Promoting Emotional Intelligence In Your Team

Emotional intelligence is something every project manager needs, and it's something that can also be of great benefit to your team. Here are a few tips on how to do that.

One of the most important things for a project manager is having a team that can work well together. The difference it can make if your team can work together to improve themselves and cooperate on tasks can help avoid serious problems on the project, and an incredible amount of time. This can also be hugely beneficial when bringing a new member into the team.

If this sounds too good to be true for you (it is for a lot of people), you might be surprised to know that it is entirely possible to promote this type of attitude within your team. In this article we’ll be looking at a few things that you can add into your project management framework to get the best out of your team.

1. Start with yourself

When looking to grow a good team attitude, the best place to start is on yourself. Having good emotional intelligence means being aware and in control of your own thoughts and feelings and making sure that you have a positive influence on the other members of your team.

2. Explain the benefits

It might seem like something that just comes naturally to a lot of people, but research shows that emotional intelligence can be developed in a team, sometimes in as little as a few hours. Explaining the benefits of increased EI can be one way to get your team on board with the process.

For example, members of the team in sales can generally expect to improve their sales performance with increased EI as opposed to those shown to be less emotionally intelligent. As a general rule, people with increased EI tend to earn more, experience higher job stability and find their work more satisfying.

3. Develop The Aspects of Emotional Intelligence

a. Self awareness

Self awareness is perhaps the most important aspect of EI. Being self aware of your own thoughts and feelings means you can control them and understand how they affect the other members of your team. Talk to your team regularly and ask them about their thoughts and feelings, but also encourage them to ask questions as well as this will help develop their own self awareness.

b. Strong communication

Communication is majorly important and teams with good EI communicate both effectively and constructively. Building communication involves allowing your team to vent when they have issues and promoting active listening so that issues can be worked out constructively and positively.

c. Identify and set learning goals

Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. Spend time with each member of your team to discuss what they think their weaknesses are and how they think they can improve in those areas. Even if your company cannot fund project management training on professional qualifications such as APMP or PMP Certification there are plenty of inexpensive online learning modules that can help with developing skills. Set specific goals for learning and work towards them together.

d. Build optimism

Optimism helps a team to focus on their strengths. This doesn’t mean avoiding negative issues and problems but rather thinking rationally about them and working towards a solution. Encourage your team to focus on their strengths and praise your team regularly on the good work they are doing.

e. Encourage healthy conflict

People with high EI know how to handle conflict with other team members in a healthy way so as to avoid further issues. They take everyone’s views into account and can empathise well with other people. Encourage your team to discuss any conflicts, keeping things professional and not allowing discussion to become personal, potentially making things worse.

The author has written and published articles on a wide range of topics including Small Business Advice, Tax and Accounting, Interior Design, House Renovation and Project Management.