Project Communication – making a plan that works
Effective communication is crucial for the success of any project. A project where the stakeholders communicate honestly and openly has a much greater probability of achieving success than one where the communication does not work. Ensuring communication is 80% of a project manager's job if he/she wants to get a good end result (following the 80-20 rule).
A project with good communication and collaboration creates dynamism and motivation among teams and stakeholders. It contributes to the project being completed faster, because the team is motivated. Being able to openly and honestly ask questions or discuss the project's problems and challenges makes all stakeholders less vulnerable and open in relation to the project. It creates success.
On the other hand, communication can also be the project's minefield. Conflicts – both personal and professional – can arise and must be resolved. Personal ambitions can create problems in a project. All forms of lack of communication reduce speed and motivation in a project. Examples:
- Team employee who does not feel he/she utilizes his/her abilities in the assigned tasks.
- A seller who has oversold and is trying to cover it up.
- A customer who is not interested in the project.
- A customer who is too interested in the project.
- A CEO, project manager or similar who does not understand the details of the project and meddles unnecessarily.
- A project steering group that does not take responsibility, but only points fingers.
- A conflict-averse project manager.
Traditionally, the recommendation for creating good communication is:
- Stakeholder identification
The first step in creating a communication plan is to identify all stakeholders involved in the project. This includes project team members, sponsors, clients, vendors, and other key individuals or groups who have a vested interest in the project. - Communication objectives
Clearly define the objectives of your project communication plan. What do you want to achieve through communication? Is it to provide updates, gather feedback, resolve issues, or build relationships with stakeholders? - Communication channels
Determine the most effective communication channels for reaching your stakeholders. This could include email, meetings, project management tools, collaboration platforms, or other methods based on the preferences and needs of your audience. - Frequency and timing
Establish a communication schedule outlining when and how often you will communicate with stakeholders. Regular updates and timely communication can help keep everyone informed and engaged throughout the project. - Message consistency
Ensure that your project messages are consistent across all communication channels. This helps in avoiding confusion and ensuring that stakeholders receive accurate and up-to-date information. - Feedback mechanisms
Create opportunities for stakeholders to provide feedback and ask questions. This can help in addressing concerns, resolving issues, and improving overall project communication. - Crisis communication plan
Develop a plan for handling unexpected issues or crises that may arise during the project. This includes identifying key spokespersons, communication protocols, and escalation procedures. - Evaluation and improvement
Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your project communication plan and strategy. Gather feedback from stakeholders and make adjustments as needed to improve communication processes.
The above is a fine method, but also a very technical approach – the human factor is missing. We would recommend adding a bit to the method.
From a communication point of view, a project is a vision that agreed between the customer and sales. It is passed on to the project manager, who distributes tasks to the project team. The project is delivered back to the customer and sales, where the end result should give a positive response from both internal (sales) and external (customer) stakeholders.
If Sales has sold the vision to the customer, the communication may be different than if it is the customer himself who has come up with the vision. In the first case, the customer is not 100 % clear in relation to the vision and may not be 100 % motivated. In the second case, the customer knows what needs to be delivered and is more motivated. As a project manager, you must be aware of the dedication of the customer and Sales (or internal contacts) to the project.
Gaps
A project manager typically is involved in the project either at the initial phase, where the project is defined with the customer, or at the planning phase, where specifications are agreed.
Regardless, the project manager's first task is to clarify all the gaps in the project. In relation to communication, this is done to prevent misunderstandings and future conflicts. A gap is something that the company cannot solve, an unknown factor or something that can be understood in several different ways. Many times you can find gaps in the small details that you otherwise perceive as easy and obvious.
An example is that a customer wants a logo with red letters on a yellow background. The customer has provided the color codes in CMYX, but the logo must be painted, so the color code must be converted to RAL. This alone could be a future conflict. Even if an agreement has been reached on the RAL code, there can be a potential conflict, because paint on different surfaces gives different results and different batch productions of paint powder have deviations in color.
By identifying as many gaps as possible, you have created a good basis for your communication plan. It is gaps that create misunderstandings and conflicts. In gaps cannot be clarified at the start of the project, then the project manager knows what he/she must pay extra attention to in relation to communication later on. The project manager can clarify who the stakeholders are and what role they have and involve the parties when the gap must be resolved.
