PLANNING STAGE (COMMUNICATION)

Communication is about creating the information from a sender and distribute it to a receiver who perceives the meaning of that information. Communication is important when managing the project because the project information is created and distributed between project stakeholders.  It is like a bridge between them who may have different cultural backgrounds, different organizational units, different level of expertise and different interests which may impact the project execution or outcome.

There are different dimensions to be considered in communication

• Internal communication for the project team and External communication for customers, suppliers, public, organizations etc
• Formal communication such as reports or minutes and informal communication like emails or memos
• Vertical communication which follows up to down organization and horizontal communication with peers
• Official communication such as newspapers or annual reports and unofficial communication
• Written, oral and verbal communication supported with voice inflections and non verbal communication that uses body language

The followings are communication skills commonly applied in project management:

• Listening actively and effectively
• Questioning to ensure better understanding
• Educating project team to increase their knowledge as well as effectiveness
• Setting and managing expectations of the stakeholders so that they remain focused on delivery and provide all the support required to deliver the project successfully
• Influencing people or organization to perform an action to the best
• Coaching for better performance in order to achieve the desired results
• Negotiating to achieve mutual and acceptable agreements between parties
• Resolving conflicts or misunderstandings to prevent negative impacts to the project
• Summarizing and identifying the next steps for the project
• Identifying and confirming information with finding-facts

Project Communications Management is another knowledge area whereby the project information is timely and appropriately planned, collected, created, distributed, stored, retrieved, managed, controlled, monitored and disposed. Planning communication consists of only one process called Plan Communication Management which develops an appropriate project communications based on the stakeholders’ information requirements and needs as well as organizational assets in order to increase effectiveness and efficiency and avoid problems like delay in message delivery, communication of information to the wrong stakeholders, misunderstanding or misinterpretation of communication etc.

Note that:

• Effective communication means providing the information in the right format, at the right time, to the right stakeholders/audience. The information should be clear and direct, by using language and terms that are familiar to the audience.

• Efficient communication means providing only the information that is needed and not more than that.

Therefore for an effective and efficient communication, it is better to know

• Who needs what information
• Who has an authority to access what information
• When the information will be needed
• Where the information will be stored or kept
• What format will the information be
• How the information can be retrieved
• What language should be used for documenting the information etc

References:

PMI (2013). A Guide to the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide 5^th Ed.) USA, Project Management Institute

http://www.edgerock.com/the-cutting-edge/7-must-have-skills-of-project-managers/

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