EI – Leading Answers

March 9, 2022September 27, 2025Agile Project Management, Books, Emotional Intelligence, Teams

Emotional Intelligence for Scrum Masters, Team Leads and Project Managers – #3

<This is post 3 in a multi-post series about EI and leadership taken from my book Beyond Agile. Check out Post 1 and Post 2 first if you have not seen them. In this article, we will dive into personal growth and the power of discovering the space between stimulus and response.> EI’s origins – Mayer and Salovey Four-Branch Model The precursor to Goleman’s EQ and Bar-On’s EQ-i models was created by John Mayer and Peter Salovey, who published their research in 1990. The Mayer and Salovey model extends the maturing idea we looked at in post #2 and adds layers of sophistication. It is called the Four-Branch model because it describes four branches of emotional skills, going down the […]

March 2, 2022September 27, 2025Agile Project Management, Books, Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, Teams

Emotional Intelligence for Scrum Masters, Team Leads and Project Managers – #2

This is post #2 in a multi-post series about EI and leadership taken from my book Beyond Agile. Check out Post #1 first, if you have not seen it already. In this article, we will explore what EI is and why it’s often such a tricky topic to define due to the proliferation of different models with similar-sounding components. EI – Better Results by Becoming More Effective Let us start the EI exploration journey with a process we are all familiar with, growing up and becoming independent adults. Stephen Covey talks about a progression of maturity and effectiveness that people go through as they get older. We start as children, dependent on our parents for food, shelter, and support […]

February 27, 2022Agile Project Management, Books, Personal Agility, Teams

Emotional Intelligence for Scrum Masters, Team Leads and Project Managers – #1

I am long overdue for posting to LeadingAnswers.com. I have been busy finishing the content and games over at PMillustrated.com. While explaining project management through cartoon animals is fun, I wanted to post some meatier content here. This is the first in a multi-post series about emotional intelligence (EI) as the foundation for team leadership. The material comes from my Beyond Agile book and explains why a firm basis of EI is critical to becoming an effective Scrum Master, team lead, or project manager. This first post introduces EI and explains its significance. Leadership and EI work together to create cohesive, cooperative teams. The two approaches support each other and enable organizations and team leaders to build teams that overcome […]

August 26, 2010Agile Project Management, Teams

Correct but not Sufficient

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, […]