Emotional Intelligence, Empirically

Steven Davis, PMP - January 6, 2010

Career Development New Practitioners ProjectsAtWork

Emotions have great consequences in project settings, and emotional intelligence models and tools can be helpful resources to project leaders. But in order to move beyond theory and concepts, we need direct applications that deliver value, structure and real insight. Here, the author of a two-year study on the subject shares his findings and recommendations.

The term emotional intelligence has been around for almost 25 years. There are books, workshops, focus groups and articles. There are a variety of models, at least 10 tools, and even more definitions. So what do project leaders and project management offices actually do with all this emotional intelligence? Where do we start? How do we apply it to project management, or our own PMO? Should we even care?

One of the main value propositions of emotional intelligence is the connection to leadership performance and interpersonal competence. Individuals with high EI are reported to be more aware of their emotions, more effective in relationships, and better at emotional management. Given these abilities, so the story goes, they have a higher behavioral competence in many job-related activities. A person with high EI can sense the emotions in their customers and use this to sell more. A leader with high EI can be attuned to their emotions and how they affect their group. And a project manager with …

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