The document discusses effective communication skills for project managers. It shares that communication is the most important soft skill, as a project is at risk if goals are not clearly communicated and understood by all parties. Specifically, it recommends adopting the 80/20 rule to focus communication efforts upfront, knowing your audience by analyzing stakeholder power and interest, being an effective over efficient communicator, and using active listening.

1. Pinnacle Business Systems www.pbsnow.com

2. Project Management
Success: Part 4

3. Brandy shares her 15 years of experience in project
management and has created a six-part series highlighting
key elements to a projects success, specifically in the IT
management industry.
Brandy Semore, Pinnacle’s Operations Manager
Follow these actionable steps and advice to help you
improve the outcome of projects you lead or
participate in at your organization.
Pinnacle Business Systems www.pbsnow.com

4. Communication Skills
Excellent communication is the one soft skill that a project manager
needs to bring to the table. It is the ability to direct, lead, and
maintain momentum without noticeable effort.
Unless a project manager can effectively share the project goals
and have them understood by all parties at any point within the
project lifecycle, then the project itself is at risk of failure.
Pinnacle Business Systems www.pbsnow.com

5. Fact
One in five projects does not meet its original
goals and business intent due to ineffective
communication.
Pinnacle Business Systems www.pbsnow.com

6. Effective communication isn’t just about sharing information, it’s
also about making people understand the role they play in the
project.
Effective communication skills include:
•Being able to effectively present the issues.
•Listen and act on feedback.
•Foster harmony among team members.
Pinnacle Business Systems www.pbsnow.com
What to Communicate

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Four tips for communication
Here are the four tips we will cover to improve your project
team’s communication:
1.Adopt the 80/20 Rule
2.Know your Audience
3.Effective vs. Efficient Communicator
4.Active Listening

8. The 80/20 rules explains that for many events, roughly 80% of the
effects come from 20% of the causes.
For example, spending 20% of your time upfront to proactively
and thoroughly communicate not only enables workflow to run
seamlessly, but also prevents unnecessary work due to poor or
lack of communication.
Pinnacle Business Systems www.pbsnow.com
Adopt the 80/20 Rule

9. If you Know Your Stakeholders then you already know your
audience, you just need to tailor your communication for the
different groups accordingly.
There are numerous tools that a project manager can use to
perform a stakeholder analysis, but the one most preferred by our
Pinnacle PMO is the Power/Interest Grid.
Pinnacle Business Systems www.pbsnow.com
Know your Audience

10. Pinnacle Business Systems www.pbsnow.com
Power/Interest Grid
This is our internal tool that we use to group the
stakeholders on their level of authority (‘power’) and
their level of concern (‘interest’) regarding the
project’s outcome.

11. Pinnacle Business Systems www.pbsnow.com
Effective vs. Efficient Communication
Effective communication means that the information is
provided in the right format, at the right time, to the right
audience, and with the right impact.
Efficient communication means providing only the information
that is needed. This may include:
•Daily status reports
•Scheduled project status meetings

12. Pinnacle Business Systems www.pbsnow.com
Active Listening
Active listening is reading non-verbal signals – facial
expressions, body language, and tone of voice.
Does the other person look bored or nervous, do they sound
agitated?
Active listening isn’t just hearing what is being said, it’s
hearing what isn’t.

13. Learn More
Have questions for Brandy? Email her at brandy.semore@pbsnow.com
Pinnacle Business Systems www.pbsnow.com
Project Management Success: Part 5
Manage The Scope