Projects & Emotional Intelligence Vienna 2004

A strategy for

corporate project ‘buy-in’

Graham Collins

University College London (UCL)

IntroductionIntroduction

Experience in seminars and training courses – exploring a case study – and posing the question, in what order

should the stakeholders be contacted?

Based on the strategic communications project – one of the largest programmes in UK

Framework is outlined, addresses fears and concerns at various levels.

MotivationMotivation

Stakeholder mapping and communication plans are both well documented , however there is a lack of guidance on the order in which communication should effectively take place

Communication with the most senior stakeholder – highest preference among senior managers – why does this occur?

Exploring this dilemma (case study) using the framework has shown to be effective in building the leadership skills of senior project managers.

ExploreExplore

Emotions – application in the project context

Implications to project management training

Interpretations of underlying emotional decisions and learning experiences

Impetus to develop future initiatives to enhance project management training.

Case study – Initial contactCase study – Initial contact

Mark, director of Bezant John, set up consultancy of Bezant Edward sponsor of major programme

– contact to see if Bezant would give presentation

Presentation at client research and development centre.

Names and consultancy under contract fictitious

Case study – Key actorsCase study – Key actors

Robert, a director of major Global Consultancy – GSC already under contract – a few problems, with a few staff changes these would

be resolved – no opportunity for a ‘boutique’ consultancy

Chris, current project manager– ‘job on line’– problems with definition– admitted over half million had been spent

Edward, sponsor – less enthusiasm, but interested in approach– didn’t want to destroy trust with consultancy under

contract.

Case study – QuestionCase study – Question

If you were keen to be involved in which order would you communicate with the stakeholders Edward, Robert and Chris?

First person to contact, and the order you would contact them.

Communication processCommunication process

Identify stakeholders

and their motivations

Identify stakeholders

and their motivations

Chose communication

media

Chose communication

media

Identify audiences

based on their needs

Identify audiences

based on their needs

Select the communicators

and roles

Select the communicators

and roles

Establish feedback

mechanisms

Establish feedback

mechanisms

Stakeholder mappingStakeholder mapping

.X .Z.Y

High

Low

Blocker

Level of support

Undecided Champion

High

Level of power & influence

Low

Stakeholder mappingStakeholder mapping

.X .Z.Y

High

Low

Blocker

Support initially towards Bezant team

Undecided Champion

High

Power within this programme

Low

Project Manager Chris

Sponsor Edward

Director GSC Robert

Audience feedbackAudience feedback

Most popular response communicate first with the person – which has the most power (Edward) – and then, to communicate with the next level (Robert) – and finally the current project manager (Chris)

The majority suggestion is to approach the stakeholder with the highest perceived power first

Evidence suggests the answer is counterintuitive.

Feedback dataFeedback data

Preference for first choice communication

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Chris Robert Edward

Selection category

%Introductory pm

Advancecd pm

Professional project management courses 2002-2004 both at corporate training centres and University College London. Sample size for introductory project management courses 219. Sample for advanced project management and leadership courses 49.

How the project developed (outline to audience)How the project developed (outline to audience)

Edward did not want to mar the relationship with Robert– genuine desire to get project on track– power difference between Edward and Robert– keen to show that resources were not wasted

Key to effective development were the workshops– suggested by Bezant

Robert adamant that he was part of this process– communication through Edward to ensure that Robert

was an audience member.

Counterintuitive approachCounterintuitive approach

Counterintuitive approach was shown to be effective – reverse order of the majority of class responses

Key benefits with communicating with current project manager first– empathy provided trust and good working relationship– needed his expertise– reassure that Bezant did not want to take credit

Promote Bezant’s cutting edge technical capabilities – real-time workshops– shortage of project managers

Second conversationSecond conversation

Conversation with Robert– Robert blamed current project manager– did not want to admit lack of direction– control this programme

John’s proposal– Robert’s consultancy retains control– Bezant act as advisors– Edward to decide future direction

John requested– Chris was involved in workshops.

