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Project Management: Communications
- 1. Project Management Workshop Session 2: Communications
- 2. Principles of Project Management Session 1: Introduction Session 2: Communications Session 3: Scope, Schedule & Resources Session 4: Finances & Resource Conflicts Session 5: Rescue Operations Session 6: Practicum
- 3. Why Projects Fail TheDilbert Principle: “Anything I don’t understand must be easy.” Do we really understand the difference between project management & project monitoring? Projects fail (in essence) because we think project management is easy
- 4. Project Management History What is the most successful construction project in the history of the world ?
- 6. The Significance of Babel The Story Everybody in the world was involved in the project There were plenty of resources available The project plan was “on schedule” God “canceled” the project by disrupting their communication The Background The story is part of Hebrew scriptures passed down through oral history and written at least 3000 years ago The Hebrews were very familiar with “project management” Generations of nomadic wandering; making camp and breaking camp Detailed “work breakdown structures” for the camp, the tabernacle, etc. The Hebrew scriptures describe a God who is all powerful
- 8. Sources of Communications Problems We get the kind of communication we ask for We all have different neurolinguistic “wiring” We all have different assumptions about what “everybody knows” We all have different perspectives on what everybody needs to know There are often agenda differences between participants Jargon is everywhere (Cultural Context)
- 11. Assumptions Assumptions are the unspoken basis for almost all formal communication Why don’t we clarify assumptions? We don’t want to insult someone by pointing out the obvious We don’t want to give up our “insider” position We simply don’t recognize the degree to which they matter “It’s not the things you don’t know that get you in trouble; it’s the things you know that ain’t so.” - Will Rogers
- 12. Need to Know Retaining knowledge to retain control Disseminating knowledge to gain respect Withholding negative information in self-protection Projecting your information needs on everyone else Neurolinguistic preferences Occupational hazards There is not time to say everything about everything, so some sort of “need to know” filter is necessary; but watch for …
- 13. Agenda By definition, a project is temporary This can cause problems when assigned staff are overcommitted Legitimate sources of multiple agenda Multiple departments are involved Multiple companies are involved Multiple translation vendors are involved
- 14. Jargon is Everywhere Complex environments require jargon Close working relationships breed jargon Anything can become “jargon” in constant usage Definitions change more easily than the words themselves Microcosm of language change See also “everybody knows …” Misunderstanding based on jargon will not be obvious until much later Failure to use “the right jargon” Failure to understand it when someone else uses it There is no such thing as “the” right jargon Grasp of Jargon may mask linguistic weaknesses
- 15. Cultural & Linguistic Context Localization projects typically include team members from multiple cultural backgrounds Not everyone will have the same level of comfort or ability with English There will be a variety of “high-context” and “low-context” participants There will be a variety of “individual” vs. “group” oriented participants Client stakeholders may not have a good understanding of what is involved Especially dangerous when off-shoring!
- 16. Real-Life Examples? Assumptions, Perspectives, Agenda, Cultural Context
- 17. Attitude & Motivation Be aware of your weaknesses & blind spots Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve * Expect feedback and resistance Avoid defensiveness * Jim Collins, Harvard Business Review “It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t care who gets the credit.” - Harry S Truman Focus on the success of the Project not the Project Manager
- 18. Improving Communications Encourage open & honest communication Model and require brutal honesty Greet bad news with optimism & energy Be aware of personal dynamics Avoid blame-casting Challenge yourself to look at things from other perspectives Team members with different cultural backgrounds Team members with different neurolinguistic preferences Adapt to ensure effective communication More is better Less is more
- 19. When do we Communicate? Bad news does not improve with age Get in the habit of being brutally honest with yourself and others
- 20. Communication is Cooperative Assume the other person is trying to cooperate Ask: Is apparent lack of cooperation due to … Lack of clarity on my part? Some cultural mismatch? Neurolinguistic differences Of course, sometimes people are really not cooperative …
- 21. BACK UP MATERIAL Thank You
Editor's Notes
- The Bible presents the well-known Tower of Babel story in Genesis, chapter 11. This was clearly the most successful construction project in history, and when God evaluated options for frustrating the project, He choose to disrupt their ability to communicate. Some see this as the very Word of God, true in all of its historical details, while others see it as part of the oral history of a relatively obscure nomadic tribe attempting to explain and account for things as they saw them. Even on the weaker claim of “mere” oral history, however, the interpretation of this naïve explanation provides insights into “the way things are” that are applicable to project management. As a nomadic tribe, constantly establishing or breaking camp, the ancient Hebrews were no strangers to “project management”. They distilled their accumulated project management wisdom down to one crucial observation about human interactions: communication is the key, and communication is always hard. It is as if God had actually “confused our language” with the deliberate intent to keep us from being able to successfully accomplish our goals. This is (of course) precisely the option God chose. The project eventually failed not for lack of a plan, nor for lack of resources, nor for lack of manpower, but as a result of poor (i.e. “confused”) communication.
- Beginning with our preferred thinking style, some of us tend to be “linear” or “serial” processors, typically characterized by attention to detail, single-task focus, step-by-step execution, taking a single task all the way to completion before starting the next task, etc. This type of person often gravitates to project management on the basis of their obvious organizational skills and the ability to construct logical step-by-step analyses. Others of us tend to be “parallel” processors. This group is characterized by the ability to keep the “big picture” in focus, interleaving of activity on several ongoing tasks at once, apparent ability to handle interruptions and to “multi-task”, and the ability to handle multi-level analyses. This second group often appears hopelessly disorganized to the first, but many of these traits are actually quite helpful to a project manager. Regardless of which group you fall into, however, the key is to acknowledge the weaknesses of your preference, the strengths of those with a different preference, and the challenges associated with effective communication to bridge the gap.This leads into the three preference groups associated with sensory modality and mode of expression. With respect to sensing, most people tend to prefer visual (written documents, email, graphics, etc.), aural (discussions, verbal descriptions, phone calls), or kinesthetic (relying heavily on body language, physical environment, non-verbal context and “learning by doing”). These same three terms also serve to categorize modes of expression. People tend to prefer to express themselves visually (written reports, outbound email, graphs and figures, visual images when speaking, etc.), orally (outbound phone calls, verbal presentations and explanations, verbal images when speaking), or kinesthetically (demonstrations, models or mock-ups, physical imagery when speaking). People are sometimes comfortable with more than one of these modalities, and do not necessarily prefer the same one for “input” and “output”. The lesson for us as project managers is to be sure not to project our own preferences onto others. We should learn to adapt and adopt a mode of expression that will better ensure effective communication.