Project Communications

The communications of a project include all means and manners that the project interacts with all its stakeholders. This not only includes the standard, formal communication items such as:

• Status reports
• Progress review meetings
• Kickoff meetings
• Executive reports
• Presentations
• Financial reports
• Government (or external agency) reports
• Issue logs
• Risk logs
• Change request logs
• Role-responsibility matrix
• Project organization chart
• Any project meeting (in any form/option)
• Any project deliverable
• Project collaboration tools

But can also include organizational change management communications such as:

• Project name/identity
• Project website (portal)
• Enterprise social networking platforms
• Organizational change management plan
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) references
• Awareness campaigns
• Newsletters
• Public relation notices
• Roadshows
• One-on-one meetings with key stakeholders

Although the nature of your individual project (number and type of stakeholders, location of stakeholders, and overall project risk level) dictates how many of these elements are part of your project, the next set of project communications are included on every project, and are likely the most important part of project communications: the day-to-day, interpersonal communications that occur between the project team and the project stakeholders. These include interactions in the following forms, plus others:

• Face-to-face
• Telephone
• Email
• Instant messaging (individual or group)
• Voice mail
• Texting
• Conferencing (audio, web, or video)
• Meetings

Project communications are not only important for the obvious reason- keeping
individual stakeholders properly and consistently informed on the status, progress, and impact of the project—they are a key determinant factor to the overall success of the project due to following reasons:

Managing expectations- The quality and effectiveness of your communications will have a tremendous impact on stakeholder perceptions regarding the project and your role as a leader.

Managing the project team—Your ability to communicate is the prominent factor affecting how well you manage and lead the core project team.

Reducing conflicts—There are enough challenges executing your average project with the customary time, fiscal, and resource constraints without adding unnecessary conflicts that result from wrong perceptions, lack of information, or non-existent issues. All of which result from ineffective
communications.

Saving grace—Every solid project manager knows there are two skills that will carry him in almost any project situation: organization and communication. Being excellent in these areas, especially project communications, will compensate for shortcomings in almost every other area.

Communication is the fuel that drives project success, and the mishandling of it is a top five reason why projects struggle. Let’s make sure we understand why we cannot take communications for granted. On one hand, we know instinctively that there are many factors that impact the communications process—primarily because we live it every waking minute. On the other hand, many of us don’t seem to incorporate this reality into how we communicate. The goal of any communication is to have the receiver end up with an understanding (resulting perception) that equals the meaning intended by the sender (intended message). Let’s take a look at the seven key principles employed by most effective project communicators:

Plan your communications - The goal of communications planning is to ensure that all the stakeholders involved in the project have the information they need, when they need it, to fulfill their responsibilities. The key factors that affect communications planning and the communication requirements for a project include the following:

• Sponsoring organizational structure
• Results of stakeholder analysis
• Reporting relationships
• Functional areas involved in the project
• Number of people involved in the project
• Physical location of the project stakeholder
• Information needs of each stakeholder
• Experience level of project team members
• Availability of technology
• Immediacy and frequency of information needs
• Desired form of project communications
• Expected length of the project
• Organizational risk level of project
• Expected change impact on end users
• Organizational culture
• Level of external communications needed
• Procurement contracts
• Any constraints advised by legal counsel

After the specific communication requirements are determined for your project, make sure to do these two things:

1. Document this information in a project communications management plan.
2. Ensure that all formal project communications (and the work to produce them) is included in the WBS and project schedule.

Remember the basics - The three most powerful communication techniques are also the simplest. They work and most people don’t do them, so the contrast is very noticeable.

• Make it a high priority—Don’t shortcut project communications; show respect for stakeholders.
• Use your manners—Be polite; show appreciation and gratitude.
• Follow-through—If you say you are going to do something, do it.

Five Cs of communication - Keep the five Cs in mind when composing or delivering any project communication:

1. Clear - State the subject; stay on subject; hold the receiver’s hand through the message; use appropriate terms.
2. Concise - Get to the point; limit scope of the message.
3. Courteous - Be polite; watch your tone.
4. Consistent - Use appropriate tone, medium for intended message; all message elements should support intended meaning.
5. Compelling - Give them a reason to pay attention.

Take responsibility for understanding - This hits at the mindset you need for effective communications. Key points include the following:

• Invest the effort, patience, and determination to make sure you are clearly understood.
• Employ effective listening skills to ensure you have clearly understood what the other person has intended.
• Use the communication medium that is the best fit for the intended audience. Be flexible.
• Tailor your communications content to best fit the information needs of each target audience (project team, customers, senior management, or personnel management).
• Pay attention. Notice the feedback. If what you are doing is not working, be willing to adjust.
• Don’t assume understanding—always clarify, ask questions, verify. Focus on taking the other person’s perspective in all communications.

