PWX 2019

Emotionally Intelligent Project Managers – Connecting and Building Relationships (Room 605-606)

09 Sep 19
4:00 PM - 4:50 PM

Tracks: Leadership, Prof Development, Workforce Solutions

Speaker(s): Tammy Whipple, Assistant to the General Manager, Sammamish Plateau Water; Zahid Khan, Chief Executive Manager, Project Planning & Management LLC

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions to connect, motivate, and influence others by applying appropriate skills. Project managers are constantly influencing, negotiating, and collaborating with the stakeholders to keep their projects on schedule and within budget. Success of a project largely depends on how the project manager works with people by applying EI, interpersonal, and social skills. Research indicates that people with high EI are most successful in effectively engaging and working with people. Are people born with high emotional intelligence or can they be trained to improve their EI? Emotional intelligence is based on neuroscience and people can be trained to increase their emotional awareness and behaviors. The presenters will discuss: (1) how project management skills can be improved by connecting with people; (2) importance of EI in establishing a culture of connection; (3) how to increase emotional awareness; and (4) a leadership development approach focusing on EI. We will share real-life experiences on applications of EI in advancing project management skills.