People & Leadership
Interpersonal skills and team dynamics for effective project leadership.
Emotional Intelligence (EI or EQ) is the ability to identify, assess, and manage the emotions of oneself and others. Daniel Goleman's five components:
| Self-Awareness | Recognizing your emotions, strengths, weaknesses, and their impact. |
| Self-Regulation | Controlling disruptive impulses. Thinking before acting. |
| Motivation | Internal drive to achieve. Passion, optimism, commitment. |
| Empathy | Understanding others' emotions. Cross-cultural sensitivity. |
| Social Skills | Building networks, finding common ground, persuasiveness. |
PMs with high EI are more effective at conflict resolution, team building, and stakeholder engagement.
The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument identifies five approaches:
| Collaborate | Win-Win. Multiple viewpoints to consensus. Best long-term approach. |
| Compromise | Lose-Lose (partial). Each party gives up something. |
| Smooth | Lose-Win. Emphasize agreement, de-emphasize disagreement. |
| Force | Win-Lose. Push one viewpoint. Used in emergencies. |
| Withdraw | Lose-Lose. Retreat. Temporary; issue remains unresolved. |
Key PMP exam point: Collaboration/Problem Solving is preferred. Most common conflict sources: schedules, priorities, resources, technical opinions, personality.
A RACI Matrix clarifies roles and responsibilities for each task or decision:
| R — Responsible | The person(s) who performs the work. Can be multiple. |
| A — Accountable | Ultimate owner. Only one person per task. |
| C — Consulted | Subject matter experts. Two-way communication. |
| I — Informed | Kept up-to-date. One-way communication. |
Best Practices
- Every task must have exactly one "A"
- Minimize "R" assignments to avoid diffusion of responsibility
- Review with stakeholders to resolve gaps and overlaps