Project Manager’s Competence in Emotional Intelligence

© 2006 by Dr. Lew Ireland, asapm President 

The Focus on Technical Competences

We still see frequent talk about projects and the“triple constraint”. In 1994, a project managermentioned four constraints – cost, schedule, per-formance, and people. He considered the humanfactor to be as important as the other three, butproject managers may often overlook people asa critical part of their projects. Project manage-ment literature gives little or no attention to howpeople contribute to the success of projects.

Availability of people to staff a project is impor-tant, but more important is how the staff ismanaged to get the best performance possible.Tapping the potential and motivating individu-als and teams to work toward a common goal isa job for the project manager. More often thannot, the project manager is more qualified tomanage the technical progress of the projectthan to lead the team to deliver the best productin the most efficient manner.

In the 1980s, William H. Taft, IV, then DeputySecretary of Defense, made the statement “wespend 50 percent of our money on people, butonly spend 10 percent of our time managingthem.” Still, the human factor in the work envi-ronment, and especially in projects, gets littleattention in how to tap the human potential forthe most efficient and effective workforce. Thisis but another example of the lack of attentiongiven to people in the work environment.

There is a need for better leadership in projectsto obtain the best from the project team. It is es-sential that a person serving as the project leaderbe able to manage his or her personal and socialattributes before being considered fully compe-tent to lead others. Criticism, such as the follow-ing, identifies the weaknesses of leaders, butdoes not define the strengths.

•  He or she fails to meet the miserably low stan-dards that they sets for themselves.

•  No one would follow them except out of idlecuriosity.

•  They set a good example of what not to be.

•  His or her name is “Max,” short for maximumspeed but no direction.

•  He or she is not a wannabe, but is a never willbe.

While humorous, cutting criticism defines theproblem, there is little attention given to correct-ing weaknesses in personal behavior. It is irrele-vant whether the individual is aware of theshortcomings and does not care, or whether theindividual believes he or she is doing the rightthings. The fact is that project managers must becompetent in managing the human side of pro- jects as well as the technical components.

Emotional Intelligence in Project Environments

Sometime we work for others because we aretold that is our job and other times we work forothers purely because we want to be associatedwith that person. Those who we would rathernot work for often give offense through theirpersonal management style.

Those we want to work for treat us well and areconsistently fair in their dealings with us. Per-haps, the difference could be called possessingemotional intelligence competence.

Doing a job that is worthwhile and being led bya person who always seems to be in control ofhimself or herself is a comfortable environmentalthough the tasks may be difficult and theworkdays long. This environment is created bypeople working together as a team toward acommon goal.

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Project Manager’s Competence in Emotional Intelligence, page 2

One may not know the precise mix of personalattributes of their leader, but there is a feeling ofconfidence and self-satisfaction in being a partof the team. This results from emotional intelli-gence being practiced by project managers andmembers of the project team.

Daniel Goleman was one of the first authors touse the term emotional intelligence to define thosecompetences in self-management. Goleman de-fines emotional intelligence competence in twocategories – Personal Competence and Social Com- petence. Personal competence is how we manageourselves and social competence is how wehandle relationships.

Personal Competence

Personal competence in emotional intelligenceconsists of those attributes that a person exhibitsin managing himself or herself in the conduct ofbusiness, and especially how one controls his orher actions. Personal competence lays the foun-dations for interactions with others, both in abusiness and social environment. Those possess-ing personal competence are often referred to ashaving presence. 

To be considered competent in a personal sense,one must be aware of his or her emotions andhow they play a role in contacts with others.Recognizing one’s feeling and ensuring they donot negatively impact others is an importantpart of managing emotions in such a mannerthat they contribute to the situation. Negativefeelings toward others detract from the conductof professional business.

Conducting a personal assessment of one’s selfto identify strengths and weaknesses is a goodway to start the process of evaluating overallpersonal competence. Then it is possible to capi-talize on one’s strengths and improve on theweaknesses. The assessment should give ameans to measure improvements and to deter-mine whether personal competence is beingachieved.

Self-confidence is a personal attribute that de-velops through an understanding of the situa-tion and knowing the right path to follow. It isnot arrogance or bluffing, but a presence thatgives other confidence in one’s ability to do theright thing. One part of self-confidence is exhib-iting decisiveness and making the sound deci-sions under uncertainty.

Self-regulation is demonstrating one’s actions ina manner acceptable to the people with whomthere is contact. This entails some control overwhat is done and when it is done to build confi-dence by others that a person is trustworthy andconscientious in dealing with others.

