4
License: Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed) Attribution: Teaching With Emotional Intelligence Dr. Glynn Cavin CEeT
Regardless of the professional environment in which an instructional designer works, academic or in the private business sector, project management competencies are critical. Combining project management abilities with communication, leadership, and emotional intelligence competencies will increase the marketability of any designer who possess a mastery of these skills.
Learning Objectives
- Define project management.
- Identify necessary leadership skills required of a project manager.
- Discuss Einsiedel’s five characteristics of an effective project leader.
- Define emotional intelligence.
- Describe people skills that are necessary for negotiation and conflict resolution.
- Describe how project culture is developed.
- Identify three differences in culture between stakeholders that can influence a project.
Often the difference between the project that succeeds and the project that fails is the leadership of the project manager. Each project team is a group of individuals who needs motivation and coordination. Planning is vital, but the ability to adapt to changes and work with people to overcome challenges is just as necessary. A project manager must master the skills that are necessary to be successful in this environment. The unique and temporary nature of projects creates a work environment that mandates a different management approach from that used by an operations manager.
What is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotions are both a mental and physiological response to environmental and internal stimuli. Leaders need to understand and value their emotions to appropriately respond to the client, project team, and project environment. Daniel Coleman discussed emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) as a factor more important than IQ in predicting leadership success. According to Robert Cooper and Ayman Sawaf, “Emotional intelligence is the ability to sense, understand, and effectively apply the power and acumens of emotions as a source of human energy, information, connection, and influence.”
Emotional intelligence includes the following:
- Self-awareness
- Self-regulation
- Empathy
- Relationship management
Emotions are important to generating energy around a concept, to building commitment to goals, and to developing high-performing teams. Emotional intelligence is an important part of the project manager’s ability to build trust among the team members and with the client. It is an important factor in establishing credibility and an open dialogue with project stakeholders. Emotional intelligence is critical for project managers, and the more complex the project profile, the more important the project manager’s EQ becomes to project success.
Project Managers
Project managers focus on the goals of the project. Project success is connected to achieving the project goals within the project timeline. Project managers appl