Build relationships - Effective communicators know that the bridge between people is built upon trust, rapport, and personal connection. Be eager and willing to invest the time to build one-on-one relationships with your key stakeholders, especially early in the project. In addition, a relationship focus helps create an open and honest environment, which is better suited for dealing with natural project challenges.

Be proactive - Your enemies in project communications are surprise, doubt, and uncertainty. Per the communications plan, keep your targeted audiences informed on a consistent basis. Anticipate any additional information needs. Never leave stakeholders wondering or needing to call you first.

People and politics go together - Effective communicators demonstrate an understanding and
savviness for the political nature of the project environment. They understand the political implications of any potential communication and make sure to look at it from other perspectives before delivering the intended message.

Here I am ending this post and in the next post we shall discuss best practices used by effective project communicators.

High-Performing Teams

When it comes right down to it, you’ve got to deliver. And the key to doing this is having a high-performing project team. You can have the greatest plan in the world, but if your core project team can’t get the work done as expected, it really doesn’t matter. Conversely, a high-performing project team can go a long way to compensate for inadequate planning and other “less-than-ideal” project environments. Although effective leadership and communication skills are key ingredients of a successful project team environment, there is tremendous value in understanding the specific principles and techniques that we can apply to maximize the performance of our project team. While no two teams ever perform in precisely the same manner, and every team will have their particular strengths, we have found a core set of traits that are shared by high-performing teams:

Clarity - This trait is likely the most important. High-performing teams know where they are going, what they are doing, and why they are doing it. They understand the project goals and priorities, they have clear roles and responsibilities, and they understand their assigned work tasks and how their piece fits in with the rest.

Commitment - Members of high-performing teams are committed to the success of the project. They demonstrate a persistence and determination to get the job done. The source of the commitment is not always the same. It might be personal, to the team, to the customer, or to the organization.

Professional - High-performing teams are professional about their work. Members take individual responsibility for the quality of assigned work, personal communications, and interactions with all stakeholders.

Synergy - High-performing teams develop a synergistic force about them that allows them to accomplish more as a combined team than they could do collectively as individuals. This synergy is developed over time, but generally results when the team has the right mix of skills and experiences,
has a healthy team orientation, and has clearly defined roles and responsibilities.

Trust - High-performing teams display a great deal of trust in each other and in their project leader. Trust is earned over time, and demonstrating effective leadership and creating a collaborative team environment with an open exchange of ideas are keys to building this trust level.

Here I am ending this post. In the next post we'll review ten key management principles that are paramount to our efforts to guide our team’s performance.

Leading a project

In today’s world, there is an overwhelming need for individuals who can serve both as project manager and project leader, yet it is a challenge to find individuals who can perform both roles effectively. In general, it’s the difference between the art and the science of project management—the
difference between the soft skills and the hard skills and knowing how much of which one to apply. And on many unfortunate projects, the lack of leadership or the use of an ineffective leadership approach actually creates problems that did not otherwise exist.

The process of leading a project is more than managing the project. The process of leading a project entails the approach utilized to guide the people involved (team, stakeholders, organization) toward the accomplishment of the project’s objectives. This process involves your mindset and leverages key skills such as dedication, interpersonal, adaptability, and customer orientation. In fact many of the roles a project manager performs involve leadership and many of the qualities of successful project managers have strong leadership elements. The question which may come to your mind is-

Where Is Leadership Needed on a Project?

There are three key points to know about leading a project:

1. There are many aspects of project leadership.
2. The project manager is not the sole provider of project leadership.
3. Specific leadership providers vary depending on the project environment.

The following table highlights the project areas where leadership is needed and who could provide it in :



Keys to Better Project Leadership

Following ate the 12 keys to more effective project leadership, please remember this is not an “all-or nothing” deal—it is a continuum. The more of these that you demonstrate, the better leader you will likely be:

It’s about the people- An effective project leader takes a holistic view that puts people first. This approach results in a focus on establishing and building relationships and on a focus on gaining an authentic understanding and buy-in from each stakeholder.

Visualize the goal...and the way there—This is the traditional leadership ability of providing direction to the team. Not only does a project leader need to clearly see the end and be able to create this picture for everyone else, but they must also understand how the team is going to get there. The ability to see this big picture is vital to keeping the project focused on its primary objectives.

See with “their” eyes—A skill that is not natural for many, but an invaluable one if you can do it. Look at your project from the perspective of the other stakeholders. What do they see? What are they thinking? What do they need? This ability to “take another’s perspective” is foundational to building better relationships, developing requirements, managing communications, managing expectations, and building a productive project team.

