Want to be a Strategic Project Manager? Communicate Better!
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Date
by Dave Wakeman
In recent months, I’ve been talking about how to become a more strategic project manager on this blog (see here, here and here). I thought it would be a good idea to circle back and talk about how being an effective communicator will help you be more strategic.
Here are three tips to remember:
1. Communications is at the base of performance.
Never lose sight of the fact that as a project manager, you are basically a paid communicator. And, as a communicator, you have certain responsibilities: being clear, keeping your message concise and making sure you are understood.
If you aren’t meeting these requirements, you are likely going to struggle to achieve success in your projects. In addition, poor communicating may mean you miss the message about why this project is important to the organization. You also may miss information from the team on the ground that would shape the organization’s deliberations about the project.
So always focus on making sure that your communications up and down the organization are clear, concise and understood.
2. A free flow of communications delivers new ideas.
Managing a lot of communications and information is challenging—I get that. But by the same token, if you aren’t exposing yourself to information from many different sources (both inside and outside the organization), you’re likely missing out on ideas that can transform your opinions and open you up to new ways of looking at things.
While being a strong project manager is about having a good, solid framework for decision-making, you aren’t going to have all the technical expertise yourself. In addition, your team may be only focused on the one area that they are in charge of. So it’s important that someone is open to the flow of ideas that can come from any direction and that may have the power to reshape your project in unimaginable ways.
You can achieve this by making sure you have conversations up and down the organization and pay attention to things outside of your scope of work. You never know where a good idea is going to come from.
3. Relationships are the key to project success—and they’re built through communication.
If we aren’t careful, we can forget that our project teams are groups of people with wants and needs. Remember: at the heart of our work are real people whom our projects impact.
That’s why it’s essential that you focus on the human aspect of being a project manager, especially if you want to become a top-notch, strategic project manager. Our human interactions and relationships are the key to our success as project managers.
This is something you should be taking action on all the time. Maybe you start by pulling someone on your team aside for a conversation about what’s going on. Maybe you find out a little more about the person’s home life. Or, you just make sure you have an open-door policy when it comes to information on your projects.
The key is to make sure you give your personal relationships an opportunity to thrive in the project setting.
Let me know what you think in a comment below!
By the way, I write a weekly newsletter that focuses on strategy, value, and performance. If you enjoyed this piece, you will really enjoy the weekly newsletter. Make sure you never miss it! Sign up here or send me an email at [email protected]!
Posted
by
David Wakeman
on: April 10, 2016 02:30 PM |
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Comments (10)
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Madeline Harris
Vice President, Senior Project Manager Comerica Securities| Comerica Bank
Bloomfield Hills, Mi, United States
I think the importance of communication can never be over-emphasized. Thank you for articulating how important this is, and also remarking on how large that sphere is . . . not just our team and our stakeholders, but well beyond.
Thanks for the post! The majority of project management work is communication. It's very important to keep all relevant stakeholders and team members in the loop. Especially in large teams the project manager must spend a greater part of his time communicating and making sure that everyone has the same understanding.
James Sweatman
Sr. Enterprise Project Manager| Mecklenburg County
Charlotte, Nc, United States
Thanks for sharing this information. Communication is definitely key to our success. Ensuring that good information is flowing freely up and down the organizational ''pipe line'' is essential. Not only does the information need to clear, concise and correct, it needs to be timely so that we can act upon it accordingly.
There also needs to be a ''safe harbor'' for feedback on information being provided whether good or bad. This develops both trust and relationships with those we interact with.
Steven Wong
Training Advisor/Project Lead| National Bank of Canada
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
This is great information. I totally agree that communication is the key to getting any project up, running and successfully implemented. All aspects of the communications needs to be clear and concise from the beginning otherwise there tends to be too much miscommunication and misconception that begin to creep into the mix and dynamic things.
I agree with James that there does need to be "safe harbour" where good or bad information can be provided without fear of reprisal.
Linda Miller
Project Management
Huntington, Ny, United States
I completely agree that communication on projects are key. From my own experience, I have found challenges in getting it right. For example, it sometimes feels like we are communicating for the sake of communicating rather than it being correctly targeted and focused.
Also, in this age of multiple communications channels and the bombardment of information it is hard to know that the information is getting to the folks it needs to. In my view, grabbing someone, even if it is whilst they are getting a coffee, to fill them in on something important can be helpful.
David Wakeman
Principal| Wakeman Consulting Group
Washington, Dc, United States
Thank you all for your comments.
I stick to the maxim that 90% of a PM's job is communication.
Unfortunately, even knowing that is true, we still need to keep focusing on it and improving it.
RMA GOYAL
PM Consultant| Self
Fl, United States
How do you deal with demotivated people, in the project team. They pull the whole team down. This mode can lead to monotony and boredom among teams gradually affecting the team morale.
Since everyone agrees that communication is the most important aspect of project success, we should focus on improving the communication skills of all project team members, and not just those of PMs. Even if a PM is an outstanding communicator, a PM can't know what is not shared with him by the project team - and even a seemingly minor omission can cause the project to spiral down into chaos. Many companies might be well served by providing brief communication classes to all employees, in addition to hiring PMs that focus on communication.
Xavier Vinueza
Electronic engineer| Independient
Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador
Thanks for your comments, I think there are more than one item I have to work on.
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