Honesty, consistency, and commitment by aperson develop positive relationships. Self-motivation and a positive attitude are essentialforces in elements of emotional intelligence.

Social Competence

Social competence, or how we deal with rela-tionships, is the second part of emotional intelli-gence. Empathy is the understanding of othersand how they feel in different circumstances sothat we may deal with them in the proper con-text. Sensing others’ feelings by being attentiveto emotional cues and listening can contribute toearly resolution of issues.

Social skills, or the “personal tools” used toachieve effective leadership results, includescommunication, conflict management, negotia-tion, team development, The influence that oneexhibits through a combination of skills canhave a positive effect on others, to includeteams, that leads to the desire results. Poor orimproper use of social skills can lead to less thansatisfactory results.

The sum of personal and social competence maybe viewed as leadership – rather than being amanager. continued

 

Project Manager’s Competence in Emotional Intelligence, page 3

Managers may exhibit many of the elements ofpersonal and social skills, but the leader musthave them to be considered competent.

Emotional Intelligence for the Project Manager.

The International Project Management Associa-tion (IPMA) has defined 46 elements for assess-ing the competence of project participants –project directors, senior project managers, pro- ject managers, and project practitioners.

Of the 46 elements, 15 deal with the behavioralattributes of competent project participants.Nearly one-third deal with human qualitieswhile the remaining 31 address 20 technicalelements of project management and 11 addressthe context in which project management is im-plemented.

These 15 behavioral attributes are compatiblewith Goleman’s model of emotional intelligenceand reflect the IPMA concentration on the hu-man resource in projects. The 15 elements are:

1.  Leadership2.  Engagement and Motivation3.  Self-Control4.  Assertiveness5.  Relaxation6.  Openness7.  Creativity8.  Results Orientation9.  Efficiency10.  Consultation11.  Negotiation12.  Conflict and Crisis13.  Reliability14.  Values Appreciation15.  Ethics

If we agree that the human element of projects isimportant and that better management leads tobetter project results, we can agree that emo-tional intelligence is important for a projectmanager. IPMA believes that the human behav-ioral attributes are important and devoted morethan 30 percent of its competence elements to

measuring human factors. So, what does anemotional intelligence competent project man-ager look like?

Emotional intelligence is not a born trait, but alearned trait that is developed over a lifetime oflearning and emulation of successful people. It isacquired by observing role models function indifficult situations and by being mentored as tothe most appropriate actions in different situa-tions. Emotional intelligence is doing the bestthing in the situation – but not necessarily theaction deemed the most appropriate by others.With emotional intelligence, a project managerhas self-confidence that the decisions made arethe best at that time.

Project managers must build trust with othersthrough actions that demonstrate honesty andintegrity. Honesty and integrity are vital traits tobuild upon through consistently holding to thetruth. One lie can destroy future trust. Do not belike the fellow who was known to bend the truthmost of the time. When he told the truth once, itwas considered an “honest mistake.”

Project managers must be committed to achiev-ing the project’s goals and must motivate otherswhile practicing self-motivation. Commitmentto the project’s goals comprises completing theproject as planned or getting relief from the re-quirements. One boss defined commitment as“deliver,” “obtain forgiveness,” or “send yourdeath certificate.”

Project managers must effectively communicatewith different levels of workers and managers.A good communicator knows when to speakand when to listen. Being assertive in argumentsand using the proper tone to emphasize items isessential to convey the message.Listening to others and understanding the con-text as well as the meaning of what is being saidis important to ensure effective communication.

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Project Manager’s Competence in Emotional Intelligence, page 4

Negotiation skills are important to achieve pro- ject goals. Negotiation is a planned activity thatattempts to obtain a win-win situation whereboth sides gain and there are no losers. The bestoutcome is when all parties are pleased with theagreement reached.

Role Model or Mentor 

One of the best means of achieving emotionalintelligence competence is to identify a rolemodel – someone you admire and admire whathe or she has achieved. Pattern your activitiesafter a successful person whose character andtraits are those you wish to posses. One sug-gested means of pattern your life after a success-ful person is to prominently post a picture ofhim/her and start each day by saying “I want tobe like him or her.”

It is not necessary that the role model be a pro- ject manager. Any person with the traits andcharacteristics that you hope to achieve willserve the purpose. The role model may be achurch leader, a public servant, a military per-son, or other visible person. In one instance, aperson wanted to pattern his activities after Ben- jamin Franklin. Franklin was an inventor, au-thor, printer, statesman as well as having othertalents.

