As a program coordinator, you need to communicate effectively with different stakeholders, such as team members, clients, sponsors, and vendors. Keeping everyone informed about project status is crucial for ensuring alignment, accountability, and transparency. But how can you do it without overwhelming or confusing anyone? Here are some tips to help you.
The first step is to select the appropriate tools for your project communication and collaboration. Depending on the size, complexity, and nature of your project, you may need different tools for different purposes. For example, you may use a project management software to track tasks, milestones, and risks; an online platform to share documents, files, and feedback; a video conferencing tool to conduct meetings and presentations; and a messaging app to chat and exchange updates. Choose the tools that suit your project needs, budget, and preferences, and make sure everyone knows how to use them.
To keep everyone updated on project status, use project management tools that offer real-time updates and accessible dashboards. Hold regular meetings or calls for consistent progress reports. Develop a communication plan detailing the frequency and channels for updates, tailored to different audience needs. Send regular newsletters or emails to broader stakeholders, summarizing key developments. Tailor the detail level to the audience, ensuring those directly involved get comprehensive information, while others receive brief summaries. This ensures clear, consistent, and tailored communication across the project.
The next step is to create a clear and consistent communication plan for your project. A communication plan is a document that outlines who needs to communicate what, when, how, and why. It helps you to avoid confusion, duplication, or omission of information. A communication plan should include the following elements: communication objectives, communication roles and responsibilities, communication methods and channels, communication frequency and schedule, communication formats and templates, and communication feedback and evaluation.
One of the most effective ways to keep everyone informed about project status is to use status reports. Status reports are summaries of the project progress, achievements, issues, and risks that are delivered at regular intervals. They help you to monitor and control the project, as well as to inform and engage the stakeholders. Status reports should be concise, accurate, and relevant. They should highlight the key information, such as the project scope, schedule, budget, quality, deliverables, changes, dependencies, and action items.
a) Weekly project status update meeting minutes - keep track of progress, review progress and management risks. Meeting minutes can be important for other relevant stakeholders or key members that does not attend the meeting. These project minutes can be : - sent out as email to all relevant parties as form of project communications AND/OR - posted on dedicated project page in Confluence/Atlassian. This allow flexibility for easy access to check status compare with searching for a long list of emails (in Outlook/Gmail!) after a day or two.
Another way to keep everyone informed about project status is to conduct status meetings. Status meetings are meetings that are held periodically to review the project performance, discuss the status reports, address the issues and risks, and plan the next steps. They help you to coordinate and collaborate with the project team and other stakeholders, as well as to resolve any problems or conflicts. Status meetings should be well-organized, focused, and productive. They should follow an agenda, have clear objectives, assign roles, and document outcomes.
The final tip is to communicate proactively with your project stakeholders. Communicating proactively means anticipating and initiating the communication, rather than waiting or reacting to it. It helps you to build trust, rapport, and credibility with your stakeholders, as well as to avoid surprises, misunderstandings, or complaints. Communicating proactively means updating your stakeholders regularly, informing them of any changes or issues, seeking their feedback and input, acknowledging their contributions and concerns, and celebrating their successes and achievements.
I completely agree visualisation is the key as it is can easy be interpreted into directions, amounts and trends. Simple or not, where the actual board is placed is also a minor but strategically important element. It should be the focal point of those participating in the project.
Create a visual project management board that tracks the key milestones of the different teams and progress on weekly basis. The different teams e.g NPI/Production , QA, SW, HW/FW, Architecture Definition. The additional advantage of this visual board is practically anybody in the office can see the status updates/changes. The active team members will also be able relate directly to their contribution to the milestones.
For a wider audiences of stakeholders e.g. Sales/Marketing , Technical support teams etc, you may want to communicate the overall status of readiness of the multiple projects in a bi-weekly or monthly meeting . It can be a very high level update.