When leaders in healthcare organizations are asked, What's the one word that best characterizes the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on the U.S. healthcare delivery most will answer Change. And when midto lowerlevel employees in those same organizations are asked to describe the one thing they dislike or fear most about the ACA, they, too, say Change. As if they are not already challenged by implementing the ACA, today's healthcare leaders are faced with the challenge of overcoming staffs resistance to change. Furthermore, too many leaders do not understand just how change resistant many of employees are, although these employees are the very people who will be charged with implementing the tremendous changes the ACA will require.Some leaders have tried to persuade staff that surviving healthcare reform is the latest burning platform threatening the prosperity and security of organizations. But they generally find that change management challenges, such as ACA implementation, do not come with a one-size-fits-all solution or that staff do not view the ACA as their problem.WHAT'S A LEADER TO DO?Changes in every aspect of healthcare delivery-from reimbursement to quality control to elimination of wasteful and inefficient practices-are having a tremendous impact on the U.S. healthcare delivery system, with many more changes to come. But the impact of all of these changes on the people who will be implementing them may get overlooked in all the haste for compliance. Add to the mix the initial rocky launch of the reform law and uncertainty regarding its sustainability, and the suggestion that a profound shift is ahead could easily be regarded as an understatement.People at every level of provider organizations are stressed, confused, and bewildered by the blizzard of changes occurring, and many-perhaps most-are ill suited to absorb these changes, and the organizational dysfunction that will likely accompany them, easily or gracefully. The result is a growing insecurity, anxiety, and outright resistance among these workers, leading to a demoralized workforce and compromised compliance.Healthcare leaders must understand the value and critical importance of delivering an emotionally and behaviorally intelligent style of leadership to ensure that staff feel empowered and supported as they work through and implement some of the greatest changes in the delivery of healthcare in this country since the introduction of Medicare. For many leaders, maintaining the status quo in leadership style simply will not get the job done.WHY EMOTIONALLY AND BEHAVIORALLY INTELLIGENT LEADERSHIP?In 2003, the Harvard Business Review examined data supporting emotional intelligence. In that article, it stated that:In hard times, the soft stuff goes away. But emotional intelligence, it turns out, isn't so soft. If emotional obliviousness jeopardizes your ability to perform, fend off aggressors or be compassionate in a crisis, no amount of attention to the bottom line will protect your career. Emotional intelligence isn't a luxury you can dispense with in tough times. It's a basic tool that, deployed with finesse, is the key to professional success.While some leaders may deem the subject of emotional intelligence to be too squishy for any practical value in leading people, enlightened leaders in business, industry, and even the military are finding strong value and return on investment in not just understanding emotional intelligence but incorporating it into leadership style.A study by the Center for Creative Leadership (2010) reported that the need to improve skills in leading employees and work teams was a top priority among senior healthcare leaders. However, those same leaders indicated that such skills-including self-awareness-were rated the lowest of those regularly demonstrated by leaders in healthcare.In his book Primal Leadership, Daniel Goleman (2002, p. …