In the case of the logo, it is not necessarily the customer's primary contact who is interested. It may be Marketing that approves the logo. The person in the project team who must carry out the task may be another stakeholder that the project manager must be aware of. The person may perceive the task as meaningless because he/she knows that UV light will quickly lighten colors, which is why the exact colors actually have less value than the customer attributes to them. This is an issue a project manager must address.
There will be tasks that the team is less motivated to carry out, and as a project manager you must be aware of which tasks these are. Be aware that they are being carried out and explain why they are important.
Selection of project team
When the project manager has drawn up a plan for handling gaps, a team must be selected for the project. Sometimes the team is chosen in advance - sometimes the project manager has an influence on team selection.
If you, as a project manager, have an influence on the choice, then choosing the company's best employee or the people you like the best is not necessarily the right choice. The team must be selected on the basis of the skills necessary to complete the project. The competences can be determined by e.g. to use a project model method.
A skill matrix, which the project model method provides, will show which employees possess which skills and which skills they lack. The team can be chosen so that some team members have all skills and some lack some skills.
The skill matrix helps the project manager. At the start of the project the manager will know which team members to pay special attention to. The project manager can prepare a plan for how the communication with the individual team members should be.
Today, many projects have team members from multiple regions or nations. There are cultural differences in how the address each other – by first name or title and surname. Differences in how to cooperate, how to communicate, etc. In this kind of project, the project manager must know or learn the differences and incorporate them into the daily work. The differences should be respected and incorporated in the project as best as possible.
Execution and Monitoring
With a plan for handling gaps and an overview of the team's skills, the project manager has a good starting point for when the project execution is started.
The project consists of a number of tasks, each of which is or must be defined and implemented during the execution process. When executing the tasks, it is important in relation to communication that the roles are clarified. Who must carry out tasks, who decides how the tasks are carried out and who approved each tasks.
If a task specification is clear and defined, then it is the team member performing the task who decides how a task is solved. It is the project manager's responsibility to ensure that the team member has skills and means to complete the task. The project manager or other stakeholders become operative and help to solve a task. It can cause the team member to lose motivation. Why am I working on a task that others are interfering?
If you want a good result for the project, then roles must be respected.
The project manager may well have several roles in a project, e.g. you can be both a project manager and a developer and have your own tasks in the project. It can be a risk if the project manager immerses himself too much in one role and has too little focus on the other role. The risk of stakeholders interfering unnecessarily in the roles of others is generally greatest in the execution process.
It is necessary for various stakeholders to communicate with each other in the execution process, but this must be done in accordance with the project's goals. This means that decisions cannot be made without the project manager being informed.
Even if the project manager can control the gaps and manage the communication, mistakes and misunderstandings will occur during a project. Mistakes and misunderstandings help drive the project forward. You discover which dead ends exists in the project. At the same time, mistakes can increase conflicts - personal attacks can occur and some stakeholders do no take responsibility. The project manager must pay special attention to such situations and have them quelled as soon as possible.
When team members make mistakes, you can choose your communication in many ways. "Shut up, you're stupid idiot" or "good thing we found that bug before the project was launched". Address others like you would like to be addressed when you make mistakes.
The project manager must monitor and control the project. Especially in the execution process, there will be disturbances and interference from stakeholders, which the project manager must handle. It is not all battles that the project manager will win regarding interference. Just like when raising your children, the project manager must choose his battles – only choose the battles that can be won.
In battles that cannot be won, it will be advantageous to use Change Request logs.
Change Requests will help show when changes occurred, who made them and why. They can be a tool in when the project is evaluated. And they show that the project manager is seriously and contributes to giving the project manager a better assessment - even with bad projects.
Summary
In conclusion, a well-defined project communication plan and strategy are essential for ensuring that all stakeholders are informed, engaged, and aligned throughout the project. By following these key principles and best practices, project managers can enhance communication effectiveness, build stronger relationships with stakeholders, and ultimately increase the likelihood of project success.
It can be difficult as a project manager handle conflicts - regardless of whether they are professional or personal. But it is necessary and communication can be constructive, even if difficult conflicts are discussed.
If you want to create a good communication plan for a project, the following points are recommended:
- Create an overview of gaps.
Who are stakeholders, when and how can they be clarified. - Skill matrix for team.
Prepare a matrix that shows the team's skills and have a plan for any lack of skills. - Respect the division of roles.
Trust the project team - let them solve the tasks within the framework of the tasks. - Address others as you wish to be addressed.
Speak kindly and politely. - Conflicts
Intervene immediately when conflicts arise - Recognize when you can't win a battle and handle them as best as possible.