What is the most critical contributing factor for project success? According to the Project Management Institute’s latest study, it’s Effective Communication. When communication is at its best projects are more likely to be on time, within the budget, and able to meet original goals. Unfortunately, the PMI finds only one in four companies are highly-efficient communicators. If that doesn’t sound like you, don’t despair, improving communication is easier than many think.
There are two main causes for poor communication.
- Failure to wrap the project in the broader context of the organization’s goals. Why does this project matter? Will my hard work make a positive difference? Making and maintaining a clear connection between the organizational benefits of the project and day-to-day project activities helps ensure that the project team’s work is focused and contributing to the end goal.
- Failure to use language that is clear and meaningful to the audience. Our language is so filled with acronyms and jargon that, while some in our audience may understand the message, it may have little meaning or a very different meaning to others. Simply reframing the message in the language of the audience will make a big difference.
A Communication Matrix is a good first step to better communication. Here’s how to start.
- Make a complete list of all the groups interested in your project. These are your stakeholders. Describe what their interest is and what you believe will be their concerns.
- Identify all the methods of push and pull communication available to your project. The timing of “push” communications is set by the project and includes such methods as sending newsletters or emails and holding meetings or conference calls. An Example of “pull” communications includes establishing a portal for project documents that stakeholders can access at anytime.
- Review the project schedule and identify the points in the project when communication is required or advantageous.
- Using the information from the first three steps, develop a communication matrix for each stakeholder group. The matrix includes one line for each type of communication and includes the:
- Communication objective
- Mode of communication
- Goal of communication
- Frequency and timing
- Message
- Expected outcome
- Responsible person
Once completed, integrate your communication matrix into your project schedule. This will keep the messages synchronized with other project activities and ensure that communication tasks remain on the radar. If the project develops problems, increase rather that decrease communication, especially those that reinforce the benefits that project success will bring.
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