A mentor, different from a role model, takes anactive interest in developing a person throughcoaching, guiding, and shaping a person’s ac-tions. This mentoring is typically conductedbased on a wealth of experience and may in-volve both personal and professional conduct.Mentoring is not making decisions for a person,but involves setting forth a path from which theindividual can benefit while avoiding risks tohis or her career.

Rules to Live by

As previously stated, emotional intelligencecompetence does not just happen to most peo-ple, it is a planned set of actions. Often, a persondevelops by himself or herself a set of rules that

cover many situations to direct one’s actions.One rule might be “don’t take a risk that youdon’t have to.” There is no gain in taking unnec-essary risk – only losses.

Colin L. Powell, former Chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff and Secretary of State, touches onsome points that are guides for good emotionalintelligence competence. Selected points thatshow mature judgment are paraphrased:

•  Avoid having your ego so close to your posi-tion that when your position falls, your egogoes with it.

•  Don’t let adverse facts defeat good decisions.

•  You can’t make someone else’s choices. Youshouldn’t let someone else make yours.

•  Remain calm under pressure. Be kind to peo-ple.

•  Have a vision for your work. Be demandingof others and yourself.

•  Don’t take counsel of your fears or negativepeople.

Successful people considered to be profession-ally competent develop their rules and consis-tently apply those rules to daily situations.Successful project managers might have a list ofrules that entail the following ideas.

•  Establish and maintain communications withall project stakeholders.

•  Bad news doesn’t get better over time, sohandle it soon.

•  Plan your work and adjust the plan only asrequired by facts

•  Always remember who the customer is

•  Take time for yourself – relax and rest at spe-cific times

•  Avoid decisions without facts

•  Take time to know your team members

•  Integrity above expediency; be honest in yourdealings

•  Treat people fairly and better than you wouldlike to be treated

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Project Manager’s Competence in Emotional Intelligence, page 5

In Summary

Emotional intelligence is a guide to successfulpersonal conduct and relationships with people.Achieving competence is when a person can ef-ficiently and effectively develop an interper-sonal style that supports his or her ability toaccomplish work. In projects, the project man-ager is the most visible person with or withoutemotional intelligence competence.

Project managers can improve on their emo-tional intelligence competence through study,but perhaps more quickly in identifying and fol-lowing a role model. Having a mentor is anothermeans of assimilating the experience and good judgment of a successful senior person. Capital-izing on personal strengths and improving onweaknesses should be a goal for any projectmanager.

Emotional intelligence is an asset that the projectmanager must posses and constantly improveupon to be the best that he or she can be. Takingan inventory of the personal and social attrib-utes can lead to using the strengths while im-proving the weaknesses. This requires a self-assessment of each of the skills to determinewhere improvement can be made.

One method of improving is to establish rulesfor personal conduct and live by those rules.These self-imposed rules guide a project man-ager in his or her daily performance on the joband provide for consistent behavior. Creatingrules to live by can be beneficial to emotionalintelligence competence.

Sources of Information:

1. The Consortium for Research on EmotionalIntelligence in Organizations, selecteddownloads from the Internet,(www.eiconsortium.org), c. 2002-2006.

2. Goleman, Daniel, Working with Emotional In-telligence, (New York: Bantam Books) 1998.

3. Powell, Colin L., My American Journey, (NewYork: Random House, Inc), 1995, p. 613.

 About the Author 

Lew Ireland, Ph.D.600 Dunbar Cave RoadClarksville, TN 37043Tel: 931.647.7373 ; Fax: 931.647.7217E-mail: lewireland@earthlink.net

Lew Ireland is an Executive Project ManagementConsultant based in Tennessee, serving US andInternational clients. He works with clients toestablish their project management systems toensure they are supportive of the organizations’respective goals. He is experienced in all aspectsof project management, including planning,scheduling, project office implementation, pro- ject maturity modeling, and project assessment.

Lew has authored or co-authored project man-agement books and articles for professional journals. He is a frequent contributor to the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management by writing short articles for ourwebsite. He was recently appointed a Consult-ing Editor to McGraw-Hill Publishing Compa-nies for a project management series of books.

Lew has a history of serving for nearly 25 yearsin volunteer positions to advance project man-agement. He is past President and Chair of theProject Management Institute and has served invarious positions within that organization. Hehas been elected a Fellow of the Institute.

He currently serves as President of the AmericanSociety for the Advancement of Project Management(asapm), a professional society dedicated togreater individual and organizational compe-tence in project management practices.