Communicating Project Information

Communication is all important in project management. You will build a communication plan that shows who needs what information, when the information is needed, what’s the best modality to deliver the message, and who should have access to the information. As a project manager, you may spend most of your time communicating, maybe as much as 90 percent: talking with the project team, meeting with stakeholders, e-mailing management, coordinating with vendors, and more and more. If you’re a good communicator, you can be a great project manager.

Communication is a two-way street that requires a sender and a receiver. Active listening is needed in important conversations. Active listening happens when the receiver of the message paraphrases what the sender has said and reflects on the feeling in the message to clarify and confirm the message. For example, if a project team member tells you, with a frown, that they hope an assignment will be done in seven days, you’d paraphrase that the work package will be done a week from today. This gives the project team member the opportunity to clarify that the work package will actually be done nine days from today because of the upcoming weekend—they’ll need seven working days to complete the assignment. Then, you can ask about the emotion in the message, “It seems you are worried about meeting the due date.”

There are several communication avenues:

? Listening and speaking

? Written (either physical or electronic) and spoken (either face-to-face or remote)

? Internal, focusing on stakeholders within the project and within the organization, such as project team member to team member

? External, focusing on customers, vendors, other projects, organizations, government, the public, and environmental advocates

? Formal, as in project reviews, stakeholder briefings, product demos, progress reports, project documents, or presentations

? Informal, such as conversations, e-mails, instant messaging/texting, websites, social media, and “bump into” meetings

? Vertical, which follows the organizational flowchart

? Horizontal, such as peers of the project manager or team.

Now is the time to elevate your communication skills. Become a more effective leader by mastering both listening and delivering clear, actionable messages. Effective communication is the key to driving your projects—and your career—forward!