Earn their trust—Effective leaders are trusted by senior management to do the right thing and to get the job done. They are trusted by other stakeholders because they manage with integrity and consistently seek win-win scenarios to any project challenge.

Earn their respect—How do you earn the respect of project stakeholders when you do not have position power? There are four key behaviors that affect the level of respect granted you by project
stakeholders:

• Show respect—Show respect to each person you are dealing with. Listen to them, respect their time, and respect their knowledge, experience, and perspectives.
• Be real—Deal with reality, not what it should be or could be. Your willingness to acknowledge and confront the realities of the project will be key to your overall effectiveness.
• Be fair—People might not always like final decisions, but they will respect the decision and you if they feel you handled the situation in a fair manner. An approach to team management, decision-making, and conflict resolution that emphasizes fairness is key to earning the respect of others.
• Be consistent—Lead by example, stick with your decisions, maintain your principles, do what you say you are going to do, and be emotionally steady. 

Facilitate progress—As a project leader, you are focused on accomplishing the project objectives, and you realize that one of the most important jobs you have is to make it as easy as possible for your team to complete their work. How do you do this? Think of yourself as a conduit for progress, an enabler, a productivity-enhancer. Some key actions include the following:

• Anticipate issues, work to prevent them, and confront and resolve the ones that do occur—quickly
• Create an open and honest team environment where members are encouraged and comfortable to exchange their thoughts and ideas
• Facilitate the decision-making process
• Get needed information quickly
• Ensure the team has the structure, process, and tools to be as productive as possible
• Work to reduce the doubt and uncertainty factor for others

Take ownership—Let there be no doubt in anyone’s mind who is responsible for this project. An “ownership” mindset manifests itself in a persistent, results-focused, no-excuses attitude that is undeniable and contagious to the other team members.

Be resilient—A project leader is able to quickly adapt his approach and style to best meet the needs of the project. Through a creative and flexible mindset, a project leader understands that there are many ways to achieve the targeted goals and works to make it happen.

Be a teacher—A great model for the modern day project manager is that of a teacher. In many situations, you are literally educating all stakeholders regarding their roles and responsibilities in a project approach. But in all project situations, taking a teaching mentality—a mindset that sincerely wants others to learn, grow, and improve—rather than a judgmental view will be paramount to your leadership effectiveness.

Strive for excellence—An important trait of effective project leaders is their ability to create confidence that the project will be well-managed and that it will accomplish its goals. How do you do this? Be very good at what you do, know what you are doing—exude competence and professionalism. The three simple keys here be prepared, be organized, and never stop learning and improving.

Compensate for weaknesses—A leader is humble enough, has enough self-awareness, and is team-focused enough to recognize his weaknesses. From this recognition, he then builds a team and delegates responsibilities to properly compensate. Again, it is difficult to be proficient at everything,
and it is much easier to leverage the strengths of yourself and of your team to get the job done.

Showcase self-control—As a rule, most effective project leaders are models of self-control. They are consistent and positive in their behaviors and are generally immune from egocentric approaches and significant shifts or swings in their emotional stability (especially negative ones). In addition, they are able to remain calm under pressure and serve as a model for others during stressful times.

The servant leadership approach

A practical mindset that drives the thoughts, words and actions of an effective project leader is a mindset of “service first” and not “me first.” The approach is called servant leadership. In a project environment, where you are stakeholder-focused, where you must rely on yourself, where you must effectively relate to others to get work done, and where you must completely understand the needs and requirements of your customers to deliver the proper solution, it just seems to be a very practical path to take. Thus, it is a synergistic approach for any organization (or project) that values strong customer-service and team-focused approaches in their leaders.

Let’s look at the prominent characteristics of this philosophy:

• Asserts a strong service orientation; lead by expanding service to others
• Emphasizes listening, patience, respect, and responsiveness
• Takes the perspective of others; maintains the best interest of others 
• Accepts responsibility; takes initiative
• Encourages collaboration and trust; empowers individuals
• Seeks growth and improvement in all team members, organization, and community
• Solicits input and feedback from all stakeholders, especially in the decision-making process
• Insists on the use of skills to influence and persuade, not manipulate
• Spotlights a strong integrity principle—the ethical use of power

Hence, like all project management and leadership skills, a servant-leadership mindset is not an “all-or-nothing” approach. It is spectrum between a total egocentric, leader-first mindset on one end and a complete servant-first thought pattern on the other end. The goal is to do your best, continue to learn and work to improve over time, just as you do with the other skill set areas.