EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE EI COMPETENCIES NECESSARY TO MANAGEMENT COMPLEX

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE (EI) COMPETENCIES NECESSARY TO MANAGEMENT COMPLEX PROJECTS Dr. Susan Irwin © Susan Irwin, 2016

What is Emotional Intelligence (EI) ■ Focus on a persons ability to – Use – Understand – Control ■ Three key assumptions – Vital – Use or Manage – Understand ■ Result in high performing employee = organizational success and increased personal and social outcomes © Susan Irwin, 2016

EI Models ■ Three Models – Ability Model ■ Mental Ability – Mixed Model ■ Personality Traits – Trait Model ■ Either have it or you do not © Susan Irwin, 2016

Components of EI Personal Competence Social Awareness Self Awareness Recognition • • • Self Regulation • • • Self Confidence Emotional Self Awareness Accurate Self Assessment • • • Self Control Trustworthiness Adaptability Initiative Achievement Drive Empathy Social Orientation Organizational Awareness Relationship Management • • • Developing Others Influence Communication Conflict Management Building Bonds Teamwork and Collaboration © Susan Irwin, 2016

EI and Project Management ■ Temporary ■ Solve a problem ■ Leaders are necessary in project management © Susan Irwin, 2016

Project Complexity ■ Project complexity – Vague – Hard to define – Subjective © Susan Irwin, 2016

Project Complexity ■ For my study I used the following: – The location of the project stakeholders – Multiple ■ ■ Systems Stakeholders Activities Projects with multiple project schedules with multiple interconnected tasks within the schedule and with other projects © Susan Irwin, 2016

Question and Sample ■ We know that EI is important to project management, what I wanted to know what how do PM’s experience EI when managing a complex project. ■ For this. . I interviewed 22 portfolio, program, and project managers © Susan Irwin, 2016

Demographic Data Group Gender Age Education Level Certifications Held Industry Years of Experience Job Description Category Female Male 20 -30 31 -40 41 -50 51 -60 Bachelor’s Degree Master’s Degree Doctoral Degree PMP None Banking Healthcare Energy Consulting 3 -5 6 -10 11 -20 21 -30 Project Manager Program Manager Portfolio Manager n (N=22) 13 9 1 4 11 6 11 10 1 21 1 11 9 1 1 3 5 9 5 9 7 6 Percentage 59% 41% 5% 18% 50% 27% 50% 45% 95% 50% 41% 5% 14% 23% 41% 23% 41% 32% 27% © Susan Irwin, 2016

What I determined Variables Number of Participants Description The location of the project stakeholders are not in the same location as the project team 22 3 to 60 Multiple information systems are involved in the solution 22 3 to 100 Multiple stakeholders are involved in the solution 22 3 to 600 Multiple activities are involved in the solution 22 200 to 1 million Multiple projects with multiple project schedules involved in the solution 19 of the 22 *3 indicated it did not consist of multiple projects 2 to 100 projects Each schedule has one to many interconnected tasks 22 12 to 100% of the tasks had a predecessor or successor dependency Each schedule has one to many interconnected tasks with other projects 15 * 7 indicated that the schedules did not interconnect 2 to 100 interconnected schedules ■ Not all complex projects met the defined objectives © Susan Irwin, 2016

Change is inevitable – Change in a complex project was often a result of one of the following: ■ ■ Loss of resources Change in project schedules Change in objectives © Susan Irwin, 2016

Recognition of EI Competencies in Self ■ When faced with change all PM’s interviewed were aware of their own emotions and either had a negative reaction to the change or no – reaction. ■ When addressing the change to the team- they had a positive emotional response ■ Time… © Susan Irwin, 2016

Self Regulation Key competencies: ■ Adaptability – “Change in inevitable” – “Failure to adapt can mean either a loss of control to the project or full project failure” ■ Initiative – Within the notion of initiative is Innovativeness – “Think outside the box” was key ■ “While the status quo is always good, if you are not ■ – getting what you need, then you have to think outside the box and come up if with great ideas. ” “I think if you are just going to assign out tasks and see if they get done, then you can hire an administrative assistant for that. Project managers need to create solutions to projects, not just track solutions to problems. ” These “out of the box” not only had a benefit to the project but also in some cases saved the company money, decreased time to produce a product and in several cases the solution is still being used today. © Susan Irwin, 2016

Self Regulation Key competencies: ■ Trustworthy ■ Accountable ■ Dependable ■ Honest ■ Honors his or her commitments ■ Has integrity ■ Transparent ■ Someone who has your back ■ Delivers on what he says he will © Susan Irwin, 2016

Social Recognition ■ Participants described organizational politics as: – Disruptive – The single most important thing to a project's success – An unfortunate reality that must be dealt with daily – Lives outside the project and is intertwined with culture, leadership, higher leadership, and executive leadership – Tough to see or figure out – Common in every organization and driven by silos – Is a result of competing interests and everyone having his or her own objectives and requirements ■ Failure is not an option ■ Informal politics © Susan Irwin, 2016

Regulation of Social EI Competencies ■ Influence – Both the act of influencing and being influenced – “All we have is influence and that we do not have an direct authority or decision power” – Can Influence be used on its own ■ ■ No Yes-used with caution © Susan Irwin, 2016

Regulation of Social EI Competencies ■ Conflict ■ ■ – ■ ■ Inevitable and necessary ■ ■ – Disagreements based on the technical solution Conflict associated with different companies working together, which introduced cultural differences Inconsistency in the information provided Change in project schedule or direction “Conflict is inevitable because people are different, personalities are different, and people have different agendas and some people really care and are passionate about the success of the project. ” “I think it is necessary. The best example of that are the forming, storming, performing phases of the project with the team. You always are going to have conflict until you smooth out the rough edges. I think it is probably needed. ” Can be good and bad ■ ■ Good—it helps to solve a problem Bad if it gets personal © Susan Irwin, 2016

Does Complexity = Conflict ■ 18 participants agreed that complexity does increase conflict because: – Increased number of people on the team, which increases the number of individuals who must agree on the solution – Increased number of moving parts – Increased investment by the company, resulting in increased visibility by the management team – Increased skill set of project team © Susan Irwin, 2016

Emotional Intelligence: Is it only for complex projects Trustworthiness 13 Trustworthiness, Adaptability and Innovativeness 7 Adaptability 2 © Susan Irwin, 2016

Emotional Intelligence: Is it only for complex projects Conflict Management, Influence, and Political Awareness Conflict Management – Social 9 6 EI competencies Influence 5 Political Awareness 2 © Susan Irwin, 2016

What does this mean to me? – Project Complexity ■ Subjective ■ Includes change—so be prepared – You need to be able to emotionally deal with change, if the change makes you frustrated give yourself time to come to terms with the change. Because you need to tell the team…. – Remember you are the leader and the team takes queues from you. – Be willing to be open to new ideas, be innovative in your approach, remember you are hired to solve a problem and that solution is not always found in a manual. – Trust is important. The team needs to trust you and you need to trust them. – Organizational politics~ know how to navigate through the political climate – Both being influenced and influencing are necessary when managing a complex project. Be careful about using influence on its own. – Conflict is inevitable and in some cases good for team development. – EI is not just for complex projects © Susan Irwin, 2016