and also to communicate only what is needed and when necessary.
Bibliography
Aaronson, L. (. (2005). Self-fulfilling prophecies: Expectations of stereotypes will come to pass if people believe in them. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200503/self-fulfilling-prophecies.
Codier, E., & Codier, D. (2017). Could emotional intelligence make patients safer? AJN: American Journal of Nursing, 117(7), 58-62.
Kinsey, A. (2019). Importance of Team Communication Skills.
Merton, R. ( 1948 ). The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.
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