Role of emotional intelligence in enhancing the leadership skills of project managers in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The importance of human factors is very important in project management, and that can effectively lead to project and conduction management outcomes. It is important to have both hard skills, like technical skills, and soft skills, which are non-technical, to enhance team performance. Lack of soft skills and competencies among the leaders is one of the main causes of project failure. Improving project managers' emotional intelligence (EI) has substantial implications for the performance of the organization, project, and team. Thus, this study was aimed at investigating to investigating the role of emotional intelligence in enhancing the leadership skills of project managers in achieving project success in Sri Lanka. The research adopted a qualitative approach to achieving this aim by using a literature review and two rounds of semi-structured interviews with industry experts. The collected data was analyzed using the manual content analysis method. The study identified eleven (11) project managers’ important leadership skills that can be enhanced by EI components namely, social skills, leader-member exchange/ relationship management, empowering/motivation, teamwork, toleration, self- efficacy, effective communication, developing and achieving, smartness/ appearance, public relationship, and human resources management. In addition, study reveals twenty-one (21) EI components that can enhance project managers’ important leadership skills. Moreover, the study identified twelve (12) numbers of critical barriers of using emotional intelligence and twenty-seven (27) numbers of suitable strategies to manage the above-identified barriers to using emotional intelligence. The research depicts that leaders with higher emotional intelligence have more skills than those with lower, and how those leaders enhance the quality of their work by achieving successful outcomes in a project. Further, this study recommends fostering a culture of continuous learning and a growth mindset among project managers and encouraging them to seek out opportunities for self-improvement, stay updated on the latest leadership theories and practices, and actively apply new knowledge and skills in their roles, and also encourage senior leaders within the organization to serve as role models for high EI and effective leadership practices in Sri Lanka. EI improves team performance by promoting effective communication and reducing conflicts, leading to higher productivity and better project outcomes.