Project Toolkitby Maxime Lab
Leadership and Business Skills · tool 9 of 11

Leadership and Business Skills · tool 9 of 11

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence: manages your reactions and reads other people’s.

Best for: Pressure, conflict · Time: Practice
Domain: Across all domains · Focus area: Executing

How it works

Daniel Goleman’s popular framing covers self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. On projects, it shows when things go wrong and everyone watches how you respond.

  • Notice your triggers.
  • Pause before replying.
  • Name what you think others feel, and check.

How to apply it

  1. Note what set you off this week.
  2. Add a pause rule for hard messages.
  3. Ask what people need.
  4. Ask for honest feedback.
In practice

An angry email arrives. You wait an hour, then call, and find it’s a misunderstanding.

Pro tip

Your team mirrors your stress. Calm is a project tool.

Quick check

What’s the first component?

Sources

  • D. Goleman, Emotional Intelligence (1995)

Last reviewed 2026-11-02 against the PMBOK® Guide, 8th edition · Practitioner review pending · How this guide is made