Work Management

"To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others."

- Tony Robbins




As a project manager, do you ever feel like you spend most of your time just getting people to communicate—whether it be to give you information, share updates, or work with each other?  I've heard this from time to time as I've worked with, observed, and interviewed various project managers. If you're a project manager and struggle with this, I have some ideas for you.

Don't waste time coming up with a carrot or a stick to get people to communicate to each other or to you. As a project manager, one of your responsibilities is to create a good communication strategy—an information system that will capture updates naturally. Creating this plan is not simply a matter of you deciding what works best for you.  It may not even be following what is already in place. Everyone communicates differently. It's your job to find out how your team and stakeholders prefer to communicate and create an environment and system that will facilitate easy flow of good information.

Voluntary information is the best kind, and you need to find out what will generate the most of it. Too often I hear project managers say that their team (or some member of their team) is just not giving the information they need as project managers to forecast, manage, and report.  While there are instances where workers may be less effective team players, I find that in most cases, there are lurking variables.  Either the project manager has done nothing to understand what makes that team (or team member) tick, or there is something that is obstructing the flow of information.

Take some time to understand your team and stakeholders. What are their key attributes?  What do they care about? What bugs them? How do they communicate with their friends? When you understand the preferences and nuances of each individual on your team and the pool of stakeholders, you can look for overlap and commonalities that will help you create an effective communication strategy. This includes not only the systems you use, but your very approach to communicating with them individually. If you get this, you will be amazed at how much more effective you—and your team—can be.

Communication can be negatively impacted by cultural, geographic, or other conflicts.  If your team is international, there may be obstacles from the time difference to the way people say and interpret things. Further, there may be disagreements or friction among team members or with the way you communicate. As a project manager, you are expected to perceive these issues and deal with them accordingly. Step up to the plate, confront and resolve discord through understanding and openness. Set up an infrastructure that will efficiently facilitate timely communication and interactions. 

Oftentimes, communication problems are caused (or at least compounded by) project management tools. Executives and project managers love the idea of getting work into a system that allows them to forecast, report, and make more informed decisions. But when these tools are difficult to use and/or complicated, they can end up creating more problems than they solve. Newer approaches to work management software are getting closer to solving this problem. But as a project manager, it is your duty to remove obstacles to ensure smooth and successful project execution. If some heavy PPM software tool is impeding your team's ability to work efficiently, then you need to have the guts to make a change.

I have found that the biggest obstacles I've come up against, as well as the most rewarding successes, have been closely tied to or a direct result of my communication strategy. The next time you have a communication problem, instead of blaming it on your team or circumstances, take a more proactive approach: consider your communications strategy.