Dr. Laura Hills Teaches Emotional Intelligence Skills to Project Managers
Dr. Laura Hills and Michael Van Dyke co-facilitated two days of emotional intelligence training for project managers on May 8 and June 7, 2013.
June 11, 2013:
Do you believe that you spend way too much of your time managing other people's issues? If so, you're not alone. Project and program managers in the greater Washington, DC area recently sought answers to this problem by taking one or two days of training in emotional intelligence. The seminars, which could be taken separately or together, ran on May 8 and June 7, 2013. They were co-facilitated by Blue Pencil Institute president Dr. Laura Hills and Michael Van Dyke of Serengeti Enterprises, LLC. Explains Dr. Hills, "Project and program managers often cite people problems within the team as an enormous time and energy drain. Miscommunications, misunderstandings, mistrust, egos, jealosy, pettiness, anger, poor listening, lack of empathy, fear, blame, shame, self-centeredness -- these and other problems can fester in a team, jeopardizing the work, and make everyone absolutely miserable. But it doesn't have to be that way."
The two days of emotional intelligence training were co-sponsored by the Project Management Institute of Washington, DC (PMIWDC) and Northern Virginina Community College Workforce Development. Participants examined emotional intelligence models, their own emotional intelligence, the skills that strengthen their teams' emotional intelligence, and specifically, what they can do to foster high-functioning teams. The training included many hands-on exercises that Dr. Hills and Mr. Van Dyke developed to engage project and program managers in active learning.
Notably, the June 7 program featured the Hills-Van Dyke Team Emotional Intelligence Assessment Instrument that Dr. Hills and Mr. Van Dyke developed for the seminar. According to Wesley O. Hagood, PMP, who has road-tested the instrument, "The Hills-Van Dyke Team Emotional Intelligence Assessment Instrument was very useful in helping me diagnose emotional intelligence challenges. It helped a team I was leading develop a plan to increase the emotional intelligence of the team as a whole. It is a great tool that will prove very useful for project managers for many years to come." Linda Edmiston, PMP, who also used the instrument, agreed that it was extremely helpful. According to Edmiston, "I highly recommend the Hills-Van Dyke Team Emotional Intelligence Assessment Instrument. I used this tool with my project team as a way to help broaden their understanding of what emotional intelligence is and how it plays into team dynamics. I believe this helped raise awareness among team members on their individual and group behaviors and is helping to move us towards more productive interaction with one another. The questions alone offer incredible insight into the heart of the problems that plague most teams. I plan on revisiting them from time to time to increase my team's emotional intelligence."
Participants earned 7 PDUs for each day of sold-out training. Dr. Hills and Mr. Van Dyke will be repeating the second seminar on July 19, 2013 to accommodate the wait-list of participants for the program.
