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How to factor in the Emotional Intelligence among your team members?

 

 

I work in IT consulting. And oftentimes when we start a project we get some resources who are on the bench, that means they are being released from other projects and they are available, so they get pulled in for this project, and if we need specific skill which is not available in bench pool, then external hires come and join the team.

Being a manager if I am familiar with the team members then factoring in EI becomes easier. When I have worked with someone before I would know the self-efficacy and cognitive ability of that person. But in case the person is new to me and I am meeting them for the first time, I do not think it is easy to know their EI. While if I am interviewing someone I will get an idea of their EI, but once the person comes in and joins the team, it becomes clearer whether or not my understanding was correct.

As a project manager, it might not be possible to factor in emotional intelligence. As in a project selecting a resource/team member is not an option and many times project manager does not get enough time before the resource joins the project. And most of the time the resource joins the team because of technical competency, regardless of any EI. Please remember, I am just focusing on the industry I belong to, which is IT services.

Although I think if as a project manager I have prior work experience with the resource/ team member then I will have some information about EI of that person and I will get the opportunity to factor in that. One more scenario is if I interview someone while recruiting, I can get some idea about EI of that person too. But without any prior interaction, it is difficult. And if I try to understand someone’s EI right after I meet him or her, there would a huge chance of making mistakes.

If I can factor in someone’s EI, then it will be easier to understand him and place him or put him/ her in a position where he/she will be able to use those. And as time goes I get better to understand the person’s EI, I will be able to use that information in order to utilize the person in a way that helps reach the organization's goals. In our professions cognitive ability, self-efficacy is very important(Baily, 2015).

 

I believe a person can definitely develop EI. Since these are emotions, not sure if we would ever be able to measure or quantify those. But we need to consider that EI is difficult to develop because it is linked to psychological development and neurological pathways created over an entire lifetime and it takes a lot of effort to change long-standing habits of human interaction, foundational competencies like self-awareness and emotional self-control (Mckee,2015). But people can be helped to find a deep and very a personal vision of their own future and then helping them see how they're current ways of operating might need a bit of work if that future is to be realized (Mckee,2015).

Now to be absolutely honest, again please do remember I am speaking with the experience of only one industry, I think people are trained to enhance their technical competency and other skills they use at work every day. Organizations even managers do not pay enough attention to help someone grow their EI. This is unfortunate but I have never witnessed it. Most probably our projects are short and people know they will move on, so they do not bother focusing on complex subjects like EI. But the manager should have a moral duty to help an employee to explore ways to develop EI. But this is something I think you cannot force upon someone.

 

References –

Baily,S ( March,2015). Emotional Intelligence Predicts Job Performance: The 7 Traits That Help Managers Relate. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/sebastianbailey/2015/03/05/emotional-intelligence-predicts-job-performance-the-7-traits-that-help-managers-relate/#3aa879724124

 

Mckee, A (April,2015). How to Help Someone Develop Emotional Intelligence. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/04/how-to-help-someone-develop-emotional-intelligence

 


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