Relatively new PM struggling with communication

Hello!

First I want to say welcome to the PM world :). Now, being in a department that small can be challenging, but I assume you are working with other stakeholders as you work through and understand the project. This is where your main communication should come into play, checking in on progress, working with them to plan the tasks/events coming, etc. Although PM work is sometimes things being done separetly from others, you should not be doing everything on your own.

Now I only speak from my experience, and maybe I am not assuming your situation correctly, but just remember this, if anything, when you worked with an emergency, you had a plan, things you had to do, and the closing/clean up. This work is the same. Look at each project like an emergency.

Good luck!

Getting people on board is the challenge and depends on how projects are worked on and the culture of your organization. Do you have to negotiate for people to do the work? Usually teams are formed early on in a project so that everyone knows about the project and the goals. In my experience teams members usually work part time on projects while they work on their day-to-day work. Defining the project starts with a project charter (you can find templates here).

After the charter you can put together a resource and communication plan. There are several templates available on this site.

I make a list of all of the project work streams, deliverables, meetings needed, meeting purpose, team members that need to attend, and frequency.

I also plan out the status updates and how to get the information from the team. Weekly team meetings, and daily calls like those used in agile. What did you work on yesterday, what are you working on today, and what is blocking you from completing your goals. As a PM you can help the team remove those blockers. It depends on how your project is structured.

I usually pick up the phone and check in on the team to chat and form a bond. It's important as a project manager that you create an atmosphere of trust and your willingness to help move things forward.

Project management is all about communication, resolving issues and creating a cohesive team that trusts the PM. Also you need to be aware of other priorities in the organization that may impact your deliverables.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

Each project starts with identifying and analysing stakeholders, even before a charter is signed.

Out of this you will have communication needs and can plan for communications in its flavors of informing, extracting data, dialogue, conflict resolution, negotiation and influencing.

A good book about this is Tom Peter's Project 50.