Dinah YoungProject Manager / Software Asset Manager| Prince William CountySpringfield, Va, United States
We all know that the majority of the breakdowns in projects can be contributed to mistakes made in Communications. Some of the recent ones I have experienced are:
- Talking at a person, not with them. - Speaking in a language they do not understand, whether technical, business or other. - Listening with the objective to respond not to understand. - Not talking to the proper person directly but trying to figure out what they meant with others. - Allowing preconceived feelings about the person to prevent you from communicating.
What are some of the communication breakdowns you have experienced? Saving Changes...
Amir AliProject Manager| Northbay Solutions Pvt LtdLahore, Punjab, Pakistan
- Keep on justifying a mistake instead of accepting and building action items to avoid happening again.
- Use authority rather than arguments to convince someone.
- Try to on win the dispute rather than focussing on what is correct and what is right for the team/project. Saving Changes...
Daniel SilvaData Project Manager| InforRio De Janeiro, Rj, Brazil
Hi Dinah, how are you? Was very funny because today I was talking with some friends about this topic, communication between project members. And, follow my tips:
- I try to avoid send irrelevant information. Sometimes we send to much information and we just skip the most important message we need to share.
- I try to avoid conflict making simple. For example, if do you want to ask why, just ask why, don´t tell a history taking a walk around the world to ask why.
- I try to be logic, without emotion. It´s better to speech with the brain, but, with emotional intelligence.
- And I always ask, if the person has understand me? If the answer is yes, I ask to the person explain to me what was the understanding of my message. I try to put everybody on the same page.
Cordially,
Daniel Carneiro da Silva Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Communication Blockers is certainly something that needs to be taken into consideration and what you’ve mentioned above are the most common causes of miscommunication or conflict.
One thing that can enhance communication is if the initiator shows consideration to the other party perspective. It definitely can help. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
There are a lot of buzzwords and missunderstanding around communication mainly because some consulting firms that are making business around it have been stablish it. All you have to know about the matter is inside: Shannon, Claude Elwood (2011) [July and October 1948]. A Mathematical Theory of Communication. Saving Changes...
1. Ignoring upward and downward vertical communication that flows among all project team levels can directly affect a project
2. Rumor Mill Fuel: if PM doesn’t communicate effectively to project team and stakeholders, it can lead to more communication -- just the wrong kind.
3. Forgetting that people apply different meanings to different words can negatively affect the project.
4. Ignoring cultural interpreting and level of education of team members Saving Changes...
Gonzalo Jimenez YamasakiCo-founder - Body Language Trainer/Coach| Ready To Jump .ProCoquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
Great post Dinah! I wish there were most people contributing to this.
In my case, I used to think about my answer before seeking understanding when speaking with someone. It is hard, but nowadays I seek to learn more about what the other person means before working on my answer.
I have learned that body language can be used for making my communication skills stronger, both listening and speaking.
I have seen many friends struggling miscommunications happens when they work with global teams on different time zones especially on start and end of daylight settings. Missing meeting schedules. Saving Changes...
We seem to have huge issues with how contractor's interpret our requirements or "Statement of Work". Some of it is done intentionally, but upon reflection, in many cases, the requirements were not entirely precise. To avoid such situations, we are now trying a new approach where we meet with successful contractors prior to the start of a project to ensure we are on the same page.
Last year I attended a PMI seminar where a speaker mentioned that different generations communicate differently, which is something I hadn't thought of before. This is actually a big problem between baby boomers and Gen X and millennials. Saving Changes...
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