Third conversationThird conversation

Discussion with Edward – in private– concern to retain long-term relationship with

GSC– proposal immediately accepted– Edward still wanted to verify and discuss this

with Robert.

Lack of breakthroughLack of breakthrough

Chris was extremely experienced– High level of documention, although no

breakthrough

Negative mood – people focus on deductive reasoning (Palfai

and Salovey 1993)

Positive mood – creative new ideas (Schwarz 2002).

Implications for project management trainingImplications for project management training

Students found this a useful framework to discuss ideas on emotional intelligence

Powerful effect on perceptions and learning

Differences in need for project managers – emotional skills are important for good team

leadership– empathy and influencing essential for

working with other consultancy teams– matching behaviour and influencing the

emotions of others (Matthews et. al. 2002).

Empathy and intelligent use of emotionsEmpathy and intelligent use of emotions

Creating harmony and collaboration builds trust and co-operation among teams

Essential to listen to concerns of others Give advice in their best interest Make intelligent decisions based on emotions Important that these are explored in project

management training courses Deep understanding of others in organisational

setting can facilitate change (Huy 1999).

Intelligent responses to emotionsIntelligent responses to emotions

Role of the manager– to interpret emotions– act on them effectively

Case study illustrated need to– empathise– also seek creative solutions

Emotions follow certain patterns– we can predict the likely outcomes – and responses to future events– ‘..good at using emotions to facilitate thinking

are better at motivating others.’(Caruso and Salovey 2004).

Implications for advanced coursesImplications for advanced courses

Greatest percentage of students selecting the person with the most perceived power was favoured by experienced managers and those with MBA backgrounds– ensure leadership support– agreed that seeking support before discussing

proposals with senior management may be more effective in this context

– ‘enough power to lead the change’ (Kotter 1996) Decrease in emotional awareness

– documented after MBA programmes (Goleman et. al. 2002)

– may be explained by decisiveness– Consensus, power can help you achieve your aims– recent textbooks emphasize listening to everyones

views (Hooper and Potter 2000).

Learning modelsLearning models

Tumult– recreating a learning situation through discontinuity– challenging perceptions, discussing views and providing a

context within a case study may be one approach Practice

– habits and interactions become embedded (Lieberman 2000)

– new and more productive habits requires practice Visioning

– placing oneself in the place of the participants– powerful effect on memory (Kreiman et. al. 2000)– well-designed case studies, that challenge us to make

decisions on emotions may help students prepare for work situations

Framework to discuss with colleagues the areas of emotional intelligence and to challenge assumptions.

ReferencesReferences

Caruso, D.R. and Salovey, P. (2004) The Emotionally Intelligent Manager, Jossey-Bass

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. and McKee, A. (2002) Primal Leadership, Harvard Business School Press

Hooper, A. and Potter, J. (2000) Intelligent Leadership: Creating a Passion for Change, Random House.

Huy, Q.N. (1999) Emotional Capability, Emotional Intelligence, and Radical Change, Academy of Management Review, 24: 325-345.

Kotter, J. (1996). Leading Change, Harvard Business School Press. Kreiman, G., Koch,C. and Fried, I (2000) Imagery Neurons in the

Human Brain, Nature 408: 357-361. Liebermann, M.D. (2000) Psychological Bulletin 126: 109-137 Matthews, G., Zeidener, and Roberts, R. (2002) Emotional Intelligence,

MIT Press. Palfai, T.P., and Salovey, P. (1993) The Influence of Depressed and

Elated Mood on Deductive and Inductive Reasoning, Imagination Cognition and Personality, 13, 57-71.

Schwarz, N. (2002) ‘Situated Cognition and the Wisdom in Feelings: Cognitive Tuning’ in Barrett, L.F. and Salovey, P. (eds.) The Wisdom in feeling: Psychological Processes in Emotional Intelligence. NewYork: Guilford Press.