Project management has matured with many professional organizations, certifications, and bodies of knowledge, yet we still hear of numerous project failures. What has gone wrong; is project management broken? I don’t think it is broken in terms of any of it being fundamentally wrong, but certainly flawed in the view that good project management ensures success.

You see, what project management with all its plans, estimates and reporting omits is a good recognition for the huge impact people play in projects. Consider for a moment the roadblocks we encounter on projects, the most common and toughest to resolve are people related. Yet the classic project management guides focus more on Earned Value than Influencing, more on KPI’s than Knowledge Transfer, more on Project Tracking than Team Performance. Project management may be correct, but it is not sufficient for creating success.

Like considering only speed limits and traffic signals, but ignoring other traffic movement when driving, we will run into people, have accidents, and not get to our destination on time with such a myopic view of the big picture. A large portion of the missing part of project success is Emotional Intelligence (EI) and the EI skills most needed by project managers include:

•    Communication Skills
•    Persuasive Leadership
•    Conflict Management
•    Change Management
•    Adaptive Personality

For more information on the importance of EI for project managers and how these skills are applied see this recent White Paper.