Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers
There seem to be many definitions of “Emotional Intelligence” (EQ), so let’s look at the skills specific to project managers, and how they might be improved in project management training.
Here’s the definition of the seven EQ leadership competencies as proposed by Dulewicz and Higgs (2003):
- Self-awareness
- Emotional resilience
- Motivation
- Sensitivity
- Influence
- Intuitiveness
- Conscientiousness
All very desirable traits, but very difficult to improve through a standard training course or presentation involving lectures. Let’s have a detailed look at each of the points above.
Self-awareness
The ability to read one’s own emotions and recognize their impact. This implies an accurate self–assessment, and self confidence.
Emotional resilience
Your ability to adapt to stressful situations or crises. Resilient people can adapt to adversity without lasting difficulty.
Sensitivity
Awareness of the needs and emotions of others.
Influence
Your ability or power to persuade or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, of others.
Intuitiveness
Having or possessing intuition; which is the direct perception of truth or fact independent of any reasoning process; or a keen insight.
Conscientiousness
This means you are controlled by your conscience; which is the inner sense of what is right or wrong in conduct or motives, leading you to take the right action or to follow the dictates of conscience. The ethical and moral principles that control or inhibit your actions or thoughts.
Training or Experience?
It is our opinion that many of the above traits will be acquired by direct experience. For example, if you have gone through a particularly emotional event such as divorce or bereavement then you will have direct experience of resilience. You will be able to emerge from the event stronger and more resilient if you learn from the experience rather than succumbing to stress. Counseling and coaching can also be helpful here.
In terms of project management training; any soft-skills course can help to develop an increased awareness of your own abilities, particularly if the training involves an assessment instrument and some 360 degree feedback from other people (this is feedback that comes from all around a person, referring to the 360 degrees in a circle, with an individual imagined to be in the centre of the circle. Feedback is provided by subordinates, peers, and supervisors).
Again, it’s important to learn from this kind of experience and not get upset about other peoples comments. Seek out a training course with a suitable assessment instrument and use the training experience to become more self-aware.
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!
There is so much that is being referred to as emotional intelligence that simply is old wine in new bottles. When you read the competencies listed above that you wrote about do you get the sense that they are new ideas? I doubt that you do and that is why you wrote your comments. It makes sense. I would write something similar if I was not aware of the research done by the provost of Yale University, Peter Salovey and his colleagues. They have truly discovered a new intelligence that has never been measured before.
Consider this, we all have certain abilities when it comes to our analytic challenge and there are noticeable differences among us. Most everyone understands and agrees with this. Well what about emotional intelligence which is classified as four branches of abilities; i.e., ability to identify feelings in yourself and in others, use emotion – match a specific emotion to a task (have you ever heard anyone ever even talk about matching emotions with tasks before), understanding emotions – emotions follow certain rules and knowing what these rules are helps us to be more emotionally intelligent, and finally the ability to manage our own emotions and our emotional relationships with others.
I was asked by Professor Salovey and his colleagues ten years ago to work with them to help them to find ways to apply their ability based model of emotional intelligence to the workplace. I have had some excellent success doing so and I can tell you that it would be wonderful for project managers to learn about their own existing emotional intelligence abilities and how to improve their overall project management experience by becoming more emotionally intelligent. If you wish to learn more I would be happy to chat with you (860) 658-2737 EST or correspond via email cjwolfe@cjwolfe.com or you can visit my web http://www.cjwolfe.com and if you click on workshop dates you can see what I offer to the public. There is much to be gained by learning about the true science of EI and how to apply it!
Warm regards,
Chuck Wolfe
Great Post
In fact, what I observed in daily life,
People with high E.Q are happier, healthier and more successful in their relationships. There people strike a balance between emotion and reason, and aware of their own feelings, show compassion for others is have high self-esteem. Researches have concluded high E.Q can lead to increased productivity, enhanced leadership skills and greater creativity in a person. It can also create an enthusiastic work environment, reduce stress levels and resolve emotional issues, improve the well being of employees and improve relationships all around.
It has been noticed and very interesting that numerous persons with superior I.Q fail whereas those with less intellectual talent are radically successful. Even in certain well known business household where employees are instructed to be smart, the most valued and productive managers are those who have a high emotional intelligence level and not necessarily those with highest I.Q. such examples are plentiful in business, politics, academia etc.
@Chuck Wolfe
Thanks for your comment Chuck. We always appreciate the chance to improve our knowledge and skills, and your insights and workshops look like a very valuable resource.
Best Regards,
Peter and the ePM team.
@Edataindia
Yes – we have also observed that people who exhibit behavior that can be related to higher EQ have more success generally in their careers. Project managers also need a basic level of technical skills, which we related to IQ, or else they would quickly become lost when trying to put together a project budget or schedule. The most effective Project managers seem to have achieved a balance of technical and personal skills.
@Sue Massey
Hi Sue – and thank you very much for the comment.