Emotional Intelligence and Behaviours

APM volunteer research fund, 2015/16

As a project manager

Do you get up in the morning excited about the day ahead?
Are you motivated in your workplace?
Do you get frustrated with certain situations or certain people?
Do you ask your team to do something and get nothing, or something you did not ask for, in return?
Have you had a conversation, where the meaning was missed and someone has been upset by what you said?

How does the way you behave, affect those around you? Is your team motivated, engaged and energised by you?

Project managers, due to their far reaching role, can set the tone for client relationships, stakeholder management and the team. They can create positive or negative cultures.

Emotional intelligence is about understanding your own and others emotions, managing them and using this understanding in the way you relate to others and build relationships.

Interest in emotional intelligence and its relationship to performance in organisations has been increasing steadily.

The research

Our aim is to understand patterns within and between emotional intelligence and the behaviours of project managers and project professionals.

This pilot study is focused on researching the RPP community and is led by the People SIG funded by the APM Volunteers Research Fund.

Its Importance

The research outputs will provide both organisations and individuals with a resource to strengthen the understanding of emotional and behavioural strengths and weaknesses on project management performance.

It is hoped that the research will contribute towards greater success in project delivery, the selection of project professionals and personal development.

Who is the target audience?

The outputs arising from the research would be of interest to individuals and organisations that have an interest in understanding the impact of certain behaviours and levels of emotional intelligence in aiding project delivery.

Who will take part?

APM Registered Project Professional (RPP) practitioners are the primary research participants, but it is hoped that should this pilot study prove successful it could be opened up to a wider group of participants in the future.

What is emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others. It is generally said to include skills:

1. Emotional awareness, including the ability to identify your own emotions and those of others;

2. The ability to harness emotions and apply them to tasks like thinking and problems solving;