|
Basic Tips to Develop Effective
Project Communication
Skills
 One of the biggest factors for
low performance of project managers is poor
communication skills. Project managers are too often
promoted for their technical accomplishments, without
any assessment of their communication skills. If the
project manager is not a good communicator, then he or
she should
not be a project
manager. Otherwise, the organization increases the risks
to the project and increases the work that senior
supervisors need to do in order fill in for this gap.
Essentially, communication means transferring ideas, but
communication is more than speaking, the spoken words
are only 7% of communication and that body language,
facial expressions, tonality, and style constitute the
rest of the 93%. To be a good communicator is not
difficult, but requires practice and good coaching, here
are some basic tips that will help any project manager
improve these skills:
1. Listen, listen, and listen.
Spend time to learn to listen, hear what your staff and
stakeholders are saying before sending any
communications, listening will give opportunities for
clues about what the intended audience is prepared to
hear from the project. Communication is a two-way
street, so it is important to listen carefully when the
team members, beneficiaries or other key stakeholders
are speaking
2. Ask questions and ask for
questions –When hearing something that it is not clear,
then people should ask about it. It is important that
everyone understands exactly the message.. Equally
important is to let a team member asks questions to
clarify a point and it should be answered in a timely
manner. The team member may be bringing up a crucial
detail that could make or break the project’s
plans.
3. Don’t delay key messages.
Make the effort to ensure that those who should know
about any project changes know about it as soon as
possible. Not sending the communication to the right
people at the right time may result in work may not get
done; or worse, work done in an area that has been
cancelled.
4. Be consistent with your key
messages. Nothing confuses more than sending
inconsistent messages about the project. If one
communication tells a message that the project is on
track, but another says there are delays, the project
manager will be seen as not having a clue on what is
going on, and that deteriorates the image of the
project. Revise the communication for inconsistencies
before sending to their intended
audiences
5. Know your audience. It is a
great mistake to assume that one message can fit all the
project audiences. The project lives in an environment
that is made up of people from different backgrounds and
levels of understanding about the project. Even cultural
differences call for a need to customize the
communication. Make an effort to communicate by
expressing the message from the point of view of the
audience.
6. Make the message simple,
concise and to the point. Nothing breaks down
communications than sending long and complex messages.
Long speeches or long documents filled with information
that is not relevant will cause the audience to lose its
focus and concentration on the message. Make sure that
your message is easy to read, calls for action, or
informs without using a lot of
explanations.
7. Pay attention to nonverbal
communications. As much as 93 percent of the meaning
transmitted between two people in face-to-face
communication is nonverbal. Nonverbal communications
include gestures, body language, facial expressions and
eye contact. Project managers need to take into account
their nonverbal cues when communication verbally,
ensuring a good posture, good eye contact and the right
tone of voice is used that do not contradict the words
that are being spoken.
“The single
biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it
has taken place.” – George Bernard
Shaw
|
