Continuing from last week’s discussion on the complexity of project management communication, I want to demonstrate another reason for the complexity of project management communication. Project managers deal with a multitude of communication events from one-on-one coaching of team members to negotiating with stakeholders to formal presentations on project status to executives. Each communication event has similar components: know your communication goal(s), know your audience, and pay careful attention to feedback.
Even so, each communication event has specific needs peculiar to that event. For example, project managers use different communication strategies and techniques during a negotiation than they would during a motivational session with the project team. The strategic goal(s) of the communication drive which communication methods and techniques are used by the project manager. This is why, in my class on project management communication, I encourage students to create a PM communication toolbox and stock it with different communication tools.
I am interested in cataloging all of the communication events a project manager engages in during the course of the project. If 90% of a project manager’s work is communication, what percentages of the 90% are devoted to negotiation, formal presentations, coaching, and other types of communication? Are some communication events more prevalent in certain parts of the project life cycle as compared to other communication events?
These are vital questions because project managers are the “centers of communication” of the project (Mersino, 2007, p. 112). However, project managers “are not generally measured or rewarded on their communication performance” (McManus, 2006, p. 100). Training project managers to be better communicators is an integral part of increasing project success. The first step is to realize how complex project management communication is and helping project managers build their communication toolboxes.
References:
McManus, J. (2006). Leadership: Project and human capital management. Boston: Elsevier.
Mersino, A. (2007). Emotional intelligence for project managers: The people skills you need to achieve outstanding results. AMACOM: New York.
