ABSTRACT
The ability to communicate at multiple levels is recognized as extremely important by managers (Starkweather and Stevenson 2011). Project managers need excellent interpersonal and soft skills in order to be able to have conversations about levels of satisfaction with project customers. These interpersonal skills and the ability to operate in a mature communicative way are often bundled under the heading of emotional intelligence. Clarke and Howell (2009) identified four project management competence areas associated to emotional intelligence: communication, teamwork, attentiveness and managing conflict. While an understanding of emotional intelligence across all competence areas is relevant for project managers in conversation with customers, the most relevant area is attentiveness.
