Emotional Intelligence in a Program, Project and Portfolio Management View
"Developed by Andrea Gatto"
Summary
The well-known American psychologist Daniel Goleman in his book “Emotional Intelligence”, published in 1995, defines the Emotional Intelligence as “the ability to recognize, understand and manage our own emotions and recognize, understand and influence the emotions of the others”. Indeed, EI belongs to the large group of soft skills, also called behavior skills, which are a prerogative to be flexible and adaptable to any environment, especially in a business environment, where interactions with colleagues and stakeholders are on the agenda. Is it possible that someone selected for a job position through classic tests is not actually able to handle it? it could be: self-control, stubbornness, empathy, and attention to the others are fundamental to work effectively in a shared environment. Obviously it is not just about that, indeed, this article aims to provide an overview of the importance of the emotional intelligence within team’s project and relations with stakeholders, especially from a psychological point of view.
Emotional Intelligence and its application
Emotional intelligence, as an individual and soft skill, can be applied in different contexts. Although it is a skill that every person should develop and train to make the most of it, in the following paragraphs it will be addressed from the point of view of the manager, who is in charge of a group project or responsible for relations with suppliers or stakeholders.
EI in team projects
Why EI can be matter more than IQ? This could be an interesting question, so, in order to answer it, it would be wise to analyze the behavior of individuals in carrying out corporate activities or, even better, group activities. Sy, Tram and O'Hara, professors of the Department of Psychology at the University of California, suggested in their research that there is a positive relationship between job performance and team members having high EI, because they are highly proficient at appraising and regulating their own emotions which results in a higher level of faith in themselves and have power over them which lead them to make realistic actions resulting in high performance and less supervisory interference (Sy, Tram, O’Hara 2006). On the other hand, it is logical thinking about that team members with low EI are less skilled at appraising and regulating their emotions, so they need to be supervised and helped by managers to better control their feelings, improving so the coordination, creativity, and adaptability within the working team. Another ability included in EI is the use of emotions, or the individual skill addressed to aid the cognitive processes. The right use of emotions can be a very useful tool to expand the flexibility of information processing or pick out among corresponding alternatives. Therefore, individuals differ not only in the ability to understand and express their emotions, but also in their ability to use emotions in collaboration with their cognitive processes to heighten fruitful operating. It seems to be clear that individuals, who struggle with a right use of EI linked to cognitive processes, are less likely to coordinate themselves in a group environment, being less able to fulfill the assigned task (Zhou, J., George, J.M. (2003)). In addition to that, the other milestone comprised into EI is the regulation of the emotions of the people: individuals should focus on that aspect because it is extremely important to keep the balance between all the members involved in a project, for a better coordination, chemistry within the group and consequently for better outputs. For instance, if there occur any breach in quality, it may raise up a negative emotion reaction when the manager tries to understand the cause of the problem. However, manage that negative emotion trying to effectively solve the problem, instead of just complaining or blaming someone, is fundamental. Handling emotional reactions leads to understand where the focus of interest is, avoiding conflicts and misunderstandings.
Emotional intelligence is a quality that can be developed, trained, and achieved with a certain maturity. Nevertheless, as soon as the activities become more demanding and the workload increases, emotions are put to the test and just who knows how to stay motivated under stress, motivate others and manage complex interpersonal relationships, will get better result (Goleman, 2005). Though there are many studies and research regarding the improvement of job performances through a right use of emotional intelligence, it seems that on individual level there would be no significant results. Indeed, few studies have investigated the relationships between EI and performance at group level are more relevant. Jordan and Troth have found a link between EI and performance on a purely cognitive task at group level. According to these authors, the ability to deal with one’s own emotions, allows team members to be more inclined to listen to others’ points of view and to seek superior solutions, without thinking of being wrong. Moreover, they found out that teams with a high level of EI have preference for collaborative conflict resolution strategies, unlike teams with low level of EI (Jordi Quidbach and Michel Hansenne (2000)).
All these aspects are relevant to understand the importance of developing these skills, not focusing just on classic tests but much more on the individual mental growth.
