Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers - Nice to Have or Necessity

Emotional Intelligence for Project Managers - Nice to Have or Necessity Photo credit: big t 2000 (Tony Heussner) on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND As project manager, youre responsible for successfully completing a project. You are the person who leads your team and is ultimately responsible for your projects success.    As a project manager you work on the scope, detailed requirements, project planning and completing the deliverables. You are responsible to the team and your client. But being a good project manager is not just about handling all the core project management details.   How you deal with the people involved is equally critical. Emotional intelligence,  the capability of individuals to recognize their own emotions and those of others, discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, and manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt to environments or achieve ones goal(s),   is a necessary quality in an effective project manager. This is because project management requires getting results through others and managing the emotions that go along with pushing team members (and vendors and clients) to deliver their work on or ahead of schedule to ensure a projects success. Emotional intelligence is all about how to manage your own emotions and the emotions of others. Through emotional intelligence, you as a project manager, can regulate your own emotions. And by doing this you can also calm down the emotions of the stakeholders. Emotional intelligence helps build effective teams and increases your chances of achieving a successful project result for a number of reasons. Boost Your Success Rate Successful projects require care and attention. And a positive result often lies in the hands of the project manager. A project manager is the one who understands the full nature of the project, and has the technical skills to manage the project. The intelligence of project manager plays a decisive role in completing the project on time and under budget. But emotional intelligence boosts the success rate, as emotional intelligence enables the manager to keep team members calm and focused as they do their work. Studies show a positive work environment just gets better results. Build Healthy Relationships With Your Team As a project manager, you guide your team and lead them through your directions. You also provide daily tasks to your team members. Although the success of your project is ultimately dependent on you, the project manager, your chances of success go up substantially when you have the cooperation of your other team members. Teams cooperate only if they view you as a reasonable manager. To achieve that positive relationship with your team, you need to be actively listening to your team members.   This will help you understand the problems each team member has and provide solutions. Helps to cope with negotiations Project manager not only deal with the team members but also clients. He has to negotiate with others much of the time and empathize with others points of view. Managing the budget is also the responsibility of the manager, and for this purpose, he may have to present to lenders, bankers, or internal finance and executive management. During those sessions, a project manager must present his whole project scope to them to demonstrate how the money will be allocated and how the project will generate a profit or stay on track if it is a mid-project evaluation. This will help reassure the financial managers and stakeholders that the money will be used properly and provide an appropriate return on investment in the desired timeframe. Most clients struggle to explain their requirements in front of the project manager and many times choose not to implement the managers suggestions. In such situations, a manager must grasp the systems limitations and boundaries this can only happen if he refuses to be drawn in to the drama and regulates his emotions. In this situation where emotional control is a key factor for success, emotional intelligence is mandatory. Improvement of communication skills Technical skills and soft skills are the essential to effective project management. Emotional intelligence provide the calmness necessary for the project manager to develop and hone his communication skills. Effective communication skills help a project manager progress through his career as these skills are highly valued in all areas of project management work and help him progress up an organization. This effective communication style also attracts like-minded people to join a company or team.   And because of that a company can grow. Where you go from here Emotional intelligence plays a positive role in the success of a company and should be a core skillset in every project manager. A project manager with a short temper will be ineffective. Where a solid project manager has the technical skills but is deficient in emotional intelligence, the project manager must improve his emotional intelligence to get better results. Author Bio: Jessica has been writing for websites and blogs for three years now. She has been writing in various niches with her main focus on business, finance, and social media, and technology. Currently, she is working with Aurion UAE who is providing assistance in ISO certification in Dubai. They are offering their services across all states of UAE.