The Importance of Listening

Syed is an experienced project manager with more than 14 years of ICT experience, successfully delivering high-value key projects across all domains of ICT services.

  Communications Management  

It was an emergency meeting called to discuss the impact of design flaws on the project. Seasoned project manager Abdullah was at the receiving end of criticism from every corner of the room. During the meeting, I wondered: Why were these voices not raised at the right time? Why is all this fuss being created now?

As the meeting progressed, I came to realize that--as a matter of fact--all opinions actually were sent to Ahmed, but he kept ignoring them. On a couple of occasions, he even overlooked the PMO recommendations. Hearing through his justifications for doing so, I sensed that he failed to listen effectively and worked as a one-man army.

By not listening to all stakeholders, Ahmed had put the company’s reputation, customer satisfaction, the project’s purpose and the cost of completing the project at risk. In a nutshell, his mistake forced rework, cost and schedule overruns, and customer dissatisfaction.

In this article, I will highlight the importance of listening and why project managers must develop this skill--and make sure that they use it effectively in their project management practice.

What do PMI Global Standards say about listening? A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) outlines communication management as one of its key knowledge areas, and it has three processes that facilitate project communication. The …

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